Symptom, side effect????

[wvredneck4_48]

Jimmy has been freezing for about 5 days. He usually sweats when the temp reaches about 55. I know that the bodies temp. regulaters are in the brain. His PET showed nothing there on the 17th. Could it have gotten there in this short of time or could this be from his weight loss? It really worries me. Does anyone have any ideas on this or experienced this?

[Connie B]

Are you saying they did a PET scan of his brain? Has he had an MRI of the brain? Did they rule out no brain mets? Has he had a bone scan? When dealing with LC and being he hasn't started any treatments as of yet, I would really consider calling his doctor. It's so hard to guess as to what could be going on. It could be a lot more then any of us knows. And it's best to leave it up to the medical team to find out. Not to mention you get peace of mind knowing your doing all you can and so are the doctor's.

Please don't wait until May 2, give your doctor a call and tell him Jimmy's symptoms. It's very important to stay on top of things.

[wvredneck4_48]

I asked his surgeon if it was anywhere else & he said they didnt see anything anywhere else. So I assumed that they had looked at his brain also. Now I'm wondering if they did. No, he hasent had an MRI. Just the ct & PET. I'll try to call 1 of his Dr.s today, but it being sat. dont know if I can get anyone. Thanks for setting me on the right track.

[wiesia]

I have lost a lot of weight several times in my life (once from severe dehydration after I moved to Utah and forgot to drink water). And yes, I do feel cold when I loose weight. It is very unpleasant.

[wendyr]

Maurice feels cold most of the time and we live in Florida! I think it's all part and parcel of the disease and the treatment. Good Luck & God Bless

wendyr

[fillise]

It may be just the disease with a good dose of apprehension, but I know it would be comforting to get a Dr. to check on it.

Susan

[Mendy]

I know many here have said that they feel cold but I believe that is a complaint after chemo starts. I would be suprised if your husband wasn't told to get a brain MRI by his oncologist. They need to know what they are treating.

My husband who is normally very warm kept our house uncomfortably warm this winter while wearing many layers including his coat at times. He does not have mets anywhere else. I believe it was the chemo that knocked him out of wack. Now that he is almost two months post radiation he is back to normal.

I wish your husband much success with his treatment.

Mendy

[DrWest]

PET scans are very good for detecting disease in a large part of the body, but they don't necessarily see the whole body. Because the PET scan relies on the cancer picking up sugar molecules, parts of the body like the heart and brain that are always metabolically active (we hope) are hard to detected problems with. So we often do a dedicated head MRI or CT (MRI is more sensitive than CT for detecting brain mets). That said, there are many reasons for patients with cancer to run hot or cold, and brain metastases wouldn't be high on my list. It's fair to question, but I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that being cold means someone has brain metastases. But the other thing to know is that the PET scan often doesn't say much about any problems in the brain.

-Dr. West