Hi, I'm new here.

Just wanted to say welcome to the site and God bless your sweet soul. Sounds like you've been thru the ringer! I can't help w/ any advice on your problems, but I'm sure someone here can relate to you. I will however pray for you to find an answer and relieve your pain. God bless, HummB

I am sorry to hear you have been plagued with pain since having surgery. I am another person has suffered many side affects from all the treatments I have had for my stage 3 breast cancer.
It is known now that many of us are genetically predispositioned to have sensativity to drugs and most things. I had constant pain that wasn't addressed until I was into the second year of recovery. Everyone was more concerned about treating the disease and not being sidetracked till they were done doing all they had to do. I returned to a pain specialist at the cancer clinic 6 months after my treatments were done because the pain was getting unbearable. It sounds as though you too could be suffering with nueropathic pain the direct result of surgery. There are also other areas affected other than the nerves. I also found that I had to learned to live with many diseases, side affects from chemo and radiation, when this all started with one disease and that was Breast Cancer.
When I first was trying to get the pain addressed my gp could only think to give me antidepressants when in fact it was the pain causing some depression not depression causing my pain like he would of liked it to be. My pain specialist has traveled the world understanding how humans deal with pain.
I hope you are able to find someone to help you along the way. You might want to try and find some information on a Dr. Payne who is known for his research on dealing with pain.
I do want to say it is important to get your pain undercontrol so that you too may have the quality to your life you so deserve. Remember to use words like wanting Quality of LIFE, something we all deserve.
Best of luck and keep bugging them till they find something to help you along the way.
Be good to yourself,
Tara24242

Hi Nan! I'm sorry to hear you're in so much pain. I've had chronic pain due to my lumpectomy 2.5 yrs. ago. I also have a frozen shoulder. I recently went to another pain dr. who prescribed Lidoderm (lidocaine) patches. Lidocaine is similar to the Novacaine you receive at a dentist-it numbs pain. I haven't tried the Lidoderm patches because they're VERY expensive. If you have good insurance, you may want to give them a try. It also comes in a tube which is in gel form, so it's very messy, but ALOT less expensive. You can put these patches in different spots. They're the size of your hand, and you can cut them. Up to 3 patches may be used at one time. You can put them on in the evening, leave them on for 12 hrs. and go patch-free during the day. Again, I haven't tried them but just wanted to pass the info along. Currently, I just use ice packs for breast pain. I use them off & on (mostly on) all day. Would be hard to do if you're working. When I'm lying down, I always have something (pillow, rolled up towel, etc.) to prop my arm on. I haven't experienced the burning you're having. My pain feels like I'm constantly in a mammography machine with varying amts. of pressure. Check out the following site (http://www.cancerlynx.com/mastectomypain.html)
This is from a surgeon's perspective, so alot of it is way above my head, but I found alot of useful info. It's wonderful to hear a dr. admit that the pain we feel is real! Take care...Geral