Chest Pain.

4 months after my I L operation and still painful to lift on right hand side of chest, my doctor said it was muscle damage and my consultant says it might be nerve type pain. Seeing Doctor tomorrow has consultant has told him to prescribe Amitriptyline to see if this helps. Has anyone else been prescribed this medicine and does it help?.

[brucemillar]

Chest pain after this surgery is "common" as is back pain. It can be referred pain caused by nerve damage & nerve healing or it can be physical pain as a result of the surgery, or both.

It may be worth seeing a Physio to see if they can help? Or a pain specialist may also be able to help.

I am have not personally taken Amitriptyline but do take Dihydrocodeine, which helps.

Good luck.

[Spikey]

Be careful with the amitriptyline. I was prescribed it for neck pain a few months ago and suffered side effects, including dizziness and generally feeling "spaced out". Not sure whether this was exacerbated by only having half a stomach, as a result of my IL 10 years ago. I had previously been prescribed amitriptyline for back pain about 15 years ago without any side effects.

[kiddy]

Early days yes we all suffer this. We have been through major surgery. They may have damaged ribs or intercostal muscles. Still suffer 22 months after when its cold. That is an antidepressant can make drowsy. I couldnt take it. Too early to be doing heavy lifting!! Be careful

Debbie

[haward]

What sort of pain? After my op I couldn't raise my right arm much above shoulder level without serious pain resulting. I found that raising it as high as I could, despite the pain, was nasty, but when I repeated this moments later it would be much easier. So I went into a routine of doing the painful lift, then a couple of repeats and gradually, very gradually, over 4-5 months my arm returned to normal. Today, four and a half years on, I find it easy to lug 15kg of camera gear around and swing it onto my back using the right arm.

Haward

[Hidden in reply to haward]

My pain goes from under right arm and across the chest to the rib cage. Doctor has just prescribed me the lowest dosage of amitriptyline which he said was used as a anti depressant but found out it helped nerve damage. Physio has gave me some exercises to do with rubber bands to strengthen muscles behind shoulder. Everybody keeps telling me to take my time, and been through a major operation like a lot of us on this forum. So good to read the posts.

Martin