muscle cramp in breast

Member_of_the_Club
Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
edited June 2014 in Life After Breast Cancer

Not exactly in the breast, but the area generally near my lumpectomy and node dissection scars. For the past month or so I will get an occasional muscle cramp, feeling exactly like a leg cramp or any other muscle cramp. Like someone took the muscle and twisted it. And when i shift my position it goes away. I'm three years out from surgery so it seems odd that this is sprouting up now. I'm also seeing a definite increase in foot cramps, so maybe related?



I do a pretty heavy workout with weights and push-ups and I don't have a problem, but perhaps I have been overdoing it lately, fatiguing a vulnerable muscle?

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Comments

  • LisaSDCA
    LisaSDCA Member Posts: 2,230
    edited October 2007

    If you are experiencing an increase in foot cramps during this same period, and as you say, your workout stresses this area, I'd go for the possible potassium depletion rationale. Have a banana each morning and see if that makes a difference. You are staying well hydrated, right?

    Wow - I can't wait until I can say I am back to "a pretty heavy workout with weights and push-ups "! Enjoy!

    Lisa

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited October 2007

    This is me replying to myself. I just googled this problem and OMG it is a bona fide phenomenon that I have never heard of before. One website had a whole bunch of women describing it comparing it to a charley horse which is exactly what it feels like. Apparently this can begin months or years after breast surgery and is a result of nerve damage. There is even a discussion of it in an old breastcancer.org ask-the-expert transcript.



    Anyone else have this? And how come I've never heard of it before?

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  • Bugs
    Bugs Member Posts: 1,719
    edited October 2007

    if you are seeing an increase in cramps overall, you should probably make sure you are getting enough potassium.  I notice a huge difference in muscle cramps if my potassium is low (i.e. low sodium diet).  I have had them bad enough after a run or workout that I have slugged some water with 1/4 tsp morton's lite salt mixed in. 

    Muscle cramps in the breast?  Ouch..is all I can say.

    Take care,

    Bugs

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  • Bugs
    Bugs Member Posts: 1,719
    edited October 2007

    woops, Lisa beat me to it.  MOTC...interesting about the nerve damage.  What's that they say?  The gift that keeps on giving....

    Bugs

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  • juanita63
    juanita63 Member Posts: 171
    edited October 2007

    I've been having the same problem for 3 years, and thought I was crazy till I talked to the sports trainer at school.  She told me it was because the nerve endings are still exposed.  She said I could always do it.  And as I've lost weight and it gets cold the "cramp" gets worse. 

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  • q13616
    q13616 Member Posts: 1
    edited April 2009

    I had a lumpectomy 3 yrs ago and have had this cramping since soon after surgery.  My doctors all blow it off and think I am crazy.  Has anyone figured out how to fix this?

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