20 plus surgical clips left..does anyone have this?

smart23...i've got some of these titanium clips in me, too.  my surgeon used them when he removed my gallbladder in sept 2009; i've had NOTHING but pain...i can't remember how many i have...it's several, tho.  like you...i knew NOTHING about them for quite some time.

 i am STILL suffering from severe pain; to be honest...it feels like one of the clips has come loose and is lodged in my liver...AND my liver isn't functioning properly; hasn't been for months now.

 of course, nobody's real eager to admit it could BE something like that.  i'm not interested in suing anybody.  i just want this pain to go away...and for my liver to work correctly!!

 met w/my surgeon today; am having a CT scan thursday.  guess we'll see.  the problem is...the clips will show up in the area over my liver; that's where the gallbladder WAS...idk if the CT scan will show if there's one stuck IN my liver.  

but my pain line follows the path of these stupid things, too.  i think some people just can't tolerate them.  if i'd been told about them, i would have NEVER agreed to having them used.  i am SUPER...HYPER sensative to things.  they NEVER should have used something like this with me.

Debbelle -

Titanium clips are not magnetic.  That is one of the advantages of using them.  This was discussed in this thread back in 2009:

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/62/topic/735615

I have over 26 clips that have been bothering me for over 2 years. The surgeon was informed I was allergic to metal prior to surgery. He is one of a few who staple the chest wound so it accidently came out that he would have to insert 1 clip. He decided he would stitch the wound and then told me he didn't use any metal and the nurse is telling me it's an emotional reaction. Doctors aren't always honest.

I had an immediate reaction rashes internal itch and major pain. I asked him again how many clips and the answer changed to a couple. I went for my own xrays and have multiple clips .

The doctors think ititanium is inert and there is no possibility to be allergic. The clip touches my skin and causes a reaction. a high percentage of women are allergic to nickel . I am getting the clips removed because it affects the immune system the blood and organs. A clip has surfaced to the skin and the doctor won't even see it. If the clips are bothering you insist they be removed . I have no idea why doctors don't listen to the patient. Most breast surgeons are socially incapable of understanding.

Hello,

Yup, Had a Right Modified Mastectomy for Paget's Disease of the Breast.  Stupid surgeon says he took a few lymph nodes, lab never got them.  Who knows ?  What I do know is that I have had severe pain for 13 years usually in my armpit, but now my upper shoulder and back are numb and I have pain on the shoulder blade tip near the spine.  Wearing cold packs under my bra strap.  I saw lots of staples or clips on an x-ray years ago about five years after the surgery, too.  Now those x-rays seem to be missing....going for an MRI for my back pain next week.  They will do an x-ray first to look for the clips.  I will be looking at those x-rays before I let anybody do anything further.

Well count me in this group too ... Just learned (from xray) I have a clip left attached to my right axilla (of course I am rt handed) after my bilateral in 2008. Been complaining of excruciating pain there for 5 years (now I have nerve damage all the way down through middle finger on right hand) and I have been wondering why the surgeons "circle the wagons" every time it comes up for discussion in check ups . Now I know.



Maybe we should start a new subgroup: the "Clip Sisters" since there seem to be quite a few of us who end up with unintended and undesirable remnants of surgery left in our bodies that cause us long term pain and limitation in our life after cancer... Just sayn!



As for me .. Gonna explore other options. I don t trust doctors who I feel have not been completely honest with me both in causes of my pmps and in denying pmps for 5 years. Nope... Fool me (for 5 years) shame on you. Fool me again... shame on Me!



Frankly at this point I'm trusting the Brazillian Shaman and his ayahuasca more than my two doctors who have been "crazy making" me about this pain for so long.

I too found out I had the clips only when I had a chest x-ray and the tech came back shocked and asked me if I'd had chest surgery! Fortunately I haven't had any issues with the clips, but I wish someone had warned me that they were in there, just so I knew.

Hi Coess, and welcome to Breastcancer.org!

