Nerve Pain After Mastectomy/before Reconstructive Surger

Lindsaygirl

I had a double MX 18 days ago, along with lymph node extraction, and have implant/reconstructive sugery in 2 days. I did not have any expanders put in. I am still having severe nerve pain across both breasts, as well as painful tightness. I am so nervous about going in to another surgery in this condition. I cannot imagine how much more pain there will be after implants. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks, Kelley

Moderators

Hi Kelley-

We want to welcome you to BCO! We're so sorry to hear about the pain you're experiencing. You might find our Reconstruction or Surgery forums helpful in answering your questions, lots of great info there. You can find the recon forum here: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/44. And you can find the surgery forum here: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/91.

We hope your pain starts to get better, and that your reconstructive surgery goes well. Please keep us posted, you're in our thoughts!

The Mods

Wildplaces

Kelley,


Postoperative pain is common in up to 50% of patients following mastectomy and axillary dissection.

It may last for weeks to months, so you want to get it sorted!!

It is best managed with the help of a pain physician and or anaesthetist ( depending on where you are)


A combination of non opioids (opioids being morphine like drugs ) such as anti inflammatories, tramadol, muscle relaxants, tramadol, gabapentin or pregabalin works best with small doses of opioid like drugs in tablet form or by patches. I am NOT suggesting YOU take these drugs - I am saying that you have options and you need to speak to someone who treats pain regularly and get an appropriate regimen for you, your general health and your specific type of pain. This is harder to do than it sounds - anaesthetists seem to hide 😉🙄 in theatre....( by the way they respond to emails/SMS sooner - they like screens)

I would try and find the name of the anaesthetist ( the surgeon office knows who is doing that list that day and how to contact their office) who is doing your implants and call them - explain the problem. This sometimes takes a few phone calls because they are often in theatre but once you get to speak/contact to the person all is sorted so worth insisting. There are nerve blocks that can be done on the table in theatre (intercostal nerve blocks) that will give you a good start following your recon op - they generally last overnight - so you can wake up from surgery comfortable and get your pain regimen adjusted.

Hope that helps,
😊🌷

Lindsaygirl

Thank you so much Wildplaces; your response is so helpful. I will definitely be more proactive this time around when it comes to my pain management.

beach2beach

Kelley,

Hi, this may not help but I wanted to say I had a double mastectomy but went straight to implants same day. I had the tightness. I'm just saying that it's possible that you won't feel any worse than you do now. It took a few days, and I stretched my arms and it gradually got better. I wasn't offered pain killers, they only gave high dose of Ketorolac (heavy duty Tylenol). If you don't mind me asking what are you doing for implants that they did not start the process the day of surgery?

Definitely speak to the PS and express how uncomfortable you are now and you don't want to be incapacitated after a 2nd surgery and ask about pain meds.

Lindsaygirl

Thank you beach2beach. They could not do straight to implants due to poor blood flow to my right nipple. I am doing Ideal Saline implants. I will definitley be voicing my concerns - thanks for the support!

manifest4best

Hi Kelley! How did your reconstruction go? How are you feeling now? I am contemplating getting the Ideal implants also, and am interested in hearing any stories from women who have gotten them. I hope you are feeling great!

Lindsaygirl

Hi there, I wish I had better news to report. I am 13-weeks post reconstruction, and I am still in severe pain - shotting pulliing pain across most of my breasts, along with severe tightness under my breasts. My doctor put the Ideal implants in below my pectoral muscles. He has concluded that this is the cause of my pain, and has recommeded that I have further surgery to move the implants above the pectoral muscles. Needless to say, I am very frustrated. My recovery will basically start all over again. I do not know if this situation would have occurred with a non-Ideal implant. I will go with a smaller silicone implant this time, due to them being placed above the muscles.

Does anyone else have experience with changing from below the pec muscles to above? How invasive is this surgery? Will my recovery be as bad as it was the first time around?