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Joint Pain
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Joint Pain

› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Joint Pain

  • Post
    • February 28, 2018 at 3:39 pm
    Sharon93065
    Participant

      I took glucosamine chondrotite for years due to osteo arthritis and it helped.  Then last spring i dropped it and everything else going into combo treatment didn't want anything interferring with results.  Dec '17 finally weanted off prednisone and i am on 1mg of opdivo every other week. Since weaned off prednisone the joint paint in my ankels, knees, buttocks is pretty bad.  Hurts to walk, hard time with stairs etc.  I asked dr if i could start back on glucosamine and he said yes.  The Meloxicam prescription i have had, 7.5 mg. He said i could take one or two a day but not to exceep two weeks.  Worrisome for kidney damage.  So i only took for 3 days and quit.  Saving them for bad flareup.

      Any advice from others on this subject.  Water aerobics helps.  Can't wait for it to get warmer to use our solar heated pool.  Don't want to use ymca pool, too much chlorine.  

      My recent mri had two  new small spots show up, will get new  mri in 3 weeks, but everything else from the brain down is good, the two new nodes in my gut, one is gone and the other shrank.  The mass in my lung gone, and even the groundglass cannot be seen.  

      Thank you all for your support…and this forum.  

      Sharon

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    • Replies
        • February 28, 2018 at 6:14 pm
        cancersnewnormal
        Participant

          Sulfasalazine did the trick for me. 500 mg x 2 daily. It's an old school DMARD. Doesn't interfere much with your immune system. Side effects are minimal for most people, if they have any at all. It took about 3-4 weeks to kick in, but the difference was AMAZING. It was soooo nice to finally be able to ditch the pain. Doesn't seem to work for everyone, but might be worth a shot. 

          • March 2, 2018 at 12:41 am
          jennunicorn
          Participant

            If the glucosamine supplements worked before then start them up again. I started taking them after I was on treatment a while and joint pain had gotten bad, it helps me quite a bit. It won't interefere with treatment at all and it's easy on your body. It takes a few months for those supplements to start working so if it doesn't improve after a few months then I would talk to your doctor about prescription options. 

              • March 4, 2018 at 7:58 am
              Sharon93065
              Participant

                 

                Thank you Jenn.  I started taking glucosamine in 1994.  And whenever i get lazy and don't take it, after awhile i would wonder why i was having a arthritis flareup. And duh i wasn't taking it.  So i would start up again.  You are right it does take awhile to get into your system.  So I will be faithful in taking it daily.  So i will take meloxicam for bad flareup days.  Take care, Sharon 

              • March 2, 2018 at 6:47 pm
              Mat
              Participant

                Sharon, I think this is another one of those "each patient is different" things.  My fact pattern is similar to yours except that I had no arthritis prior to treatment.  I tried sulfasalazine (high dose) for many weeks.  No effect for me.  I've had good success with methotrexate (high dose) and prednisone.  When I started on methotrexate, I was at 20mg/day of prednisone.  I would also need kenlog (steroid) shots.  I'm now down to 5mg/day and hope to avoid the shots.  The one trick with methotrexate is that there is a ramp-up period and it doesn't start working (in a noticeable way) until 2-3mos in.  I've gone from awful stiffness and pain (and walking like an 80 year old) to just some stiffness and little pain.  High class problems.

                  • March 4, 2018 at 7:55 am
                  Sharon93065
                  Participant

                     

                    Cannot take the prednisone with the Opdivo maintenance tho.  

                    • March 5, 2018 at 4:47 pm
                    Mat
                    Participant

                      Not true.  I was on prednisone the entire time I was on ipi/nivo.

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