2023-10-28 02:16:38
Eva continues to feel the breast that she no longer has: “No one informed me what could happen, and I thought it was the fruit of my imagination”
It was the end of 2022, Christmas was approaching, and Eva Martín, 62, went to see her gynecologist because she noticed a lump in her right breast. “And that’s where it all started,” says the patient. After many tests, the diagnosis of breast cancer came at the end of January 2023.
The biopsy results confirmed that the lump she had noticed was a malignant tumor. “I remember that the gynecologist was very sensitive and explained to me in detail what the operation consisted of. He told me that it was necessary to remove the entire breast, because it was in several areas,” says the patient.
What Eva did not know is that, although they were going to remove her breast, some time later she was going to feel it again. She had received psychological support even before the operation, but no one informed her about one of the possible effects of her post-mastectomy. “On the day of the intervention I was very nervous, and I think that until then I was not really aware of what it would mean to lose my breast. The operation went very well and the postoperative period was very, very painful.”
Some time had passed since her mastectomy, and Eva began to feel her breast, the right one, the one she no longer had. She did not understand what was happening to her, no specialist had told her that this could happen, nor had she heard it from other patients.
Eva does not know exactly when that sensation began to appear, but what she is sure of is that it was when “the terrible postoperative pain” began to disappear. “It was from time to time, when I was getting dressed, when I was putting on a jacket, she would notice it there, but obviously she wasn’t there. This is a very strange sensation”.
At the moment, Eva has not had her breast reconstructed, it is a pending issue. “I have considered it. It’s not a question of age, but of how you feel.”
What was happening to Eva has a name: phantom breast syndrome. “It is a condition that is characterized by having physical sensations in the region of the breast that has been operated on, and they feel as if they still have it,” explains Helena Huertas, an oncologist at a pain prevention and treatment center.
Eva thought that what was happening to her could be the result of her imagination, and she was reluctant to express it. However, she has the scientific explanation for it. “Although it may seem like a sensation imagined by the patient, it is a physical problem,” explains the oncologist. It is caused by an injury to the peripheral nerves, which are responsible for sending messages from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. “Although it is removed in the breast, the part of the brain intended to feel it is still active, and the body interprets in the form of sensations that it is still there, even if it really is not like that.”
“It’s been eight months since my mastectomy and sometimes I still feel pain, like a cramp that goes from the chest to the armpit, very intense and brief.” There are some patients, like Eva, who not only have the sensation, but also feel pain. “It is usually a nervous pain, in the form of stinging or burning, or sensations such as tingling, itching, numbness or tension,” indicates Rodrigo Sánchez, scientist at the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) and oncologist at the Cancer Unit. of Breast and Gynecology at the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid.
The real prevalence of this syndrome is unknown, because “the data come from retrospective registries and very heterogeneous patient populations,” the oncologist clarifies. According to a study by the Spanish Society of Senology and Breast Pathology, in which 50 mastectomized women were surveyed, phantom breast syndrome appeared in 38% of the women questioned, of which 31.6% expressed that they felt itching in the absent nipple. The authors also indicate that, although it is a prevalent syndrome, it is little known and studied. “It is a symptom that is usually not explained, and also the patient herself in consultation does not usually tell about it because, not knowing it, they tend to think that it is psychological,” adds Huertas.
“It is usually frustrating because patients have discomfort in a part of their body where they look at themselves and wonder, if I don’t have this part, how can it be hurting?” The sensation and pain usually appear months after surgery, although it can also appear from the beginning.
“In most cases, its appearance is sporadic and does not require any type of pharmacological intervention,” clarifies Rodrigo Sánchez. Eva normally does not need to take medication, because the pain appears in isolation. Only in very severe or disabling cases may drugs be required.
The oncologist points out that “physiotherapy techniques usually help a lot, with specific exercises to “educate” the brain to modulate that pain or those sensations.” “It’s like re-educating him and teaching him that that part of his body is no longer there, and that he shouldn’t feel it.” These sensations usually last a few months after surgery, although there are times when “it can become chronic,” Huertas includes.
Eva would have liked to know about its existence beforehand, since she believes that it would have helped her normalize what was happening to her. “It usually affects them psychologically because they are unaware that this exists, and they may have the feeling that what they are feeling does not make sense, and therefore does not count, and the problem worsens. Also because the sensation makes them continually remember what happened,” explains the oncologist. Eva says that she goes to therapy to overcome the loss, which is the most painful thing, but also to overcome the sensations that the syndrome produces.
“The most important thing is to explain to patients what can appear and help them understand what is happening to them,” concludes oncologist Rodrigo Sánchez.
#mastectomized #women #feel #breast #months #operation #Health #Medicine