Pain in tumor after CT scan with contrast?

August 2, 2023 8:55 PM

I had a fine needle aspiration biopsy taken from a 4mm tumor about a week ago that is papillary thyroid cancer according to the test results. The person who did the biopsy sent me for a CT scan with contrast today.

Everything went fine (I'd had one before and it went roughly the same.) About 8 hours have passed and I am experiencing the worst pain I have ever experienced in my entire life in the tumor site. It's a solid 9 out of 10. I am finding it very difficult to maintain my composure/not scream. I should note that pain was the first symptom I had--it started about 2 months ago and has been getting increasingly worse. It's almost midnight. Is this possibly related to having contrast? Is this an ER situation or a grimace and bear it until I can call my doctor in the morning situation? (I am notoriously idiotic about these things--so many times I have been sent by UC to the ER only to sit in a chair for 12+ hours for no reason, so I never trust myself.)

Thanks.

posted by MagnificentVacuum to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

Have you tried calling your doctor tonight? Some of them have answering services that can page an on-call for an emergency. Or does your healthcare provider or insurance company have a nurse hotline? They can sometimes help you figure out by phone whether you’re in an emergency.

That said, I’m not a doctor, but if the pain is really 9/10 and you’re close to screaming, and you have cancer, that’s an emergency in my book.
posted by decathecting at 9:02 PM on August 2, 2023 [7 favorites]

Definitely call. Pain that severe should not be minimized or ignored.
posted by Alensin at 9:11 PM on August 2, 2023 [7 favorites]

If I did not want to wait until the morning, I would call before I went to the ER. The question I would ask myself would be, what will the ER doctor be able to do about it? I am not a doctor, but I am someone with long-term pain issues (back -- 3 surgeries) and I would guess that after waiting a while, when you see someone they will at most give you some pain medication to hold you until you can see your own doctor. If that would help, go for it.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:25 PM on August 2, 2023

Go to the ER. That is too severe a pain to wait.
posted by praemunire at 10:57 PM on August 2, 2023 [7 favorites]

absolutely go to the ER. you've just had an invasive procedure--the biopsy--and that level of pain merits an emergency response.
posted by homodachi at 12:32 AM on August 3, 2023 [5 favorites]

Go to the ER and tell triage that you've had a CT with contrast dye today. You may be having an allergic reaction to the contrast dye. I have this allergy and it wasn't discovered until my second contrast MRI because typically, these allergies worsen with exposure so like time one is fine, time two sucks, time three you go into anaphylaxis.

You should not wait and should go to the ER.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:59 AM on August 3, 2023 [7 favorites]

OP, please give us an update eventually, if you can.
posted by Bella Donna at 12:30 PM on August 3, 2023 [4 favorites]