Pancoast tumor??

Hi Jasper65,

Welcome to GRACE. I'm sorry that you have been suffering from this pain. But although Googling your symptoms can lead to discussions of pancoast tumors, such a tumor is fairly uncommon and is unlikely to be the cause of your pain. It is even more unlikely if you are relatively young and lack a long history of smoking. 

We get many inquiries similar to yours, but after further medical workup we have never had someone return to tell us that they have been diagnosed with a pancoast tumor. It's just not that likely.

I hope that you and your doctors can discover the true cause of your symptoms, and an appropriate treatment for them.

Jim C Forum Moderator 

Hello my names Nicky 39 - non-smoker - male

About 2 weeks ago I had irratating pain in my right shoulder which lasted abou 1-2 days and sleepless night cause of it. The pain slowley declined then noticed I had a ache in my upper right back but thought it was just cause I always slept with my arm under the pillow plus my posture is poor so stopped sleeping like that and started sitting a bit Bette also and the ache reduced the pain was In my upper and lower scapula. Then a few days later I started poking at my other scapula on the left side and noticed the ache was also in similar place there also but wasn't sore just sore when poke it. Started getting shoulder pain on both shoulders and my right pinky is tingling but again not overly painful just when I poke them. So tried getting a hot water and putting it on my back and messaged the pain out and it sort of worked as couldn't feel the pain for a while after that but like I say there's not much pain from them just when I poke them. At the Moment my shoulders have a burning feeling in them I took ibuprofen this morning which slightly help the shoulder ache.

And can you get these tumors in both lungs as notice most symptoms seem to be on one side.

Any feed would b helpful

cheers

Nicky

I've never heard of getting a pancoast tumor in both lungs.  Look at the stats for a minute,  millions of people suffer every day with the type of pain you describe and it's not cancer.  Pancoast tumor is rare even for older adults (my husband was 53 when he was diagnosed with one and he was considered young) with a significant smoking history.  You're 39, don't smoke.  The pain from pancoast is severe and becomes unrelenting.  Another thing I just thought about is you probably have changed your activity levels since the pandemic started and that can cause weird aches and pains.  I hope you search the site because you will find that the vast majority of forum posts on the subject sound a lot like your posts and none have come back with a diagnosis.  I wish there was something I could say to make you not worry about having cancer but I can't. 

Take care,

Janine 

janine 

A couple days ago all my pain from the pancoast symptoms pretty much went I think this all just down to stress my only concern now is that I noticed that I have lost 9lbs in the last 2 weeks even though I have been eating regularly and remember I thought It was happening on both sides well I noticed I am struggling to sweat on my forehead at all even though I  know  the room is really hot and so am I.

Thanks

Nicky

Hi Nickyloon,

Stress can certainly cause muscles to tighten up and cause pain, as you suggest. And it's also true that cancer pain does not tend to wax and wane; rather, it just tends to get worse over time, so you wouldn't expect the pain in your shoulder and back to go away. And I would concur with what Janine said, that I've never seen reference to pancoast tumors in both lungs. I think your remaining symptoms will require further workup to try to determine their non-cancer cause. 

I hope that you can find some answers (and appropriate remedies!) soon, so that you can become more comfortable, both in body and spirit.

Jim C Forum Moderator

Weight loss from cancer happens when a person loses their appetite and doesn't eat, it's the lack of eating that causes weight loss.  I can't tell the reason/s for your symptoms that's beyond our abilities.   I hope you're better soon.