Breast pain

TiaHanna

I had breast surgery August and September of 2013. I am still having lots of pain from the incision area. It knocks my breath out at times. It also goes down my arm. I had a lumpectomy and lymph nodectomy. What can I do? Mammogram comes out normal but I'm still in pain

ravzari

It's possible you've got some adhesions on/around the incision site; those can be pretty painful, especially if they get pulled.

Might be worth looking into a massage therapist who's trained in Myofascial Release as it can help with painful scar tissue, doubly so if there are adhesions (as it can help loosen and release the adhesions). I've seen a few other posts around this forum where that was recommended and it seemed to provide some pretty good results.

From what I've learned, adhesions form the scar tissue at a surgical site, especially in breast surgery, aren't terribly uncommon either.

There's also a possibility that it's neuropathic pain too; in that case, massage can still help, but it may not resolve the issue and you may want to talk to a pain specialist about it.

Moderators

Welcome YeseniaGibson, and thanks for chiming in!

marveletar

I had a dbl mastectomy on 7/16 and I feel like such a big baby cuz everyday seems to bring a new pain. Did anyone have any pain in the top shoulder area almost 3 weeks after surgery?

ravzari

marveletar, I did for the first few weeks, and it turned out to be because I was inadvertently slouching/hunching my shoulders forward and down to avoid 'pulling' on my incisions.

Once I started making a conscious effort to not do that the shoulder pain faded and eventually went away.