Breast pain 2 years post
Stormbird63
Member Posts: 12 ✭
Hello all,
just want to confirm that breast pain post surgery/radiation is a long term thing? I read somewhere at the beginning of my journey that you should expect 12 months of breast pain/discomfort but it really hasn’t let up at all. My breast is sore to palpate all the time and, even tho I haven’t had a period in 8 months, I feel it may be cyclic/hormonal. It gets hard and aches.. Thanks for your help.
just want to confirm that breast pain post surgery/radiation is a long term thing? I read somewhere at the beginning of my journey that you should expect 12 months of breast pain/discomfort but it really hasn’t let up at all. My breast is sore to palpate all the time and, even tho I haven’t had a period in 8 months, I feel it may be cyclic/hormonal. It gets hard and aches.. Thanks for your help.
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Comments
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No one has long term ongoing pain following radiation??? Would welcome any comment thanks0
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"Pain management | Breast Cancer Network Australia" https://www.bcna.org.au/health-wellbeing/physical-wellbeing/pain-management/
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Hi @Stormbird63. I only had radiation in July last year, so not that long ago. I do have pain, although I had a DMX with expanders. I feel tightness in my shoulders, and actual pain in my breasts (well, the skin). And it does get worse as my Zoladex injection starts wearing off after about 21 days. That’s when my body feels like it wants to go back to having periods again, and I get PMS symptoms, one of them being very sore breasts (or skin). It’s like a dull pain, and at moments i get shooting pains too.To me, it sounds like you’re having a very long period of PMS. When I had my own tissue, that’s exactly what my breasts felt like before my period, hard and very sore to touch. And swollen.Are you on Tamoxifen by any chance?
If you’re thinking it might be ca related, I highly doubt that. If you’ve had radiation in the past year, I’ve read this is common.0 -
Thanks for your reply. I guess with trying to move forward I’m getting a bit impatient for this to stop reminding me everyday (through constant pain and ache) that I’ve had cancer!2
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Totally understandable. I also hate showering or changing cos my expanders are uncomfortable and remind me of the same. But remember you HAD it. It’s not there any longer. It’s very hard to do, but I’ve accepted I had it, tried to find a reason why, and am now moving on despite all the side effects it left. Good luck. Don’t forget to cup your booby and thank it for all it’s gone through to keep you alive 😊🍀♥️1
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I have ongoing breast pain 18 months later. Stabbing pain, aches still. Can’t explain it, it’s only on the radiated lumpectomy breast, not both. And it’s not my bra! Have tried every kind and style, it’s not the bra. It comes and goes. Had a long pain free stretch past 3-4 months and it’s back. Perhaps overuse of right arm and shoulder triggers it. I don’t know. Nobody will care in the team I see. They are a cancer factory and think women invent side effects just for lols.I just hope it passes and may use Panadol on it.Good luck. Warm regards1
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My breast was never the same after radiation.It went rock hard and was permanently uncomfortable. Seven years later,cancer came back in the same spot so the breast had to go.0
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My story is similar to @TonyaM in terms of breast discomfort and going hard. At six years out, I haven't had a recurrence but have long since made the decision that if I get another cancer in either breast, they both go!
For a long time, maybe 3-4 years, I would periodically get pain shooting through my breast. I'm sure I read somewhere at the time that it was related to the radiotherapy so that's what I always put it down to2 -
I still get pain in my non existent boob and have found it is mostly dietary. I often go to massage the pain only to find there isn't anything there to massage lol. Mastectomy and chemo was in 2018 and no radiation0
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Hi @Stormbird63,
I went to a physiotherapist who specialises in rehabilitating cancer patients. She's lso lymphedema specialist. She was able to manipulate the scar tissue to loosen the tightness and pain in my upper chest. I also find stretching exercises helpful.2 -
My lymphoedema therapist keeps twinges from my breast scar at bay by massage. Stretching is definitely helpful. I don’t get this often but still sometimes after more than eight years.1
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My PHYSIO gave me a stress ball to roll over the scar tissue - she said it does not need to be hard pressure, just regular movement on it to loosen the tissues and stop them all fusing together as they heal1
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I had radiation in 2015. My radiated breast is still hard/ firm to touch. I can’t lay on it, don’t like a firm hard hug from friends because it hurts. The scar feels rigid and painful if it bends. Many many breast surgeons over the years have said it’s ‘quite normal’🙄.I was so aware of my breast! Finally a wonderful female breast surgeon has told me this is a typical radiated breast. It will not change now and will stay the same size and shape as when it was radiated. She is right. This knowledge has helped with acceptance and moving forward. I don’t think about my breasts constantly anymore. I look in the mirror with interest at how much the nonradiated breast has dropped… Oh and @Stormbird63 Daily life is definitely better. I don’t think about my breasts very often at all now.Wishing you well. JanineG xx0
