Arm nerve pain post surgery

Dear @Newbie3312
Numbness in the area where lymph nodes have been removed is pretty normal but I can’t advise on pain in the arm. Try as one might, and I am sure surgeons do, it’s hard not to mangle nerve endings in node removal. Might have to be pain relief till you see your surgeon next week. Best wishes. 

Dear @Newbie3312, it’s early days and numbness and pains are quite normal although can very very uncomfortable! Numbness back of arm is very common, I still have that 8 months later but some of the other numb areas got better, it’s hard to take a few Nodes without hitting a small nerve that is connected to the back of the arm.

Rotten shooting pains are a bummer cos they take you by surprise. There’s a lot of healing going on in the arm tissues and nerves can get irritated and they dont like it!!

 Try upping your pain relief a bit, avoid over stretching early on, ice packs or cold packs may still help. 

Hope this helps

lots of love Tinks xx

Hi @Newbie3312,

All pretty normal.  The numbness can take months to repair.  3 1/2 years post and I still have a numb spot around the scar area.  The weird electric shocks are your nerves trying to refire and repair.  That will go over time.  Make sure you do the exercises they gave you.  Especially the ones above your head (terribly painful at the start I know) but imperitive to get full strength and range of movement back.

All the best lovely.

Hi @Newbie3312 I had the same thing but the BS assistant told me they hadn’t touched the nerves and that it wasn’t their issue. Felt like someone had a knife in there and was twisting it. Weeks later I spoke to my BS who assured me they dug All around that area and the pain in the back of my arm would be because of that. He suggested I just keep taking pain relief until it went. I objected to this so did my own thing. I massaged it a lot especially when it hurt. Seemed to help a bit. I still get random stabs of pain there eighteen months later but I have learned to tolerate it.

@kezmusc thanks. What arm exercises were you given ? I’ve been basically sent home with no instructions which is why I posted here...

That’s very poor from staff!  I no longer have mine (committed to memory long ago) but someone on the network may be able to copy and paste for you. Apart from providing help with mobility and repairing mangled nerve ends, the exercises help prevent lymphoedema - unlikely to occur in your case with only a few nodes removed. Just good to do all round. 

I had pain from my sentinel node biopsy and mastectomy and it was a real issue for me. I couldn't stand things touching it. It wasn't  an issue initially but as healing progressed as nerves cut in skin started to reconnect a little. I ended up on lyrica for a short time and once able to tolerate my physio suggested to brush the skin lightly to help desensitize. I did this a couple of times a day and was off lyrica quickly. I still have numb areas but no nerve pain now. The skin brushing really helped.

@primek thank you. Will try that. It’s the catching that’s the worst atm. It is just at random times and drops me to floor. From the posts I’m assuming this is all normal. I wasn’t told about any side effects after surgery so just trying to work my way thru things. 

Here’s the initial exercises I was given in hospital from The Cancer Council.


https://www.cancer.org.au/content/about_cancer/factsheets/Breast%20exercises%20after%20surgery_fact%20sheet_September%202014.pdf

Lots of love Tinks xx

@Tinks thank you 🥰