To bra or not to bra

Blossom1961
Blossom1961 Member Posts: 2,489 ✭
edited March 2019 in Health and wellbeing
I have been wondering why my healthy breast is a bit achy. At first I put it down to the fact I twisted my torso before Christmas. Then I got concerned maybe it was a cyst so I did the self examine thing but it seemed okay, however I decided to ask the onco when I see her on Friday. This morning I was talking to hubby about how I can’t currently wear a bra because when I do my mastectomy side slightly swells and feels uncomfortable by the end of the day. At that point my head went into thinking mode, unusual at the best of times. I lifted my sore boob and the pain instantly disappeared. I let it go and the pain returned. My uni boob likes to be supported and I haven’t been doing that. I am wearing my ah bra today but even that makes me uncomfortable on the mx side later in the day. Oh dear, which one should I favour?

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Comments

  • kitkatb
    kitkatb Member Posts: 442 ✭
    Hey @Blossom1961 Can honestly say it took ages for me to wear a bra as it got really sore also by the end of the day.  I have always worn sports bras and only recently started wearing them in the last month.  I had my Mx in October.   If I am home Arrrhh!!! sweet relief of taking that sucker off and flinging it.
  • Sister
    Sister Member Posts: 4,961 ✭
    I found wearing any bra really painful for weeks after surgery due to the nerve damage - I used knitted knockers when I had to and a lot of padding down my side.  I'm only a C cup though so the other side wasn't fussed.  I do know that my surgeon prefers women with uni to get a prosthesis as soon as allowed after surgery for just the reason you're describing.
  • Patti J
    Patti J Member, Dragonfly Posts: 589
    I sometimes marvel at the distaste women have for bras. Having always been very small breasted, except when breastfeeding, I  really enjoy the extra shape, a padded bra gives me, combined with my implants.
  • JulieVT11
    JulieVT11 Member Posts: 90 ✭
    I am almost 7 weeks post mx and today was the first day I wore the prothesis all day in a relatively normal bra and it actually felt really good, I was wearing the other beautiful post-surgery ones with the knitted knockers but they are just too hot and scratchy, have been too self-conscious to go bra free outside of home.  Perhaps give the prothesis a try for a few hours at a time and see if that helps.  Also Think my mono boob is trying to hide under my arm just in case it gets the chop too haha.  
  • AllyJay
    AllyJay Member Posts: 957 ✭
    Hi there @JulieVT11...I had a bilateral mastectomy...gosh..almost two years ago now, and I found the knitted knockers unsuitable for me. Possibly because I was totally flat on both sides, when I lifted my arms up, the bra with the two soft stuffies just rode up my chest, and only my armpits prevented me being strangled by aforementioned bra. Although the silicone ones are really hot, I find that the gentle pressure of them pushing on my scar, which goes from armpit to armpit, helps me feel more as if there are sort of semi real boobs there. With the others, I felt like an enthusiastic ten year old wearing her sixteen year old sister's bra, stuffed with her brother's socks.
  • kmakm
    kmakm Member Posts: 7,974 ✭
    I had a bilateral mastectomy and DIEP reconstruction at thecend of April last year and can no longer wear underwire bras. The wirefree bras I wear all irritate to hurt my scars by mid-afternoon. I can't wait to take them off. The only thing that's vaguely bearable is the crop top thing that the PS gave me to wear. But that gives me a mono-boob look. I'm increasingly going bra free at home. Fortunately the foobs are vaguely buoyant...
  • Sister
    Sister Member Posts: 4,961 ✭
    Do they float when you go swimming @kmakm :) 
  • kmakm
    kmakm Member Posts: 7,974 ✭
    edited January 2019
    I haven't closely observed @Sister but I didn't notice them doing anything odd when I was in the water yesterday!
  • Karenhappyquilter
    Karenhappyquilter Member Posts: 242 ✭
    After all my treatment I found bras too uncomfortable around the band, I seem to swell up around the band when wearing one and its gets uncomfortable and I get breathless.  I now were tight camisoles that squish the breast in so they don’t wobble too much. 
  • kmakm
    kmakm Member Posts: 7,974 ✭
    I bought a B Free wireless bra online in a sale. It arrived first thing this morning, I've been wearing it all day and at no point has it irritated me at all! Very unusual indeed. Incredibly comfortable. The sale is still going. Highly recommended.

    https://www.bfreeaustralia.com.au/collections/wire-free-bras
  • Afraser
    Afraser Member Posts: 4,444 ✭
    I wore the same underwire bra I'd worn pre single mastectomy for a year after,  with no difficulty at all, apart from the annoyance of a soft pad which tended to float upwards (I had a large and persistent seroma and a prosthesis was difficult to fit until it was finally resolved). Post seroma, I was fitted with my first wirefree prosthesis bra, which was and is remarkably comfortable. I seem to have been completely untouched by any bra lore, recommendations or freebies throughout, with no adverse outcomes at all! 

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