Hi I have secondary breast cancer with extensive bone mets. I have to wear a brace for my spine, just been for the fitting. Does anyone else have to wear a back brace for bone mets?
I'm sorry to hear you need to wear a brace on your spine for your bone mets Lee.
Hopefully some of our members who have been in a similar position will share their experiences and advice with you soon but if you have any further questions or concerns about wearing a back brace that you'd like to discuss with one of our cancer nurses, you can give them a call on 0808 800 4040, Monday - Friday between 9a.m - 5p.m. They're very knowledgeable and will do all they can to assist you.
Hi Lee, I have secondary breast cancer and had to delay chemo due to broken vertebrae in my spine. I wore a back brace for 6 months daily and then was able to reduce use gradually until I was able to go without it. It has greatly reduced my mobility and I’ve found that I need it occasionally if I want to (feel fit to) do some light housework.
Hi Sharon, thank you for letting me know. I got my back brace yesterday and was told to wear it everyday and take it off for sleeping. I don't really know why I have the brace as don't have a broken vertebrae but I do have extensive bone mets and a big one on spine. I had radiotherapy for that last week. Been in lots of pain since. I think oncologist just wants to protect my spine as he says it can snap easily. They do like to scare us :). I see from another thread that you have been battling a lot of secondaries. You are a very brave woman. Big hugs.
I’ve been told to wear my brace if pain gets too much or I feel weakness in my back. It is a good idea to protect your spine especially if you have osteoporosis too. I hate the hassle of it so I have to be pretty bad to put it on. Since I was last on here my hospice nurse has been overseeing my medication and wants to wean me off the MST. She referred to X-rays and noted that I had major blockages in my gut due to constipation and concluded that it was contributing to the back pain. Also the mets in my spine are significantly reduced in size and they think that the pain is more likely to be coming from the osteoporosis. She put me on a laxative regime to get fully cleared out and now that is done I’ve noticed a significant reduction in pain. It has been a vicious circle really cos I was taking morphine for the pain which caused constipation which caused more pain. Now that I have got rid of what was clogging my gut I’ve started taking 20mg less of MST per day and will keep reducing weekly and see if I can tolerate it. If it works I will have non opioid pain relief and hopefully no more constipation. I’m optimistic for a better future and really hope they can get me pain free and morphine free. I’ll update here in a few weeks when it is complete.
