Burning sensations after mastectomy

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  • peppie1
    peppie1 Member Posts: 1
    edited July 2014

    well me its been almost a year since my surgery,, mastectomy and 15 lymph nodes removed.... followed by 6 chemo treatments and 20 rads...  two weeks after the radiation was finished, i started experiencing awful awful burning pain in my armpit and across my chest.  its now been almost 4 months and the pain is still there... i get such upper arm tightness and burning awful pain... and the weird thing is i also get it on my other side,, and i have had no surgery or radiation done on that side... it feels like i am walking around with bags in my armpits that burn all the time. Also across my upper back in between the shoulder blades there is so much tightness also... i have had a spinal MRI to see if anything is wrong.. nothing seems out of whack there,, i live in constant pain every day with  no answers as to why. i have tried all kinds of nerve medications and nothing relieves it.  

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  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited July 2014

    peppie, sometimes pain goes to another area as a reaction to damage to the real spot. That is referred pain. So, you`ve tried Lyrica, Neutontin and Gabapentin (some duplicates there, but I don`t know what they are called where you are)? Have you tried massage? Heat? Cold? I had this little cheap massager from Walmart - a cute bug-like thing that ran on batteries. It buzzed and I would hold it to areas that were in spasms to break the spasm. Took a while, but it did help. Keep us posted, sweetie!

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  • lhawknc
    lhawknc Member Posts: 1
    edited September 2014

    I'm so glad I found this forum and topic.  I had my mastectomy 15 days ago.  Around day 10  I started getting the crazy shooting pains.  Thought it was the drains.  However, the drains were removed 2 days ago and still pain.  May have found a bit of relief - I just did some walking on the elliptical (broke a sweat - but very careful about my arm and upper body), the pain has lessened.  Maybe that's the heat factor. :)  Will refer back here to remind myself of the other recommendations you all have provided.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited September 2014

    Dear lhawknc, welcome to Breastcancer.org. We're sorry you have to be here, but glad you found us!

    Besides sharing your experiences and learning from other members here at the boards, you may also be interested to take a look at the Breast Cancer 101 section from the main site. This is designed to help you sort through all of the information on our site to find what is more relevant to you right now.

    Also reliable information on IDC — Invasive Ductal Carcinoma where you'll learn about symptoms,
    diagnosis, treatment, etc.

    We hope
    this helps and your pain adjusts. It is often the nerves that have been cut or damaged in surgery that cause shooting stinging pain and numbness. The body needs time to readjust to these changes.

    The
    Mods

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  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited September 2014

    lhawk, about day 10 the nerves start regenerating and that is the zings and zaps you are getting. They are quite annoying but don't last for too long. You will find you may become sensitive to even clothing touching your chest and hugs become painful!

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  • klmk1974
    klmk1974 Member Posts: 6
    edited September 2016

    Really? I'm 2 months out and I have a lot more feeling than I thought I would . None of it pleasurable though . There is some numbness , but not as much as I thought I would have . I can feel the needles go in and out when they do te fills . I can feel when they write on me to mark me for radiation. I can feel heat and cold and have feeling between the expanders in the middle of my chest . It's only an area about the size of my palm on both sides that is completely numb but it extends under my arm on the right where they took lymph nodes .

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  • klmk1974
    klmk1974 Member Posts: 6
    edited September 2016
    1. I've been on gaba since April and have had to triple the dose since surgery. I was living for accupuncture but it got to the point where the pain was so bad I could not tolerate needles. I'm on vitamin b and a magnesium combo and they just added amitriptyline . Working on getting dosages right so I can have relief and get some sleep . BC is not supposed to hurt but that's how I accidentally found the tumor .
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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited September 2016

    Hi Kimk1974,

    Welcome to the bco community forums.

    Unfortunately there hasn't been any activity on this thread since 2014 so you may not get any responses to your post here.

    May we suggest that you post in September 2016 Surgeries thread to talk with others post surgery.

    Sending you healing wishes,

    The Moderators.

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