anthony1234
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I have had shoulder armpit and chest pain for months now noticed sufficient weight loss and constant nasal drip and mucus production also voice seems very raspy at times some days better than others very fatigued for day or so then fine for a while going for blood tests Monday Doctor order x-ray of chest but after reading older posts I may ask for mri instead muscle pain down arm becomes very bad with activityany other questions I should ask doctor or different test that I may not know about should I ask for the knowledge and support here seems unsurpassable 28 yo on and off smoker thanks in advance just don't want to take any chances or miss anything
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Reply # - April 17, 2016, 06:44 AM
Hi Anthony,
Hi Anthony,
Welcome to GRACE. I understand your concern and desire to cover all the bases and not miss anything, but I can tell you that at your age (despite your smoking history) it is extremely unlikely that you have a pancoast tumor or lung cancer. In any event, any tumor that could be causing the symptoms you describe would almost certainly be large enough to appear on a chest x-ray, so if that proves negative as expected, then an MRI certainly seems reasonble to help diagnose the problem.
You can see Dr. West's comment in this thread: http://cancergrace.org/topic/very-scared-of-pancoast-tumor-please-any-a…
Good luck.
JimC
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Reply # - April 17, 2016, 07:51 PM
Thanks for the response Jim I
Thanks for the response Jim I am probably more worried than anything because so many symptoms point that direction and they have stuck around and not gone away just wanting to be safe and make sure I cover all my bases pain in shoulder and down arm gets much worse with activity just very slight almost sometimes not present when resting but when working becomes very painful I'm hoping just anxiety caused weight loss since I have probably been researching so much online doctor in morning for blood test and he wants to do left shoulder x ray I am going to ask for chest though thanks again what you guys do here is awesome
Reply # - April 18, 2016, 06:43 PM
Blood work today have to wait
Blood work today have to wait for results chest x rays did not show anything x rays of shoulder showed nothing also sigh of relief still going to request mri for piece of mind doc said pain is defenitly nerve related just have to do mri to find nerves seemed very puzzled with amount of symptoms that nothing showed on X-ray so on to next step I know that at my age it is highly unlikely but rather be safe and if anything catch in begging stages also want to post results so other people my age have some direction
Reply # - April 19, 2016, 05:56 PM
If it's nerve related, it
If it's nerve related, it wouldn't show on an xray. You could have pinched nerves in the neck and this would cause the symptoms. I had two pinched nerves in the neck for five years and had all the medical tests. Nothing they could do for me. Went to a chiropractor and was on my way to recovery in 6 weeks. Couldn't believe how great I felt. This definitely would not be a pancoast tumor as they would've seen it on the shoulder xray. If it's causing problems, it would have to be a mass so it'd be seen. Good luck on the MRI.
If they don't find anything on the MRI, get a copy on disk and go see a chiropractor.
Take care, Judy
Reply # - April 20, 2016, 08:46 AM
Judy, I hate to disagree but
Judy, I hate to disagree but my husband would say I don't hate it. :) But, an x ray can miss a tumor. Pancoast tumors can hide behind other structures in the area. Even an MRI would miss it if it's pointed to the wrong place.
However,
I do wholeheartedly agree that this scenario is extremely unlikely to be related to cancer.
Always great to see you here!
Janine
Reply # - April 20, 2016, 09:26 AM
It would be rare to miss it
It would be rare to miss it on the designated shoulder xray, I'd think if it's large enough to be causing symptoms.Not saying it can't be missed on a chest xray, but a shoulder one? In your husband's case, he had extensive mets and the MRI would pick that up due to the rib destruction. I know an xray missed one of my tumors and it was the larger one in the LRL, but thankfully the CT picked it up as a CT scan could pick up the pancoast tumor so surprised they didn't do a CT scan next.
Take care, Judy
Per Dr. West: " I also don’t believe it’s true that there is a false negative rate for Pancoast tumors on chest CT if read by remotely competent radiologists. Pancoast tumors are typically quite big enough for a non-radiologist to see from across the room, looking at a computer monitor showing the scan."
http://cancergrace.org/topic/pancoast-tumor