Left breast mastectomy

[Rlhagen]

I had my left breast removed on December 28. I will be starting reconstruction soon. I'm in pain every day even on the pain meds. Is this normal?

[Valerie68]

Yes , pain is very common after surgery . I didn't have mastectomy but I had bilateral lumpectomys with re excision on left side in March 2015 and I still have residual breast pain . It's nerve pain . I was taking pain meds for at least 3 months after surgery and would still need them some days

[Lorraineam in reply to Valerie68]

I had a mastectomy in November and had some pain for several weeks although most of the left side of my chest. The pain was relatively minor and mainly due to irritation from the drains and build up of fluid when the drains came out. Take painkillers as required and it does get better

[Moirs1964]

I had my left breast removed in May 2014 and had some pain from the drains and some build up of fluid but that was all sorted after about a month. But I had to wait at least 6 months before I had my reconstruction ( I actually had it in March 2015). Make sure you're ready for the recon as it's a big operation - well for me it was as I had a DIEP flap reconstruction.

[lovesradio]

If pain persists for too much longer try seeking a referral to a pain clinic, most large hospitals have one. Nerve pain can persist and it's hard to deal with other than with painkillers but a friend of mine got real support from pain clinic.