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Have Sore Breast, Swelling In Clavicle And Neck. Feeling Fatigue And Loss Of Appetite. What To Do?
Question: I have swelling on my right clavical,and up the right ear..It goes down my neck and into right side of chest.There is swelling and soreness under right breast..it get worse through out the day were I can't even lift my arm to take my shirt off..It has been going on now for 7 weeks.Iwent to my doctor and he ran mono test negative and blood work showed nothing..He ordered a Thoracix and chest Ct,it showed nothing..Semptoms are getting worse ,Fatigue,pain,loss of appetite..weight loss.My eyes get blood shot by 3:00 in the afternoon.what should I do..
Hello,
I think that you may have something called lymphedema.Its a common problem after breast surgery and also if you had radiation. Some patients develop this and some dont.The excess fluid from the body called lymph is secreted and gets built up esp if lymph node resection has been done. It may not show up on the CT.It basically a clinical disgnosis.Only your surgeon can identify the problem since he/she has done the procedure and knows the intra-op findings exactly.Talk to your surgeon and ask if that this conclusion has been considered. Meanwhile,you can read up on the do's and dont' and try to follow them
You can apply warm compress.
Avoid tight garments.
Avoid gaining weight.
Although you should avoid strain, do keep up some activity on that arm.
Very important to avoid infection.
I think that you may have something called lymphedema.Its a common problem after breast surgery and also if you had radiation. Some patients develop this and some dont.The excess fluid from the body called lymph is secreted and gets built up esp if lymph node resection has been done. It may not show up on the CT.It basically a clinical disgnosis.Only your surgeon can identify the problem since he/she has done the procedure and knows the intra-op findings exactly.Talk to your surgeon and ask if that this conclusion has been considered. Meanwhile,you can read up on the do's and dont' and try to follow them
You can apply warm compress.
Avoid tight garments.
Avoid gaining weight.
Although you should avoid strain, do keep up some activity on that arm.
Very important to avoid infection.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
The surgery was in 2002,not recent........This just started about 8 weeks ago..I did not have radiation,because the lump was not cancer...
If no lymph node was removed then chances of lymphedema is less.In that case, lymphedenitis needs to be ruled out.I hope that you have been examined and enlarged nodes have been ruled out.An xray of the chest and shoulder joint is necessary to rule out emphysema,parotiditis, frozen shoulder, infection and fracture.If you have fever,infection is definitely present. Rule out these possible causes first before you attempt physiotherapy.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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