HOW Am I Supposed to Endure a Mammogram with this Pain?

kec1972
kec1972 Member Posts: 269
edited December 2019 in Pain

I had my lumpectomy on 1/2019, followed by 3 weeks of rads. My breast(and especially the scar tissue) has been so painful since the surgery and rads. Im due for my one year mammo next month and honestly don't know how I'm going to get through it! Has anyone had ultrasound instead of mammo for a painful breast?

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  • edj3
    edj3 Member Posts: 2,076
    edited December 2019

    I've been upfront with my MO, RO and BS that I don't see a mammogram happening on my left (cancer) breast, for exactly the same reasons. I've got a lot of issues with my poor fried pec and there's no way I can tolerate a mammogram on that side.

    My BS scheduled an ultrasound for the left and a mammo for the right (won't be until April). So yes, that's my game plan.

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  • Veeder14
    Veeder14 Member Posts: 880
    edited December 2019

    Hi kec1972,

    Once I had the lumpectomy and radiation, the Oncologist rescheduled my mammogram for 6 months later so the area had time to heal. I ended up having it 9 months later due to fractured shoulders however they did both a mammogram and an ultrasound, indicating that this would be my new comparison films since surgery/radiation changed the tissue forever. My imaging schedule changed permanently. I would talk with your doctor. I could have never done a mammogram a month or so out of surgery.

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  • DorothyB
    DorothyB Member Posts: 305
    edited December 2019

    The first time my seroma was drained, I felt no pain at all due to the nerves not being healed yet. Future draning started being more painful. I took 1/2 of a tramadol before the draining yesterday and felt no pain. I think took another 1/2 tramadol that afternoon 1 1/2 hours before my mammogram. It was not overly painful.

    So, if you have any leftover tramadol and someone who can drive you to / from the mammogram, you might take a tramadol 1 to 1 1/2 hours before.

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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited December 2019

    Oh I feel for you so much. I just had my third post surgical mammogram back in October, and it was excruciatingly painful. The radiologist blew it off when I complained and told me to take and Advil next time. Yeah, let's squeeze that radiated scar tissue, and then squeeze it some more so it feels like the scar tissue is going to rip apart inside. That's what it felt like. And I'm sorry but Advil won't take that that pain away in the moment. I wish I had the guts to refuse it. In this day and age, there NEEDS to be adequate pain control for people like us. I mean, we already had cancer, why make us suffer so much? Why can't they just put a little lidocaine on board, or something?

    I don't know. Sorry for the rant. I hope it goes ok for you. :-(

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  • kec1972
    kec1972 Member Posts: 269
    edited December 2019

    I’m going to refuse the mammogram on that side. It’s simply too painful. Hopefully they’ll agree to do an ultrasound

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  • Elephant
    Elephant Member Posts: 88
    edited December 2019

    I recently had my first post surgery mammogram and ultrasound; after the ultrasound they wanted another mammogram of the breast that had surgery. The radiologist who did the mammogram was very nice and apologetic as I almost past out from the pain. But I figured that it would be less painful having a mammogram than not and finding out sometime later that I had cancer again.

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  • CaptBreast
    CaptBreast Member Posts: 2
    edited December 2019

    I had my first Mammogram 9 months after treatments were finished. It was very painful where I had the lumpectomy. The person who did it. Was great. After it was finished I had to wait for the radiologist to read it. She told me they wanted me to come back ever 6 months. There was a probable benign calcification in. The area. Which was where the incisions was. Have any you have to go back ever 6 month? I. Was told every 6 months for the left breast and yearly for the right. I thought I was going to have to do this before and all m doctors said oh no yearly. Just confused.


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  • Cowgirl13
    Cowgirl13 Member Posts: 1,936
    edited December 2019

    What really helped me was finding out to have the technician adjust everything Manually instead of using the foot pedal. Big, big difference. I would never again allow them to adjust with the foot pedal. Hope this may help someone.

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