Internal breast pain after radiation
Hi all. I had 16 whole breast treatments. My symptoms were itcy, red skin, tenderness, with mild / moderate internal sharp pains. I finished my 5 boosts 2 days ago and the internal pain has increased considerably. Continuous sharp nerve pain and even my lumpectomy and node incisions seem annoyed after being completely healed.
Have you experienced this? I assume it is due to the targeted beam to the lump site. Thanks for your thoughts.
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@mamafree, welcome to Breastcancer.org, and congratulations on completing your 16 whole breast treatments and the recent 5 boosts!
We're sorry for the pain you're experiencing and hope you get responses soon! Reaching out to our community is a great way to connect with others who may have gone through similar experiences, so feel free to explore also our Fall/Winter 2023/2024 Radiation Thread where you can connect with other members who have just finished treatment. You may want to try posting there too!
Hope this helps! Looking forward to hearing more from you soon!
The Mods
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Hi @mamafree , I'm sorry that you are dealing with post radiation pain. Often it goes away with time but I'm still dealing with it two and a half years later. To my RO's surprise I can accurately identify my entire radiation field. The pain is worse at both the lumpectomy and SNB sites which had healed up fine after surgery. My RO attributes it to radiation nerve damage which was exacerbated by a thermal burn in the same area so my experience is not entirely typical.
About a year after finishing rads I had a series of acupuncture treatments which helped some. I wear lose fitting tops along with a bra that has no support since any pressure from clothing makes the pain worse and I "tent" my blankets so they don't touch my chest. I take gabapentin to help me sleep at night and try to avoid breathing deeply since inflating the lungs ramps up the pain from tolerable to severe in spots.
I would contact the RO and let him/her know about your symptoms. You'll probably be told to wait six weeks to a couple of months to see if it improves with time. If not, contact your RO again. Most people don't have more than one follow up appointment but I still see my RO regularly. I hope the pain resolves on its own.
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Hi mamafree, I never took tamoxifen so no words of wisdom. Some people tolerate it well so I hope you are one of them. There are various threads on all aspects of tamox on this website. Good luck going forward!
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Hello,
First time on this discussion page. I just started radiation on Monday. All went well but yesterday morning, I woke up with my left breast feeling a bit numb on the top part of my breast (no where near my scars) and a heaviness to my whole breast. Throughout the day, the numbness seemed to disappear but still felt a a bit of heaviness still. As I was going to my second session, it was canceled due to internet outage statewide. Later that evening, I felt my breast again and now the numbness had meandered towards the bottom part and now my nipple/areola seems very thick, a bit swollen, and sensitive to touch. I also had a sharp pain accompanied by a crackling sound that lasted only one to two seconds. I yelled when the pain occurred but it did not happen again. To me it appears weird to have these SE after only having one treatment session.
Do any of these SE sound common? Has anyone experienced this?
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Hi @bcfightr24 , I'm sorry you are having those reactions to radiation but they sound familiar to me . I didn't have much skin burning and blistering as some people do but I did have swelling and nerve pain because of that. My RO referred me for acupuncture provided free by the hospital for those undergoing rads and chemo which helped some. After treatment finished I paid for a course of acupuncture since my insurance didn't cover it. I still have nerve pain issues more than three years later but I also suffered a thermal burn after completing rads and am definitely an outlier.
Ask to speak to a nurse when you go to your next radiation appointment so that what is happening can be evaluated. I saw my RO once a week but there was always a nurse available at other times. If that's not the case at your facility call the RO's office. I hope the rest of your treatment goes OK.
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Thanks @maggie15 for your comment and suggestions. I will definitely talk to my therapists about my SE today at my session. I, also, will see my MO afterwards and will let him know as well.
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Update: Just had my 10th Rads session and all is well; six more to go. All SE have seem to subside except for the redness around the areola. I still get intermittent sharp pains but they last one to five seconds. I guess I am pretty fortunate. I spoke to my RO and MO and all SE are within normal limits. I just wish I had some loss of appetite so I could lose some weight…LOL
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