just started 16 out of 20 rads. Skin still good, not tired, and now i have started excercises no stiffness. Got drummers nipple but that was me being silly (see P.S.) But nobody told me about possible nerve damage (or was I asleep at that point) Last night i kept waking up with hot pains in my breast going from my SNB scar, as if there was a quite warm poker being put ithrough the wound into the centre of my breast. I was convinced it was an infection. Showed it to the nurse today and he said that I have got nerve damage caused by the radiation. Of course I now realise that if I grab my breast hard the pain goes, just like straight after the op. But I cannot walk round holding my boob all day, so I need pain killers. The nurse seemed a bit non-commital about if its going to get worse, go away etc. But today i have come home and wrapped myself up in a big warm fluffy dressing gown and am laid here in bed grabbing my breast. Thank goodness the skin is not sore otherwise it would hurt when I grabbed it and hurt when I didn’t. Its not really a bad pain, just annoying.
Has anyone else had this?
PS–drummers nipple. The radiologist said although i had not started getting sore it might be a good idea to leave my bra off for the last week as a precaution. Fair enough, I am not vain. But after two days of letting it all hang loose whilst drumming I have developed sore nipples which i assume is the musical equivalent of joggers nipple. Silly me.
Quite the opposite of “letting it all hang out”, I got back into my sports bras so there wouldn’t be any rubbing or friction at all. I got a bit of peeling and a bit of broken skin underneath, but I’m convinced having them lifted up pertly (ha!) in a cotton-lined bra was much kinder to my skin than doing the pencil test and having my nipple rubbing on the inside of my clothing.
Nipples were very sore and felt much better with all the possibility of rubbing eliminated. (OH rolled over and put his elbow on my sore one last week, I nearly hit the roof!)
i am thinking of putting the bra back on, its a realy well fitted sports bra, soft with seperate cups. Perhaps the tightish cups will have the same effect as me grabbing my boob and help with the pain. i can put some soft cotton hankies under the boob to keep it away from my skin if it rubs later
If you do get some breakage of your skin, they can give you some intrasite gel, but they didn’t tell me how to use it! So what I did was put a layer of the gel on it, then lay flat on the bed until it dried, and that stopped any rubbing as well. Inside of the bra got a bit covered in it if I didn’t leave it to dry for quite a while. No idea whether that was the right way to use it, but apart from the mess it kind of did the trick and the peeled nipple didn’t get any worse.
My skin has broken all under my breast. I finished my Rads 10 days ago!!
They have given me some gel and also dressings to lie on top which is supposed to help the healing again.
I find that my breast holds it in place and I don’t have big ones!!!
xx
put my sports bra on tonight and it has helped the pain so much. i kept feeling it start and then hit the squeezed boob and just stop. so i am wearing it in bed tonight and hope it will help get a good nights sleep—along with the bottle of wine i shared with friends tonight along with a good laugh about old times.
Vaseline on them, that’s what joggers to for friction