Numbness continues

[vlad1950]

Hi, I had a VATS three months ago, all pain is gone after 8 weeks as expected. But I still have that feeling of numbness and burning in the side of my chest where surgery was done. Like it is not your body now .. Can anyone advise: is this common? How long it may take to recover and is there something that may help with that? Thanks. Vladimir

[Feelingblessed2013]

Everyone heals at their own pace, so I can't tell you how long it will take you to heal. I had VATS surgery almost 11 months ago, and still have the occasional twinge. Just know that it will eventually go away, it just takes time.

[vlad1950 in reply to Feelingblessed2013]

Thank you, will hope time heals

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer]

It sounds like neuropathy due to nerve damage and likely happened when they spread the ribs. I’m 7+ years out from a vats for a pleural effusion that persisted a year after my diagnosis. For me the neuropathy was like a vise squeezing my ribs or trying to wear a bra 5 sizes too small.

My doctor prescribed gabapentin 300mg 3Xday. That was too much. I was always sleepy and felt stupid. We cut my dosage back to 100 mg 2x day and I did much better. Eventually the pain subsided but it it’s never gone away. Today it’s more annoyance than pain.

Another med that works for neuropathy is Lyrica.

[vlad1950 in reply to Denzie]

Sounds not too good .. but thanks a lot

[Denzie Moderator Volunteer in reply to vlad1950]

It does get better!

[scifiknitter Blogger]

Another possibility is scar tissue. I had a VATS biopsy of my pleura more than 4 years ago, and I have a kind of stiffness on that side due to all of the scar tissue in my pleura.

Anita

[vlad1950 in reply to scifiknitter]

No way to treat it?

[scifiknitter Blogger in reply to vlad1950]

Not in my case, but it's not painful so I live with it.

[June2081 in reply to scifiknitter]

How did you have surgery on the pleura? I was told it was inoperable?

[cmilashoski]

I am almost three years in and I still have numbness all in my underarm chest area burn sometimes a lot of nerve damage I guess that's what they consider it I want to bum you out but I'm just happy to be alive

[cmilashoski in reply to cmilashoski]

I meant I don't want to bum you out sorry when they do surgery they cut a lot of nerves

[vlad1950 in reply to cmilashoski]

Did you try to do something with it?

[cmilashoski]

I have tried everything short of voodoo LOL I just think it's something I'm just going to have to live with the Gabapentin didn't work Lyrica wouldn't get approved by insurance my situation might have been a little different than yours because they took three ribs out and the top part of the lung so I'm pretty sure there's a lot of nerve damage but you know I've never found a product yet if you ever do get something let me know my mindset is I'm just happy that I'm surviving the cancer but yeah you do feel like it's not your body anymore and then me gets anxiety thinking that wrong why is this not going away is there something else going on it's a battle

[cmilashoski]

Also I didn't do Vats surgery I'm not even sure what that is I have a really really long scar across my back and if someone even touches me back there I feel like it's electrocution it's so sensitive my scans show a lot of scar tissue but if that's all it's showing and nothing new growing you just got to be happy with that

[katherineNED]

I had VATS surgery on my upper left lobe in July 2014 and still have nerve pain and numbness as a result. I take gapabentin for it and it helps somewhat but not entirely. There are days when it hurts to even have fabric touch my upper left arm when I'm getting dressed. I spoke with a nurse about a year after the surgery because I was still having nerve pain. She told me it was pretty common to have nerve damage from surgery because when the surgeon goes in they move things around and cut nerves.

[vlad1950 in reply to katherineNED]

Well, it doesn’t look promising .. so no way to treat it somehow? I tried acupuncture but it didn’t help

[katherineNED in reply to vlad1950]

The gabapentin helps somewhat but I am taking a large daily dose (1200 mg daily). I heard that Lyrica may help but supposedly it makes you drowsy. Too bad the acupuncture didn't work for you because I heard that it may possibly help and something I was going to try. It's not a given that you will have the numbness and burning forever as some people do recover. We are all different and heal at different rates and have different surgeons working on us. I'll take the discomfort as a sign that I'm still alive and a reminder that cancer has not won (yet)! Take care and best wishes.

[vlad1950 in reply to katherineNED]

Thanks. All the best to you.