Help, wearing a bra driving me crazy! Angry Nerves!

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SheWra
SheWra Member Posts: 17
edited December 2018 in Surgery - Before, During, and After

Yikes, mastectomy with latissimus flap was three months ago but nerve discomfort is prevalent. One breast is quite small and the other is fully expanded ready for implants. I work and need a bra to wear my knitted knocker or prosthetic so as to not look like a total freak. IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!! My nerves are very angry after about an hour with any contact loose or tight. I get shooting pains in my arm on the flap side. I must say the discomfort is getting very old. When I get home from work I can't wait to tear the torture device off my body. Even the drainage tube sights still itch like crazy. Will it always be like this even after the implants?



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  • AliceKo
    AliceKo Member Posts: 151
    edited December 2018

    Shewra, the answer is it depends...I did not have the LAT, so I can't say about that. I have the implant and it is pain 24/7, it's a little less pain than the expander, still difficulty sleeping, the implant in my way, needs to be supported by something day and night. I can wear a bra, that I can do. I heard some people suggest brushing your area of sensitivity with a soft bristled brush to reduce the sensitivity. Also heard you can do accupuncture for regeneration of nerves - it's not cheap and it can take months.

    Best of luck to you. Wishing that all the problems resolve, you can wear a bra, feel and look great.

    Sounds like the plastic surgeons did not really tell you what you are getting yourself into.

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  • Rah2464
    Rah2464 Member Posts: 1,647
    edited December 2018

    SheWra - I, too had such difficulty wearing any type of bra for a while after my double with immediate recon. And I was kind of miserable without one, too. I wound up wearing a compression bra for a long time because that seemed to calm those angry nerve beasts at least for me. I ordered the bra from Marena. It was expensive but it saved my sanity for a couple of months.

    My PS wound up giving me a steroid injection on my lymph node side to help calm some congestion there. She also requested that I gently massage with a washcloth in the shower, working all around the breast under the arm, on the rib cage.

    But the thing that helped me turn the corner, other than a little time, was medical massage with a certified therapist who was trained in lymphatic massage. It is a very strange experience to have someone working on your foobs but it was life changing for me. I had adhesions I didn't know about and she finds each and every one and works them loose. And voila! angry pain goes away. I am 6 months out from surgery, and I began seeing her three months ago. I imagine I will see her for another 3 months because I am a work in progress. Of course insurance doesn't cover it. Sessions are $70 each and I am going about every 3-4 weeks.

    We all heal differently. I seem to be a bit of a slower healer so I get impatient at times. I hope you begin to get better very quickly.

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  • SheWra
    SheWra Member Posts: 17
    edited December 2018

    Thank you so much! I will try your. suggestions

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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited December 2018

    I haven't had a mastectomy (I did lumpectomy and radiation), but I have to say that wearing a bra is super uncomfortable. It makes me collect fluid in my side, so I always take it off the minute I get home from work and never wear one around the house. Sometimes I don't wear one to work either...I wear scrubs to work with an undershirt beneath, so I can get by with that going un-noticed. Oh the things we have to go through as women....

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