i have a compression fracture, from no trauma??

[toomuchpain408]

im going to make this short, because as many times as i ask, nobody replies, so i tend not to go into much detail if it goes unanswered.

ive had an xray showing narrowing of vertebrae, ct scan showing a compression fracture.
doc asked me if i had any trauma relating to the pain, i said no, he said theres a couple possibilities, one, tumor, two, osteopororsis.
i had an mri and bone scan last week, im worried about cancer being a possibility, metatastic cancer, possibly which moved from lungs, i think lung cacer, because its in my family, my grandmother died from lung cancer, and they say metatstaic cancers first symptom is sudden back pain, which occured in august, i have DEAD feelings throughout my shoulders, arms, neck and legs, aside from my actual severe back pain, what can be done?????

[sammis_mom]

My daughter was diagnosed at 11 years old with osteoperosis, she started with back pain the would come and go for a few years then the pain became very bad and they did some xrays, ct's, mri's, bone scan's, and dexa scan to find out that she had a compression fracture in the thoracic spine and osteoperosis but no trauma to cause it.  She has tried many things for the pain, physical therepy, rest, heat, ice, tens unit, pain clinics, but we took her to a chriopractor and it helps her greatly.  

[Cherie762]

I dont know you case is baffling..it would sound like osteoporosis or brittle bone disease but thats an easy dx...your age is typicallly too young for that and even if you had a cancer it woulda/shoulda been dx by now,,,,,,Id insist on testing till you get a diagnosis a fractured spine is way to serious to dismiss.....dont let them do that to you..

[toomuchpain408]

my prognosis, well i dont have any serious problems as of yet, for whateverf reason, which i absolutely dont understand is, is that after all the tests ive done so far not one of them shows the reason/cause of the compression fracture, how is this possible??

[Cherie762]

hi there Im here in florida thinking of you its been a few days since you posted hows your prognosis? any new problems or information as to a diagnosis?

wish you well and I hope the pieces of this puzzle start to come together I find your case interesting/concerning....Im glad your seein a neuro too. Best wishes..Cherie

[toomuchpain408]

doctor, i am reasonably healthy, my health has been declining since i hit 20 but prior to that i was in shape, healthy, used to play sports, such as hockey and basketball, never received any kind of injury due to sports, no kind of injury at all, and i do know its rare to see somebody at my age with a compression fracture, ive been hearing it from all the radiologists and doctors who see my "chart"?

jay, thats one of the things im worried about, basically if its cancer, it would be almost as bad as osteo, the way i see it, because if your mother suffers from compression fractures at her age, it just seems like its happening much faster in my age, and im only 27!! so that bothers me, making me believe that ill be incapable of living my life without constant help

cherie, i smoke marijuana, cigs on rare occasions, im supposed to see a neurologist but my doctors assistant made the appt the same day as i was supposed to see my doc, only 30 minutes before, so now i have to reschedule my neuro appt, again....
but id much rather skip that than my doc, gotta find out whats going on with me.

ALSO, today, when i woke up i noticed another pain around my calf area, def not bone, but everytime i try to stand up and walk theres a excrutiating pain in my calf area, pretty sure its related to my back pain, because everytime i try to move backwards or forwards that part in my calf starts to hurt, i constantly find myself walking with a hunchback, not being able to stand completely straight, i sometimes have to walk with crutches, i have even fallen down twice, smh....all this pain is starting to get me more and more depressed

[J T Junig, MD PhD]

Your profile says that you are 27?  That is young for a compression fracture from any cause, and young for cancer also.  Did you have any severe health problems at a young age?  Any severe dietary deficiency?  See the post in this forum about the girl with compression fractures-- that is more typical, after trauma.  

Please don't take the lack of answer as lack of caring;  sometimes there just isn't much to say, as more testing needs to be done.  The bone scan will see if this is a localized process, or if it is affecting other areas as well;  There may need to be a biopsy at some point to take a look at the bone, to see why it collapsed.  I'm sorry there isn't more to say at this point, but I agree with the suggestion to try to avoid 'awfulizing' things.  Lung cancer would be very unusual in a person your age.

[Cherie762]

are you a smoker?/
is it at all possible you could have done somthing that injured your back and shrugged it off thinking it was nothing even like bumping hard into a corner or something like that...I responded in more depth to your other post....like above said thats my reason for suggestiong a neurologist wouldnt hurt I think it would be a wise move...you will still nedd your bone dr but Id get a neuololgocal opinion.

[Jaybay]

I'm not the doctor, but my mother suffers from severe osteoporosis, as did her own mother.  Compression fractures in the spine are very common over time with this condition, and although it mostly happens to women, it does crop up in men.  You just don't hear much about it.

Try not to convince yourself that it's a terminal cancer before the results of the MRI and bone scan are in.  Think "horses" rather than "zebras".  :-)  The lack of feeling you describe is very typical of impinged nerves in the spine, and I think your doctor is on the right track in this instance.