Just diagnosed DCIS; tingling/pain in hands and feet

Ruthi

Hi everyone:

I have been lurking on the boards for two weeks while waiting for a diagnosis, afraid to write anything but very grateful to everyone who has. I was just diagnosed a few days ago with DCIS and am currently looking for a surgeon. In the meantime, I have been experiencing intermittent tingling/pain in my hands and feet. Exercise, stretching make it feel better and actually go away. I can't find anything on the boards or anywhere else about these symptoms, other than issues with chemo or bone cancer. I'm wondering if anyone else experiences this symptoms with this diagnosis? Or, am I looking at something worse down the road?

I_Spy

Hi Ruthi:

Welcome, and sorry you are here. As far as the tingling: DCIS doesn't have any symptoms, and rarely does bc at all (and if it were big enough to be causing symptoms of some kind, they would have seen it already on the imaging). To be honest, tingling is a symptom of anxiety (hyperventilating), which you have a total right be experiencing. DCIS wouldn't make you tingle -- it is a tiny microscopic build up of cells in your breast that we are very glad they caught before it became something more. Otherwise, tingling is a symptom of nerve pain or spine issues, but hands and feet are two different ends of the spine (top and bottom). I think when we get a diagnosis suddenly we notice things we never noticed before? It's like when you see a spider and then you feel like you have spiders crawling on you? All of that said, for sure mention it to your surgeon when you see him/her. If it is really bothersome, maybe get an appointment with your family doctor first? I painted two accent walls in my house and pulled a dead rosebush out of the garden and planted new flowers, between my diagnosis and surgery haha. It is good to find some projects to do to keep your mind occupied.

As to the surgeon: try to go to an NCI designated comprehensive cancer center. They deal with breast cancer every day, and the surgeons are specialists at cutting out DCIS properly. You don't want to go to someone who does breast cancer surgery "occasionally", you want someone who does it every week, right? This is the page to find a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated comprehensive cancer center:

http://www.cancer.gov/research/nci-role/cancer-cen...

Good luck with everything!

Toscaxoxo

It could actually be anxiety, especially since the issue resolves when you do certain things that would tend to relax you. You may be breathing differently, and understandably so. Cancer is a real mind game as well as a physical challenge. My forearms ached when I was first diagnosed, and I found it was because I was putting a death grip on the steering wheel when driving without realizing how stressed out I was. I am sure others will have more suggestions. Sorry you have to be here, but it's a great site.

Twinmar

hi Ruthi. This is interesting because the same thing happened to me. I was diagnosed with Low Grade DCIS May of 2012. I had a lumpectomy on June 3. The very next day I started to experience buzzing and tingling in both my feet and lower legs. I thought perhaps something happened in surgery or it was some sort of reaction to anesthesia. It got worse and by the next week my hands were also affected. I have had numerous blood work done along with a complete neurological evaluation and nothing can be found. I was put on some medication which made me feel drugged out and so I stopped it I have learned to live with it and it really hasn't stopped me from any activities. When I mentioned it to my surgeon he said it had nothing to do with my breast cancer and was merely a coincidence.

Ruthi

Thank you everyone for replying. I have also been told that my hands and feet have nothing to do with breast cancer - that I have repetitive strain injury in my hands and tendonitis in my feet. I guess I believe it because both improve with exercises. It is odd that it is all happening at the same time. I also am having a lot of anxiety about my diagnosis so yes, that is I am sure, playing a part. My anxiety is over the top.

ChiSandy

Few people have only one medical issue at a time, much less in a neat sequence. Having breast cancer doesn't mean you can't have a pinched nerve in your neck; having arthritis doesn't mean you can't have anxiety; having high blood pressure doesn't mean you can't also have diabetes; having asthma and allergies doesn't mean you can't have cancer. There's a name for all these conditions that exist independently of--and either predate or occur after--a breast cancer diagnosis: comorbidities. Having received your cancer diagnosis, you are probably suddenly much more attuned to your body, and notice stuff that was there all along but never bothered you before. Remember: coincidence doesn't equal correlation and correlation doesn't equal causation. (This applies to life in general, especially politics).

SallyAnneS

Anxiety! I suffer from GAD and I have had terrrible throat issues since my DCIS diagnosis. Curiously, they went away while I was recovering from an rrSO and are only returning now, 3 weeks later, as I anticipate another surgery.

My body just manages to find something for me to fixate on when I'm anxious. Of course, that doesn't mean you (or I) should ignore real symptoms. But my rule is if it's not acute wait 3 weeks and if it's still there, see the Dr. I would bet quite a bit that your symptoms are anxiety. They certainly aren't from the DCIS.