Hi,
I’m posting this in several places so as many people as possible read it. I’ve been in constant pain since my failed recon in July 2008 to the point where I’ve been told by several Surgeons that ANY further surgery is out of the question for me. On Thursday I found this on the Internet
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7844435.stm
I certainly wasn’t warned this could be a possibility. Was anybody else? Had I known then what I know now, I’d have chosen a different route, possibly increased surveillance and not surgery…
Trudie.
Hi Trudie,
I am 7 years post op and although I wasn’t in constant pain, for years I was constantly uncomfortable across the chest and down the arm with additional occasional stabs of pain. I found that swimming helped a lot if my arm had become particularly achy. I now do pilates every week, on the machines and that has helped hugely. More so than the swimming which I didn’t do often enough. Nerves take a long time to heal and the scar tissue can’t help so anything that helps to soften the whole area should be good. It has certainly helped me.
I am really sorry you are in pain. It makes it so much harder to feel positive and to try and not be a cancer victim but to get on with life again. It has taken me years to feel this good and that still includes a varying degree of discomfort but really nothing that stops me enjoying activities. I have written on another forum that I have just turned down the offer of a reconstruction as I am scared of going backwards to an increased level of discomfort having worked so hard to get to where I am. A good pilates studio should be able to give you a personal plan to release tension in the appropriate areas which might in turn aid nerve recovery.
Good luck.
Hi All
I just wanted to update you on my recent developments re: chronic pain post mastectomy. I just recently got a new GP as mine moved on to other things. Anyway this lady was amazing, first of all I went in with my huge speech ready about the last 2.5 years of my medical history but she knew all about me already - (impressive but also proved my infamy after a rather spectacula collapse in the crowded waiting room whilst on chemo - another story!!) anyway I explained my pain and she is the first Dr in 2.5 years who actually looked at me and said I believe you are experiencing this pain!!!Very different from both my surgeons who had the attitiude that because they couldn’t explain why I had this pain then it obviously didn’t exist!! I am now taking amytriptiline 10mg at night and she warned me it would take a couple of weeks to kick in. I’ve been on it for 3 weeks now and it has made an amazing difference. If you Google amytriptiline - low dose, there is loads of stuff about it’s effectiveness in chronic pain.
I hope this helps others to know this…
Good Luck xxx