What is the difference between bone metastasis pain and ordinary pain?

Bone metastasis refers to the cancer cells of malignant tumors in parts other than bones that "run" into the bones through the blood and lymph, where they set up camp and grow. The cancers most likely to metastasize to the bones are breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer, thyroid cancer, and kidney cancer. Other tumors may also metastasize to the bones, but they are not as common. Bone metastasis is common in malignant tumors that metastasize to the spine from the spine, pelvis, and femur . It occurs most frequently in the lumbar spine, followed by the thoracic spine, and least frequently in the cervical spine. Once the bones metastasize, pain follows. Some patients experience pain at the site of bone metastasis before the primary lesion is found. At this time, it is easy to confuse it with common pain such as neck, shoulder, waist, and leg pain, and they cannot seek medical treatment in time, thus delaying the disease.

What is the difference between bone metastasis pain and ordinary pain?

1. Severe pain. The pain of bone metastasis is usually severe. Usually, oral non-steroidal analgesics alone cannot relieve the pain. Strong opioids, such as morphine, oxycodone, fentanyl and other anesthetic drugs, are needed to relieve the pain. If a pathological fracture occurs, there will also be local continuous sharp pain, which is almost unbearable. Oral pain, such as pain caused by cervical spondylosis and lumbar disc herniation, is generally dull pain, which can usually be relieved by oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics.

2. The pain gradually increases. As the cancer progresses, the pain of bone metastasis will gradually increase. According to the pain score, it may be mild pain at the beginning, with a score of 2-3 points. As time goes by, generally after 1-2 months, the pain will gradually increase to 5-6 points, or even 10 points and persist. Ordinary pain will not have such obvious pain aggravation without any inducement, and the pain can be intermittent, not so continuous. 3. The pain is more severe at night. Bone metastasis pain may be relatively mild during the day due to distraction, but the pain is more severe in the dead of night. Some patients are even afraid of the arrival of night, so some hospitalized patients need intramuscular injection of morphine or oral immediate-release morphine before going to bed to control this kind of explosive pain at night. Ordinary pain will be relatively mild at night, especially the pain caused by diseases such as lumbar muscle strain and herniated disc, which will be significantly relieved after rest.

4. The pain site is relatively fixed. The pain site of bone metastasis is generally relatively fixed, that is, the site of bone metastasis. The pain of thoracic and lumbar bone metastasis can also radiate to the surrounding areas. Sometimes the pain point of ordinary pain is not the site of the lesion. For example, lumbar disc herniation sometimes manifests as lower limb pain, but the lumbar spine does not hurt. 5. Patients with a history of cancer usually have a history of cancer. Once pain occurs in the thigh bone, waist or back, a bone scan or local magnetic resonance imaging should be performed in time to clarify.

6. Abnormal bone scan: Patients with bone metastasis pain will show local radioactive concentrations in the painful area during bone scan, while ordinary pain will not show abnormal bone scan.

7. Accompanying symptoms include bone metastasis pain. Due to the presence of the tumor, patients will have systemic accompanying symptoms such as weight loss, fatigue, poor appetite, fever, etc., while ordinary pain will not have these symptoms.