How long to feel normal after implants?

HI Notverybrave - I had my BMX in May too (5/25) but I have TE above the muscle instead of direct implants. I still have some nerve pain around the perimeter of my breasts. It can be quite annoying and was keeping me up at night until my PS said I could take 300 mg of gabapentin at night and that has made a huge difference, not just at night but the next day as well I don't need any during the day now that I am taking more at night. I think the larger dose calms down the nerve endings enough that it lasts a while - I still feel the stinging type sensations during the day but not as much and I can easily distract myself with other things. Plus gabapentin helps with sleep too so that's a bonus. Are you taking anything for nerve pain? If not, I would definitely ask for that since that made a huge difference in my overall daily quality of life!!

Overall, I am feeling fairly normal (whatever the heck that is!). I have full range of motion back with only a little stiffness though I haven't really done any of the exercises they gave me. My breasts of course are still quite numb and I am pretty tender still under my arms (I think that is also nerve pain since I didn't have any lymph nodes removed there). My energy level is back to normal - getting more sleep finally has helped with that. I don't know if your restrictions are the same but I still am supposed to not lift more than 5 lbs, which is a pain in the butt and I have to keep reminding myself because I don't feel like I need that limit any more.

Legomaster225, it sounds like my surgery was similar to yours. Your signature line lists radiation. Did you have radiation previously or are you going to have It? I had direct skin and nipple sparing BMX on May 17th with anatomical implants placed above the muscle with Alloderm. I had previous radiation 2 years ago. I am a little over 6 weeks out and doing well. I have full movement, full feeling in the skin of both breasts, the radiated nipple is numb with limited erectile function, the non radiated nipple is completely normal. Scars have healed beautifully. I still have a small amount of pain in both sides, and the upper portion of both breasts. They both feel lumpy with some hard parts throughout. Hard parts are continuing to change and soften. They are a little wide and flat on top. I plan to do fat grafting to increase the flatness in the upper part. Plus this is good for radiated skin. The non radiated side has dropped a little, maybe .5 inch. In a tight t-shirt it makes the non radiated side look a little bigger. Not that big of a deal, but may require a lift in the future. I'm still a work in progress, but I certainly don't expect perfection and I'm pretty happy with things so far!

NotVeryBrave: I agree with what Special K says. Most docs don't do direct to implant or implants on top of the pec muscle. I had TEs and exchange surgery 7 months later.

Whatever the process, there are months before the swelling goes down - at least six. I've heard you will experience at least one month of fatigue for every hour of anesthesia. There are more months before your get your energy back. And you have Herceptin for the rest of the year, right? The side effects can be minimal but it's still in your body. You have to start any exercise program very slowly so as not to tear interior stitches.

Second thing - it depends on your age when you started treatment and you overall health.

So in answer to your question - I was older but in good health. Maybe a year after the last surgery I started to find my NEW NORMAL - not too much pain, nice appearance.

But I didn't take tamoxifen because I was ER/PR negative. It is my understanding that can mess with your body 'normal' in many ways. So you need to re-calculate if that's in your plans.

Notverybrave, I had nipple sparing BMX and reconstruction with expanders placed under the pectoral muscle, so it is not the same thing as what you had. I had fills done at the same time a I was undergoing chemotherapy, with only very minor complications (small infection at the peak of chemo that was caught early and successfully treated with oral antibiotic. ) Then, exchange to permanent implants that didn't require any adjustment followed by a full course of radiation. At the end, the result is very good. If it weren't for the radiation the result would be great. However, feeling comfortable and forgetting that I had implants, took a while. I would say I felt significant improvement about six months after the exchange surgery and completely comfortable about a year after the exchange.

I think the hardest part about breast cancer is that there isn't really a normal you can compare yourself to. There are SO many variables!! I can tell you my surgery experience to hopefully give you some comfort- bilateral nipple sparing mastectomy with small implants instead of tissue expanders under the muscle 3/10/17. 2.5 weeks of pain bad enough to require narcotics, was still needing ice and ibuprofen for 6 weeks. I had minor other problems after surgery but it sort of kept my mind focused on one area of pain at a time (vein irritation from IV medication, plus mouth ulcer from breathing tube during surgery) How the pain changed was pretty weird - at first it was the whole chest, later it morphed into nipple sensitivity to the point of shower water hurting but it calmed down around 2.5 months post-op, but then I really noticed neck and shoulder pain. I had round 2 reconstruction with bigger implants and fat grafting, just over 2 weeks ago. (Plus had fallopian tubes and one ovary removed since I'm BRCA2 +). This surgery was so much easier to recover from than bilateral mastectomy. It just shows you how much a bilateral mx sucks! I plan on going to physical therapy because of the neck/shoulder pain and building back strength in the chest and arms. PT is first line treatment for chronic pain management. I figure it will not hurt to be proactive. I am pretty happy with my implants already. Things will get better for you, just be as patient as you can

Not very Brave, I asked to be the same size as well. I think they look good, although I'm still swollen. I am very tiny so the PS said getting the same size might be difficult. I feel I am pretty much the same projection my breasts just seem very wide and round at the base. I'm taking pictures so I can compare in a few months

Sunrisefish. I have not done radiation yet. I will be starting early August. RO was ok with implants first. We will see how it goes