[michka]

Hi Jane. About a month after surgery the upper inside of my arm started burning at times with small electric shocks and stabs . I also had numbness there which seems strange but in fact is not incompatible. It was difficult to live with that especially at night. I went to a specialized cancer pain center after trying standard pain killers. (at Institut Curie in Paris). They explained it was PMPS (post mastectomy pain syndrome) and gave me Neurontin to control the pain without being sure it would work for me. It did but at high doses in the beginning with all the fatigue side effects. But I managed after 2 years to cut down and get rid of the Neurontin progressively. Today I still have some burns, stabs but they are less important and I learned to live with it. I never thought I would be able to that.
They told me this kind of pain would not show up on a Electro Neuro Myogram. (EMG)
If the pain had been bilateral, they would have done it to diagnose a neuropathy. And I think it really has to be a severe neuropathy to show on an exam.
I hope you don't have PMPS. It has only been well described and recognized for a couple of years. But if you do, there are some medications than can help. And it can improve with time. But it may not be that because what surprises me is that you are dealing with this new pain so long after the mastectomy. It usually shows up in the months that follow.
I hope they will find a way to help you get rid of this pain.
There is a solution. Michka