Breast Expanders, sharp stabbing pain to rib area after fill

Hi blsamples!

Sorry to hear about your pain. Expanders are so uncomfortable and are not fun. I too had very sharp pains in my rib area. I don't have much comfort suggestions for you. I did alot of pain meds and icing my chest. If the pains continue I would definetly contact your PS. I was so excitted to get through surgery that everytime I went for a fill I had my PS fill me as much as possible. Not sure how much your PS filled but you might want to get less next time too. Just talk to your PS and let him know.

If you have any other questions let me know. I will try to answer what I can.

Dawn

blsamples-

It sure does take your breath away. I agree with that. So imagine how I felt pushing my doc to give me a double fill of 120cc on each side. I did it often and was stretching so good that my doc only agreed for that reason. Every time I did it and was in pain I always asked myself why?



Good luck!!

Dawn

I am so glad to find this post. I had a BMX on 3/7/13 with tissues expanders. My first fill was two weeks later on 3/12. I am now almost 4 weeks out from surgery and am still experiencing LOTS of pressure and pain. I've been doing some ROM exercises and sometimes it helps a little but the pain is always there. I am on Alleve right now, and I really don't want to take anything stronger. It helps dull the pain a little but it's always there.

I also have pretty extreme skin sensitivity. Did anyone else experience this?

How long until your pain/tightness goes away? I am not getting good answers from my PM.

thank you!

I get the rib pain as well, I was told that is where the PS sewed the muscle back in place after placing the expander underneath the muscle.  The best way to stop that pain for me is to take the Valium they gave me for spasms.  The pain a lot of times is the muscle spasming from the expansion.  The Valium makes me groggy but I need it for at least a day or two after each fill.

I hope your pain gets better, hang in there.  Light is at the end of this tunnel.

Hello Everyone,



I'm five weeks post op and can't deep breathe, hurts to walk (any type of bounce) and just hurts all around. They gave me Norco, but it doesn't work. I was filled with 50 cc's at two weeks and I won't go back until I'm seen by pain management.



How are you all doing now?



Thank you so much!

I am 25 days out from double mx and still having lots of skin sensitivity.  Sometimes just standing in the warm shower helps a lot.  The muscle pain takes a while to go away.  I have two implant procedures for breast enlargement in 1984 and 2000, now have tissue expanders after mx.  It takes time for the pain from the muscle being stretched to stop.  But it will go away at some point.

I have been reading all your comments I haven't had my yet I had my right mx last August and now I have to have my left breast off now at the end of November and have breast expanders in I'm a little scared as all of you seems to be in a lot of pain I can't wait but I'm a little worried not I hate pain I'm a bit of a wossy when it comes to pain but iv also been reading how you all got through it as well so all I can say is bring it on ha 

I am happy that I found this forum. I had my right breast removed and have expanders. I will see the PS tomorrow for expansion, and after reading everyone's post, I am not looking forward to it. I had my surgery 10/2/14, and I am trying to deal with the pain with Tylenol ES because I do not want to be so sleepy all the time. I feel assured though that the pain I feel now is not so unusual. I am hoping for an uneventful expansion.

Hi KimmieStrong, we too are glad that the four was able make you feel better! Yes, you can get through it! Please, keep us posted.

I have been in and out of the emergency room with 5 visits so far in two months. My mastectomy surgery was on August 15, 2016. I was in a non-ending cycle of pain. My longest timeframe pain free is about 5 days and then the cycle of pain returned. However, since being press ibed a pain medication which I will talk about later in the post, my pain is gone.

This post represents my own experience. Your experience and reasons for experiencing the pain can differ, but I am certain the the pain is very similar. I am not a doctor, but a fellow mastectomy patient experiencing pain wishing to bring clarity and understanding to something that we are not told about during our consults. I was not advised this would happen, in fact my doctor denies the importance of it's occurrence advising me to go to my Hemetologist and get on Tamoxifin so that I will end up having early onset of menopause and the hormones will no longer cause my breast and my glands to swell and this means no more pain and hence he doesn't have to deal with my pain.

How intimidating it is to have a doctor who tells me this is the only way to contain the cycle of horrific pain I have experienced!but not all is in vain. I couldn't and wouldn't accept his opinion. Another doctor disagreed with his diagnosis and suggests that we first try removing a few cc's to my left breast. He put in a referral for this same doctor to extract some saline and see if that works. It may be a nerve issue and the extra cc's are making it tighter when I do ovulate or get sick. But pushing Tamoxifin on me as the only alternative to the pain until my surgery, is careless of my doctor and also in my opinion, not very compassionate. In fact this invalidation feels especially insidious because I am his patient and must rely on him for future care.

So to begin:

What is the professional terminology for the pain?

Dyspnea, Rib cage pain, muscle spasms, or mild atelectasis (collapsed lung) or Pneumothorax

What does it feel like? What are the symptoms?

There are several different symptoms and they all carry a degree of minor to major pain. Some pain can be managed by resting or taking muscle relaxers, or anti-inflammatory medicine. Major pain can be managed by taking medications prescribed by your doctor.

