Hello and thanks for the query.

Let me reassure you to start that the pain you are describing as well as the discomfort does not sound at all symptomatic of any kind of malignancy - including lung cancer.

I treat lung cancer patients all the time and I can say with conviction that I am confident you have no lung cancer whatsoever.

Your symptoms seem to be exacerbated by positional changes and sounds much more like a musculoskeletal pain of musculoskeletal origin.

What I mean by this is that your symptoms come more from the muscles, bones and joints rather than from some kind of underlying disease process.

Yes, reflux can mimic some of these symptoms and you truly may have a degree of that going on.

The remainder of your symptoms however speak more to something musculoskeletal as I mentioned earlier.

I am very glad to see that you jog regularly. Congratulations on that and I hope you continue to do so for as long as you are able.

One consideration is that you suffered from a viral illness and this set off a bit of systemic inflammation which created these sensations of joint pains, sensitivity and discomfort.

Generally if that occurs it takes a number of weeks to clear.

Also, mild arthritis could explain some of the symptoms as this can occur in shoulders, knees and even the chest wall.

You have had an extensive cardiac workup which rules out cardiac dysfunction as a cause which is also reassuring.

Chest and shoulder pain or bone pain in general related to lung cancer more commonly occurs in a setting of extensive and metastatic disease.

These patients are profoundly ill with severe respiratory compromise and weakness.

Try to keep in your mind that you are no where near to this kind of health status and have very low risk for developing lung cancer let alone an extensively metastatic case.

A chest x-ray would have showed not only something in the lung but also destructive lesions in the bones - again you have neither of these.

I thank you again for the query and hope my answer has served to be adequate and informative. Should you have additional concerns I would be happy to address them.

Sincerely,

Dr. Galamaga

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Hello and thanks for your followup.

Regarding the chest x-ray, radiologists are highly trained to look for any subtle change on an x-ray study regardless of why the test was ordered. If they saw anything suspicious they would have commented on it and recommended further studies. This is the common practice of radiology in the clinical setting.

Regarding your shoulder pain - again it's not related to any kind of cancer in your case. In a case of advanced cancer, if it spreads to the bones, it can cause such things as shoulder and back pain which becomes almost unbearable and excruciating.

You are correct - early signs of lung cancer are usually respiratory and commonly include coughing up blood.

Please don't apologize for asking questions here - this is the precise reason we are here for you and that is to answer your concerns no matter how seemingly small.

I thank you again for submitting your concern to us. I am available should you have any additional questions as well.

Regards,

Dr. Galamaga

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