While our Community is always very helpful, this thread is a bit old and may not get the attention it needs for you to get some answers. You might want to start your own thread within in the Surgery forum to see if it draws some advice from our amazing members.

We hope this helps and look forward to hearing more from you!

--The Mods

I have been in pain for over two years with weird sensations that my docs kept saying we're other things. Lymphedema -is mild and not causing my issues which is tingling burning across chest with certain movements. This sensation causes me to cough terribly and I feel flu like when it happens. I had pain sincer surgery and rad in fall 2013. In March 2014 I was shoveling heavy snow and I felt pain in my chest and armpit but kept going next day is when the tingling burning began and I went on journey of doctors sending me to other docs and tLE specialist then my shoulder froze and symptoms were less. They happened less often so I could live w them. Then my shoulder began to unfreeze and since last May this year I've been in pain all on my right side. Sever armpit pain and rib pain and that tingling burning in chest was awful. I have been searching for help ever since. My BS was no help and I finally found a physiatrist to help me and a pain mgmt doc. I found them on my own. I had an mRI of brachial plexus and that was normal but physiatrist called me and mentioned surgical clips and how they are right near my pain and that he read cases where woman got them removed and had symptoms go away. He suggested I see my bs. But I feel she's blown me off w any complaints. So now I am trying to research this issue and see how I can get my BS to listen to my thoughts on this. I am also seeing a plastic surgeon to see if he'd take them out. I'm miserable and am in terrible pain. I just got a device called quell that has helped with the burning and such but bc the pain is less I can pinpoint exactly the areas of pain I have and it's all where clips are. I'm have a CT scan be the one wants to rule out mets. They don't think it is bc mri I just had showed nothing in the area of pain. Plus CT will show clips too. I'm super sensitive to things and I can't believe I didn't think about clips until doc called I'm sure he didn't want to make waves w BS - but he is dir of cancer rehab at natl rehab hospital so he's pretty smart. So here I am will see

Sweeney22, I hope you get this message! My current issue sounds much like yours. I had 21 nodes taken out with Axillary Lymph Node Dissection (mine was a recurrence in nodes that were previously found as benign in my SNB), and am now finding out that I have a mass of clips that were left in during surgery. I found out after an MRI because I'm experiencing pain and discomfort with my median nerve, tingling, numbing, burning down my arm into my ring and pinky fingers. Apparently after an EMG nerve conduction test, I have a blockage of the Brachial Plexus which is the bundle of nerves under my arm. I see the Dr. of Physical Medicine today to review, however had an appt with my radiologist who showed me the images of the clips, that she thought by feel was another mass. She had done an earlier CT scan to rule out malignancy. So my question to you is what did your drs recommend since this post , have you had any success with procedures since , and how are you doing? I'm so relieved to have seen your post and hope you are doing well!

Mastectomy with saline implants on right breast 2012 and just (last week) found out thru a chest X-ray that I have several surgical clips . I never was told and have complained about the pain and hardness , under my arm there is cording of the muscle. I was told it all takes time . Now I suspect that this will never improve . I also want an explanation and if possible them removed.

I am so relieved to find this. I found a small hard lump deep in my axillary surgical bed ( I caught the cancer both times so I'm also subconsciously feeling around). I was sitting at a tall table in the kitchen while on vacation and found this and double ckd my last couple of ultrasounds and CTs and sure enough multiple surgical clips are noted. Given I had extra capsular extension including one clump of nastiness wrapped around a vein that the nurses, RO all remarked how masterfu my surgeon took out...I'm breathing a BIG sigh of relief. Still will ask at my next ck up in a month to confirm the watermelon size seed bump I found is indeed not growing and is in one of the clip areas. I took a whole attivan and a whole ambien to sleep last night. Ugh. The fear catches me off guard on vacation. Damnit! Damnit!

My 8 yr old climbed into bed with us this morning, slept in until 830 and woke up staring into his beautiful blue eyes smiling at me. I would never have believed I considered myself blessed being a two time survivor after 6 1/2 yrs...but thinking of all the people who die young or quickly, car accidents or other. I am blessed.