Hello
I’m a 40 y/o non-smoker, but lived in a home with 3 heavy smokers until age 19. I have been experiencing posterior shoulder pain that worsens at night and sometimes radiates into my neck (same side). Depending on how I rest or use my arm, it becomes numb. I have thought for a while that maybe I hurt myself, honestly I’m a heavy woman and I thought maybe lifting myself up with that arm could be the cause. But after many months of limiting my usage of that arm and trying to do exercises to help heal, it is not feeling any better. I haven’t been to the doctor for it yet and I’m slightly ashamed to say Dr Google is making me think it’s a Pancoast Tumor. So naturally, I’ve spent the last 4 hours (330am-now!) researching and worrying myself sick. I absolutely am going to make an appointment with my GP and explain my concerns but I worry that she won’t be thorough or may be dismissive. Can anyone put my mind at ease?
Pancoast symptoms
MirandaD
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Reply # - September 30, 2024, 11:24 AM
Hi Miranda, I hope I can put…
Hi Miranda, I hope I can put your mind at ease. The reasons for your symptoms are numerous and a pancoast tumor is close the bottom of that list. A lot is going on in the area between your spine and your arm.
Pancoast tumor pain gets worse with time and when I say worse I mean unbearable. I'm not sure why google is the root of so many concerns about these tumors but we get several a month and none have come back to say they had one.
The sooner you find what's causing this the more likely you are to heal more completely.
Take care,
Janine
I joined GRACE as a caregiver for my husband who had a Pancoast tumor, NSCLC stage III in 2009. He had curative chemo/rads then it was believed he had a recurrence in the spine/oligometastasis that was radiated. He's 10 years out from treatment.