Side effects

Hello Miriaml . My husband  is having immunotherapy drugs for melanoma and prostate has also shown on scan this

Week,.   He has been on the drugs for 7months and recently  started getting severe shoulder, arm ,hand and neck pain

Wih swollen hands, I have tried to find out more about this  as it is often midday before he is comfortable,,

 No one seems to give me an answer as to why this is happening .apart from the fact that it is a side effect, .I would like to know more 

But I have looked on many sites and cannot find  a clear explanation for it  or how to deal with it,

I will keep looking and forward anything that I find out.     So frustrating

Pauline

,

Dear Pauline,

Thank you for your words.

I'd love to hear if and when you find new information on the subject.

Best regards

Miriam

My husband also has muscle pains in shoulders etc and I rub them with movelat. It does not cure it but gives relief.

Dear Sylvia

Thank you for the information.

i'll after this madication.

best regards

Miriam

I will do Miriam,.  Take care of yourself too

Hi,

I would contact the specialist prostate cancer nurses on the Prostate Cancer UK helpline.  I have found their advice and advice from the "Ask an Expert" page on this website give better and more detailed answers than most people have time to give you.  The telephone number for the Prostate Cancer UK helpline is 0800 074 8383.  It is a free call and they spend as much time as necessary with you.  They are available Mon - Fri 9am to 6pm and on Wednesdays 9am - 8pm.  Both my wife and myself have spoken to them over various things during my journey and they have been absolutely brilliant.  Muscle pain is a side effect of the Hormone Therapy but your husbands symptoms sound quite bad.  I had some muscle pain but already suffered from chronic pain in my neck and back so the pain I had from the hormone therapy was nothing in comparison and served to take my mind off the other pain which I had been living with for years.  Some people have all the symptoms some have really bad symptoms and some barely any of any consequence.  The best thing to do is for your husband to keep active and not sit still or lay in bed for any length of time (during the day) - even if he can only manage a 15 minute walk every hour or so the best thing is to keep moving.  Never sit or stand in one position for too long either get up and walk around the house or something as this makes things worse.  I got all these tips from a couple of pain management courses I have done over the years and they do work.  At the first pain management course I did we were even told to set an alarm when we were in the house for every 15 minutes so that we would either sit down if we had been standing or get up if we had been sitting down - back then we didn't have alarms on mobile phones so that is much easier to do now than taking a kitchen timer around with you!

I would certainly ask your consultant about this next time you see them or if it is really bad and causing problems that affect quality of life call their secretary and ask if you can either have another appointment or if he or she can call you back with any ideas on what to do about this.  It may be that a different type of hormone treatment may be tried.  All hormone treatment is the same and does the same job against the cancer but you may get relief from symptoms with a different type of hormone, or other medication can be given.

I hope things get better soon.

Des

Dear Des,

Thank you for your suggestions.

Best regards

Miriam

Hi MiriamL 

I have been on hormone therapy for about 6 months, and can confirm that muscle pain is unfortunately one of  the side effects. According to my oncology nurse it is because the hormone therapy pulls testosterone out of the muscles. I have pains in my thigh and buttock muscles and also a painful shoulder for which I am having physio. My fingers on both hands have to be placed in hot water every morning before I can flex them, and even then the index fingers lock. Recently my right knee swelled up like a foot ball. This has since gone down and is now starting with the left knee!! At night I take painkillers prescribed by my GP, otherwise sleep is difficult.

My oncologist has recommended one hour walking every day which she says will help the muscles.. Not easy when you have painful knees!!

Regards,

Biltong.

Dear Biltong,

Thank you for your mail.

Can you tell us what medicine help you to sleep at night?

Best regards

Miriam 

Hi Miriam.

My GP prescribed Zopiclone 7.5mg tabs for sleeping. I cut them in half because if I take a whole tablet I am goofed most of the next day.

Half a tab is magic. For pain I have been prescribed Naproxen 500mg . One tab twice a day.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Biltong.