chemotherapy pain

Good evening Dale. From my husband's experience, checking his diary, he did have some pain during week 1 on days 3/4 to 7. This pattern was repeated for each cycle. He was told to take paracetamol which worked for him.

Arthralgia is joint pain. Myalgia is muscle pain. Both can be a side effect of some cancer treatments. Chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and growth factors can cause joint and muscle pain. You may also have joint or muscle pain if your white blood cell count is very high.

• Pain caused by chemotherapy often happens within two or three days of treatment. It often gets better within four to seven days.
• Pain from hormonal therapy may last longer because hormonal therapy is often prescribed for long periods.
• Pain from growth factors such as Filgrastim happens because the bone marrow is “packed” with newly growing cells and, in some cancers, the white blood cell count can get very high, causing pain. Some oncologists prescribe this for a few days after each infusion to boost the immune system, others only prescribe it if the white blood levels drop too far.

Arthralgia pain is like arthritis pain. You can have morning stiffness and you may feel it in a few joints at different times. It often affects the elbows, shoulders, wrists, knees, feet, pelvis, hips, or back.

Myalgia is pain or aching within the muscle.

Hopefully your pain levels will drop in a couple of days but you do need to keep your medical team aware of it as they might adjust your medication or give you some supportive drugs.

Thankyou so much that's put my mind at rest. I'll see how the next few days go.  thanks again dale 

Hi there
I had severe pain in my ribs 2 days after my 1st chemo session.
It was like being stabbed every time I moved
The hospital did some scans and couldn't find the source but I never had any pain before the chemo
I found the only thing that helped(slightly) was codeine. I got a prescription from my local GP but you can get a lower dose from the local chemist (Solpadeine Max was good)
Paracetamol did nothing and I couldn't take Ibuprofen as I am on blood thinners

After 8 days of being stabbed every time I moved it just stopped.

Good Luck

thanks for the reply.  it had a pretty good night last night so hopefully it's was just a short term problem.  thanks again dale