Shortness of breath

Stabbing pains in the rib or right or left chest (breast) upon inspiration or breath intake, while laughing, coughing, or sneezing.

Tightness in the chest which is accompanied by stabbing pains.

It has been labeled as "spasms" which occur after an injury. In this case my injuries I define as getting the flu, getting pneumonia, and the actual injections which seem to have a tightening effect on the the chest wall area. The reason that the spasms occur for me seem to be because of the protecting actions I take...not fully breathing because I begin feeling pain...but for for prolonged periods of time, it can create the deep pains that seem to need medical intervention.

How long can it last?

For me it lasts on average for up to 14 days and them subsides only to begin over agin after less than a week. I have had the flu and also suspect I had undiagnosed Phneumonia which cause the partial lung collapse.

What seems to precursor to the pain?

In the beginning stages, my breast seem to be enlarging, especially the lymph nodes.

What seems to always occur just prior to the onset of pain manifesting?

CC injection

Getting the flu

Getting phneumonia

Ovulation/ menses

What can help to treat the pain?

Natural Remedies:

Osteopathic manipulation

Fascial release techniques

Deep articulation techniques to the thoracic spine or ribs

Strain/counterstrain techniques

Rest and hydration (hydration is very very important) keep a Brita System Water pitcher on your bedstand. Not being hydrated DOES increase the pain.

Spirometer (plastic handheld breathing device which helps you increase your lung capacity and prevent the lung from developing mild atelectasis. You can purchase one at a medical equipment store or online for about $8 to $16 ) exercising your lungs and getting them strong is key if you have mild atelectasis like I did. (You will need to have X-rays to confirm you have this).

Nebulizer (Albuterol) treatments (this is administered by a doctor).

Inhaling steam from a humidifier with (OTC) over-the-counter natural medications (a handheld breathing machine for around $30 online and the OTC natural medication.)

Prescribed Medications that helped me:

Zofran, Dilaudid, Valium, oxycodone 5mg

The Oxycodone was the only medication to STOP the pain immediately. The side affect was drowsiness.By arresting the pain in it's tracks at the onset, my day goes from being riddled with unbelievable debilitating pain, to being completely pain free. But the Oxycodone is addictive apparently, so for me this is just as needed and temporary while in transition to get my final implants in 8 weeks.

So, this is my experience, but my hope and wish is that if you came here trying to find relief you are able to speak with your doctor about what is a common but not addressed problem apparently by these doctors who do our expanders. There needs to be some studies done because it is more problematic than is being suggested. And there needs to be some foolproof ways to begin treating this. We are women and when our doctor is a man, he may not understand how horrifying the pain is. But he can take compassion and he can begin to ask significant questions and find solutions for his patients.

If you are affected and have found this website, please do every women in the future a favor, create an account and post your experience. Let these doctors know these symptoms do exist for any of us. And hopefully by more women who post it will get some notice.

Thanks to all of the wonderful professional doctors who have been so helpful and compassionate to me and explained all of the things I have explained here. Btw all of the doctors who helped me learn more were in fact male doctors and very compassionate. I am very blessed to have found doctors whose insights added together created an alternative pain managament plan for me that works.

Since the most recent post was 2015 I thought I would post my experience. I had a BMX with immediate reconstruction and TE in both breasts. They were both filled with 175cc at the time of surgery. The pain from the drains went away after removal (about 3 weeks), but the pain from the expanders is constant. I was allergic to codeine and hydrocodone (sp?) and don't like taking Valium so my only help was Ibuprofen (800mg prescribed) and Tylenol ES 1000mg. I would alternate every 3-4 hours. I eventually went down to Tylenol only since I started having blood in my stools.

After my first fill the pain had decreased a bit so I was convinced it was because the TE were not full and moved around too much (this is for me, the creepiest pain ever!) so I thought that as they got fuller it would get better but the pain has never completely gone away and at the end of my work day they are so tight I wanna cry. Then at my last fill which put me at about 300cc of a 375cc expander capacity. I could barely breathe or walk without sharp stabbing pains in my chest wall and back. To make matters worse, I also had contracted a kidney infection. My sweet husband has tried massaging and icing my back which does help a bit but I am unable to move around much at all. The right side is worst than the left and one thing I noticed is that the TE on my right is flatter and lower than the left so it may be that it is just healing in an awkward way so more painful. To complicate things, I had a frozen right shoulder before the surgery so I am bit suspicious as to whether this may also be a contributing factor. I took Tylenol and added ibuprofen back and finally took some of the Valium that was prescribed which it has helped me sleep but doesn't take pain away. At this point I can't go back to work which is making me crazy.

I am going to try some of the range of motion exercises to see if that helps but am waiting to meet with a PT to help with the Frozen Shoulder.

I am grateful for this site and wish Doctors would be more helpful.

Severe Atypical hyperplasia, 0 stage, high grade DCIS STU in left breast, no chemo or radiation, non-nipple sparing, Bilateral Mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. TE Right and Left breasts.