LE & Cording.. How bad is the pain?

Lainey64

LE & Cording.. How bad is the pain?

Lainey64

I'm just wondering what kind of pain others experience with LE and cording.  I have a dull aching pain in my arm, underarm and sometimes breast.  I had a lumpectomy with axillary node disection in Nov 2008 and finished rads in May 2009.  I just want to get an idea if what I'm feeling is "normal" pain for cording and mild LE.  I saw my LE therapist yesterday and she let me feel the cord under my arm.  It's not that big but she said it's the cause of the pain.  Oh, she taped me up with Kinesis tape yesterday and it's helping  a bit.  Thanks for any info!

sushanna1

My cords only hurt when I tried to raise my arm above my head.  Re: lymphedema, mine only hurt when my hand was really swollen.  It felt like a dull throb.  However, my affected arm and side often feel strange.  Some of it I attribute to nerves trying to regenerate.  It is more of a tingly feeling as when your foot "falls asleep."  I have learned to tell the difference between the tingly feeling and a strange heaviness that is my warning to put on the compression gear and do mld (manual lymphatic drainage).

 Sue 

annadou

I find that its an ache -like all the tiredness of the body relocates to that arm ,shoulder and breast.I cant seem to relax it at all. Some days are better and I suppose its directly proportional to the ammout of swelling. To be honest I am pretty well sick of the whole business of physio and those damm bandages. Rant+++

Good luck to you all

Anna

Binney4

Anna, I hear you -- really sorry for the long haul this stuff is. Onward anyhow! What are your prospects for getting done with

Lainey, I've not had to deal with cording myself, but the breast/chest LE can be downright painful, and not real responsive to pain killers. On the other hand, keeping the swelling down controls the pain as well. Certainly is motivating!

Hugs,
Binney

Neece

Hi Lainey

I found the cording very painful and it restricted my arm movement a great deal when it was at its worst. Happy to report am currently free of it! (after five months of on again off again problems) The LE is most painful in my hand and under the forearm where it is swollen most: feels like a bad bruise and when I try to close my hand it feels like I am wearing a glove several sizes too small.

I had a week and a half of bandaging recently plus daily MLD by my husband and it reduced my swelling by 50%. Great result. Am now in compression sleeve and swelling returning a little: will get measured in another week again so I will be interested to see result then. DH is still doing daily MLD - he is absoultely determined to "beat this thing" if at all possible.

kira66715

Neece, what a great DH! Recently a couple of women posted about how they wore compression for about two years, and gradually their LE became much better. There is hope!

I completely agree about the two pains;

  Cording is a piano wire in the arm pain, and hurts with movement, and touching it

  LE is an ache and a fullness and also hurts when rubbed, and often you can see it, as the area is pale due to lymph fluid.

  When my cording was bad, I couldn't reach for a glass. When my LE acts up, it's an ache.

  Neece, my LE is in my hand and the inside of my wrist also.

Kira 

Lainey64

Thank you ladies for your very informative responses.  My arm occasionally has that dull aching pain accompanied by a feeling of fullness.  But the most pain I believe is coming from the cording under my arm. Stretching my arm over my head helps it alot.  I thought within a week or two this would be over but it seems to be lasting a lot longer.  Ibuprofen isn't helping much.  Does anyone know if there are any creams that help? 

Neece

Lainey not that I know of. I really think regular (REALLY regular - like several times a day) gentle stretching exercises, and massaging gently where the cording starts - usually under arm - helps. But for me it took a while - months - but is finally gone (I think and hope!)

Lainey64

Thanks Neece.  I have noticed that I sleep better and it doesn't hurt as much at night if I make sure I do plenty of stretching during the day.  I guess it will just take time.  I will pray that your's is gone for GOOD!!

DFC1994

I had cording develope under and down both arms. The left shortly after my surgery,the right a couple months later.In my experience it did not hurt until I reached or stretched out my arm. I could see a band under the skin all the way to my elbow in my left arm and my right arm went to the thumb.It is extremely painful when reaching or stretching but not painful at all when the arm is relaxed.I ended up going to therapy for the right arm,the elft resolved on its own with warm wet heat,took forver it seemed.Therapy on the right arm definitely helped. they stretched and stretched and would pull on the actual cord.very painful experience but by week 2 the pain was leaving when I reached or stretched and by week 3 the pain was gone. The cording itself is almost gone now and I have my full range of motion back.Not many Doctors know about cording,(axillary web syndrome).I wish it was more researched for women because it has definitely been a problem for me.Therapy helped me greatly.I was told by all my Doctors(4) except one that the cords were anything from a pulled tendon to a thrombosed vein.

Lynh

I had the cording on my abdomen.  It ran from under my rt breast down.  It was uncomfortable and painful to the touch.  I started lymphatic massage and it disappeared completely after two treatments.  My therapist uses a machine that's very gentle.  She also uses very gentle massage.  It worked wonders for me.  I've been doing it every two weeks since my lumpectomy last June.  I had a BMX in January and started weekly treatments.  I really believe that it has helped my healing.  I always feel better after a treatment and seem to have more mobility.  

Lyn