painful breast 2 years after partial mastectomy

Leyhas, Welcome to the best breast cancer resource on the net! So sorry for the circumstances that brought you to us but now that you're here, you're in good hands.  

Any one who's given birth to 6 children surely has a high pain threshold!

I had a lumpectomy before mastectomy and did find I had similar pain issues, I'm not a medical professional but would guess that it may be nerve damage, which does take a long time to heal.  

You'll have to be diligent regarding your self exams and medical checkups for the rest of your life.  The best advice I can give is to know your own body, take note when ever something feels different or not quite right and have it checked out.  

You didn't say if you'd had any kind of reconstruction, so I don't know if that's an issue, as this type of pain can associated with tissue expanders or implants.  Perhaps others will chime in. 

All the best to you. 

Hi,

just seen this forum. I am 2 years post surgery, wide local excision and have had pain that has got worse over the years.

Have tried pain meds and patches and now have been to a pain clinic. The consultant did say that some surgeons etc do not take the pain seriously. He prescribed lyrica which I know has side effects but I will persevere for a while and is to do a procedure on my shoulder to help with pain and immobility.

I also had a reaction to the rads and after visits to a dermatologist and gp for over a year saw my radiotherapy consult this week. I had pain too and limited use of my arm,with a swelling sensation in my breast and underarm. Eventually got my breast nurse to refer me to lymphadoema.

It seems that once the cancer is " under control " the medical teams arent pro active re any long term side effects.

The cancer support centre that I go to is thinking of running a survey on breast pain after cancer treatment as it seems to be an issue that is more common than the medics think. 

Both surgery and radiation can harm nerves; mastectomy/lumpectomy with node removal especially. Most of the time, pain goes away. The good news is that they are developing ways and means to address nerve pain that are better than current meds. nerve regeneration being one of them. Sometimes the pain can disappear after a long time or settle down. Sometimes plastic surgeons can help....scar tissue called adhesions AND nerve bundles can be the sources of pain. While I don't like my own pain, it is now tolerable and I think that so many others suffer from arthritis, I'll just think of mine as that, rather than a constant reminder of having had cancer.

Right after my lumpectomy in 12/11, there was excruciating pain if the breast was touched or bumped, but once that went away, it was absolutely pain free, and the mammogram I had at six months was also (weirdly) painless. However, about three weeks ago, possibly at PMS time (uterus has been removed), the breast began to hurt, along with the other one. The other one felt better after a week, but the one that underwent surgery still hurts, not all the time, by any means, but sometimes quite severely.

When I still had my uterus, I'd sometimes bleed for as long as seven weeks, due to unopposed estrogen. I'm speculating that if I did still have my uterus, I might right now be having one of those astronomically long periods; maybe that's why the breast still hurts.

I called my surgeon and he said he suspected the pain was due to monthly hormonal surge, though he says they don’t know why hormones cause extra pain in breasts that have undergone surgery. This appears to be a known phenomenon. He also said that breasts that have undergone surgery and radiation can have flare-ups of pain. He said if it still hurt in a week, to call him back, so I've left him a message. I'm going to ask him how long the pain could potentially last and how severe it could be, just to get his thoughts there, and I'm also curious to know if this heightens the risk of recurrence--does anyone here know anything about that?

Thanks,
Linda

Hi All,

It's been 2 years since my bilateral mastectomy. Just this week I've had this pain in my right breast area, sometimes it's quite uncomfortable. I have implants so it's hard to examine myself but I do it religiously every month. This pain has been pretty consistent the last few days and it's got me a little freaked out. I've had other little sharp pains come and go but this is going on for quite a while now. It's only on the one side and the pain tends to travel a little too but goes back to the same area. Has anyone had this experience? Thanks in advance for any feedback 😀.