Breast pain post radiation

Wackywardwoman

I agree with you 100% I feel betrayed by my Drs . They just simply wanted me to do the radiation.

Rmcadle

I finished 6 weeks radiation in August. Skin is back to normal color but I am hurting a lot under my arm. I had a lumpectomy and two lymph nodes removed from under my armpit. My breast takes spells of itching and it is very tender. I have told my medical doctor and my cancer doctor and they blow it off. This doesn’t feel right. I don’t know where to turn. My cancer doc only wants to see me every 6 months. They made my apt for 3 and he was asking why was I back so soon??? I told him not my fault. I am worried. Just my arm brushing against my skin is painful. Any pressure on my breast is painful. Reaching up or out with my right arm is painful. I have had 10 surgeries and I am not a wimp. I had rotator cuff surgery on my other arm and two weeks later I cut out a quilt. I could make a wing with the operated on army. The doc was blown away by how good I recouped. So I am kinda nervous about what is going on

DeeInDu

I apologize in advance for this whiney rant.

I just had my first radiation treatment this morning. The head of radiology was told by my oncologist that I didn't want radiology and he had to explain it well to me... in ENGLISH. (I live in Germany.) One of the things that he said and I have in my notes was that I would not have symptoms until the third week of treatment, and that would be like sunburn.


I call B.S.

Three hours later I had burning in my nipple. It feels like a burn and a mosquito or chigger bite. From just ONE treatment. If it is this uncomfortable after one 15 minute treatment, I worry that it will get worse.

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with my symptoms, but while I was on my second type of chemo, I got shingles (herpes zoster) on the breast with the tumor to halfway around my back. All herpes virae affect the nerve endings so I've been unusually sensitive. I had to quit chemo early because the first (Epirubicin and Cyclophosphamide) did very little to shrink the tumor and the second, Taxol, gave me every known side effect and a few others the doctors had never seen, PLUS the tumor grew a little.

My prognosis is great, but my treatments have been hellish. The surgeries (two, for more margin, but there were no cancer cells in the second) were the easiest part, despite that they happened the same month that I had to bury my husband. I've been very, very stressful and don't know if that is what is making everything seem harder.

BTW, my oncologist told me I would have no side effects from Tamoxifen... "Well maybe a little joint pain in a few weeks." One tablet and I decided to wait until he comes back from vacation. (Extreme nausea for 3 days.)

gb2115

My breast is still sore a year after radiation. It's been like that for a year, pretty steady. Nothing else appears to be wrong with it, so I'm assuming it's from the radiation.

sramer

I am 9 months out of radiation and pain in the treated breast seems to be getting worse by the day. Doctors state this is normal. Turmeric curcumin supplements seem to help.

PezGal

Sramer - do you put the Turmeric curcumin straight on the skin (like an oil) or ingest it (like a pill)? I had radiation June 2016 and I'm STILL having SE's.

ohioproud

Has anyone tried therapeutic massage on the treated breast? I am 4 months out and my breast hurts more every day. Happy I’m here to complain about it though.

Bauer4

So I had my first radiation treatment today. I have had a fairly pain free process with my lumpectomy and SNB. The treatment was fine, just a little uncomfortable on the hard table, but my breast is now very sore. It is like a heavy feeling. Is this normal. I know the treatments are necessary, but this is more breast pain then I have had. Will take Motrin had hope it helps. Thanks for any info you can provide. HUGS to all.

Veeder14

Hi Bauer,

Sorry to hear you have pain. Are you prone or supine for your treatments? If your face down it could be pain just from the breast hanging down. I didn't really have pain but sometimes it just seemed sore from the position.

Bauer4

I am supine, Motrin was helpful. It was more of a "full/weighted" feeling. I was uncomfortable, but tolerable.

gb2115

Hi Bauer, if the heavy feeling is from the radiation it might very well get better in a few days. I started off with a hot inside feeling (yes like it was microwaved)...they said impossible and unrelated, but it did go away after a couple treatments. I also had initial swelling right at the start.

19501952

Hi All,

I had 8 treatments of CMF followed by 21 radiation treatments. Chemo was tolerated ok and radiation was a breeze. My last radiation treatment was June 5 2018. Suddenly 2 days ago on June, 22 I had severe pain in my treated breast that has not let up. Tylenol does nothing and I’m increasingly worried. I am also running a temp of 99.7-100.7. My normal temp is 97.6. Is this a common thing to have sudden severe pain?

Thanks, Kate

Relentless

Hi I had a lumpectomy 7 years (yes years ago) followed by 6 weeks of radiation. I had very few problems with it just alittle scarring. Then about six weeks ago my breast turned really red and swollen. My Dr put me on antibiotics which did little then did mamo which showed thickness then 2 biopsies which were neg. So he says it's a reaction from radiation and maybe heat (not sure why). It is slowly getting better. When I get warm it still gets red ish. I'm using Arnacream hoping that will help. Dr said it's not cancer again so I am so thankful for that. Has anyone else experienced this after that long? Seems like radiation does strange things.

Jackiee

I also finished radiotherapy 4 weeks ago and my jaggy pain and tiredness is worse than earlier. Like you I seemed to sail through the actual radiotherapy sessions. It’s probably normal but I am concerned as I thought it was getting easier. I can’t stand anything on my breast, bra, t- shirt although feel the support would be better. I have to wear really loose tops.

Spoonie77

Jackiee-- You're not alone. I'm sorry you're still dealing with SEs. Everyone is so different, but hopefully your body is on the mend and moving in the right direction. I'd say keep an eye on things and if it gets worse, you should definitely talk to your team.

When do you have your follow-up and discharge with your RO? Mine was about a month out from RADs ending.

I'm now 7 months out from RADs, although i struggled the entire treatment time with SEs, I'm still struggling with pain and SEs.

I've yet to be able to wear a "normal" bra post Lumpectomy/RADs. I cannot lay on my stomach due to the pain from more pressure than a compression bra. I still get zingers of pain, my nipple still is "sticky", and my left breast is definitely still healing. I have to go to cancer rehab 2 times a month, do lymphatic massage therapy daily, wear compression garments, and the rest of the rigamarole to keep the LE & Fibrosis in check.

In general, I think my fatigue from RADs continued onto into about 4 months or so after. It took forever to go away. Now my fatigue is Tamoxifen related. Uggh.

Nothing about this battle/journey is easy. Hang in there and keep posting. It helps to know we're not alone in all of this.

Hugs and healing.