cording

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1

well last week my chinese docor said that by the way i seemed to be recovering I would suddenly get a lot better on day 10 and he was right(or is he some sort of hypnotist?)

I have been realy lucky with pain, but last night I was so uncomfortable, pulling stabbing feelings all evening. Woke up this morning(day 11) and my body feels back to normal, without thinking using both arms equaly. no soreness on the breast unless i realy prod the wound. did my excercises and for first time they did not pull on the wound --sorted!!

however, looks like i have got cording. Tight pain from arm pit towards elbow as i do excercises. i have to breath in stretch a bit more, breath out,breath in, stretch a bit more breath out until i get that arm to same position as other one can do. Not bad pain, i am too much of a baby to endure that, but enough to stop me doing the excercise in one movement. It started a couple of days ago.

so when does cording normally start, does it get worse? and how have people treated it

2

Hi OAL

Here’s some info from BCC about cording:

breastcancercare.org.uk/breast-cancer-breast-health/treatment-side-effects/surgery/after-surgery/

3

thanks, that says it occurs 6 to 8 weeks after surgery–so thats not it then, must just be the old muscles protesting.

4

Hi O & L

I had cording 10 days after mx; some very kind ladies helped me and here’s my original thread… might be of use.

breastcancercare.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=29843

I used to find the end of the cord (it’s like a piece of fine string) and massage it upwards towards the armpit, was painful at first but did this on advice from physio, so if you can talk to yours about it too. It has settled down now, but my arm is still tight so still doing excercises, sorry for rambling…

5

Oh yes and I used pure Aloe Vera for massaging…

6

yes thats esxactly what i have got, except that it is not visable (tubby arms??)wonder why the web site says it occurs so much later

will try the massage., and speak to chinese doctor on wednesday

7

Hi oal
I had cording about 3 weeks after my op. My physio manually “snapped” them out with massage. She also suggested using my good arm to support my corded arm when bringing arm to overhead postion, this really worked as it took tension off the cording.
T x

8

i am entitled to one more session with the physio after the stitches are healed so I will talk to her about it if it has not cleared up. Snapping sounds a bit painful though!!

9

Hi OAL
my cords were like strands of dry spaggetti and when they are put under tension and broken they snap but it doesn’t really hurt.
good luck
T

10

Gosh Terri 52 yes I recall that now, my physio snapping one, and no it didn’t hurt but you could feel it go!

Love the profile pic btw…

11

actually, i used to get cramp in my legs, and if i coud not catch it in time and relax it was so painful. the only was to stop it was for my husband to grab the leg and realy squeeze it hard and then when it went i used to sqeeze it afterwards, even though the area was sore.

well this is not cramp, but after yesterdays excercises instead of massage i realy grabbed the area and squeezed tight. Did it afte each set and it hurt like hell. But today it does not pull as bad during the excercises and afterwards did not hurt as bad.