Hi ladies had a mx on thursdays i no its early days yet but did anyone experience a dead arm mine is completely numb being doin my excercises goin to speak to the nurse 2moz see whats she says
I did experience a very ‘empty’ arm after mx and I felt it was completely useless. It was as if all the muscles had been taken away but my hand worked ok!
Sounds ridiculous I know,but is this anything like you are experiencing?
BCN kept saying it would get better with exercise but mine didn’t!
You sound as if you’re doing your early exercises more religiously than me which is great. Keep it up!
I required long term physiotherapy to be replaced eventually by swim therapy. Hard work but it all paid off in the end… I had my mx in February 2010 after two previous ops so maybe that was part of my problem. Who knows but it is quite worrying, isn’t it?
I’m hoping your dead arm will improve with time as it is very early days. Fingers crossed your arm numbness will improve very soon.
Welsh girl
Thanks welshgirl was worrying about it have been doing excercise liked they said just keep on with it i also feel like i have a big hole in my arm too waiting for nurse today to change the dressing not my best hobby i havnt any patience and dont like waiting hee well needs must
Nurse came again 2day she wast happy with swelling went back hosp they was happy 2 leave it alone mentioned dead arm she said early days yet keep up excersise how long will it be b4 i feel anything
It really is disappointing when the medical staff sit on the fence and say ‘give it time…’ or ‘let’s see how it goes…’
This is such a new experience for us all that we all need support and encouragement for every stage!
I hope your arm does become more normal.
You’re keeping up the exercises which is great. Well done you.
Because I felt I couldn’t stretch my arm fully I protected it too much at the early stages. I often wonder whether if I’d pursued more full stretches despite the discomfort I wouldn’t have had such an empty arm for so long???
Basically I was a bit of a wimp at the beginning because I was too scared to stretch…
So you keep on stretching!
My physio gave me an easy one to practice just about everywhere!!!
It was to swing my arms like a windmill, at the side of my body and in front making sure you do both directions.
I used to do it in the bathromm, at the stove and even at the bus stop! Because it was easy to accomplish I did it far more often and built up the numbers which really did help my dead arm and stiff shoulder.
Eventually with your BCN permission maybe you could integrate this movement into your daily routine but perhaps not yet as it is still early days.
Good luck!
I had a double mastectomy and axillary clearance under one arm and did experience heaviness, some numbness and pain if i so much as brushed against it. That was just over a year ago.
You’ll probably find that you get all sorts of weird sensations like shooting pains and tingling. Like Welsh Girl I really struggled to get my arm above my head and it took me about 6 weeks. I religiously did my exercises though and it worked in the end - I have a good range of movement now.
I’m not sure if you’re saying that you have no feeling in your whole arm or part of your arm?
I am left with numbness down the back of my arm from my elbow to my shoulder and including part of my shoulder. I don’t even notice now. I do realise though that my left arm is weaker than it was and started yoga 2 weeks to try and build up some upper body strength and more flexibility.
I think there is some adapting to be made too by our bodies. I had quite a lot of muscle from the chest wall removed too and that does affect what you do with your arm. I can’t remember the mechanics of it but my friend is a clinical massage therapist and he explained it to me.
If you have swelling it probably is to soon to for them to say. Keep at the exercises as best you can and remember it will take time to heal.
Be easy on yourself and take care
Ex