Armpit pain/left side pain

Hi everyone,

SSS, pm implant on 1/29/2021. Left side.

About a month into my procedure being done ,I developed some pretty intense pain/swelling from my site going into armpit, pain going down and turning right along my left breast,along with pain down a part of rib cage.

 Some numbness left arm just above elbow. No redness,fever.  Thought I had infection ,but blood test negitive. PM Doc said I was fine. Lasted a few weeks,resolved on its own.

Its back again,not as pronounced as the first bout. Armpit, side,down to breast very tender/ sore light numbness . No lumps or bumps in breast that I can feel. Mamo all good prior to PM.

Any one have this issue? It seems related to my PM implant. Nerve ? 

I have made an appointment with my primary,they seem to take my pain issues a little more seriously than my pm nurse or Cardio DR, howerver in the meantime, I thought I would ask here if anyone has experienced similar issue.

 

2 Comments

Armpit/left sided pain

by Gemita - 2021-05-09 07:12:48

Loretta, I am going to perhaps state the obvious, but if your problems resolved once and are now back again, not quite as pronounced, this perhaps is a sign that healing is trying to take place, and that hopefully your symptoms will resolve again very soon.  

You are doing the right thing to engage your general doctor for management of your symptoms in the first instance.  If your numbness, pain, any swelling or other symptoms do not resolve over time, you might still need further investigations to see whether the device/leads have caused lasting damage to nerves and veins but at barely three months following your implant, all your symptoms could be fairly normal.

I had all manner of symptoms following my pacemaker implant, including the symptoms you describe.  I did in fact suffer trauma to my subclavian vein/axillary vein during lead placement and developed an extra network of "collateral veins" to bypass the injury and to keep my blood flowing, but I was taking anticoagulation at the time which clearly helped.  I still get numbness and some slight swelling left armpit and pain in this area.  My implant was in 2018.

I would suggest you work with your primary doctor and if your symptoms keep returning, ask for further tests to determine exactly what has happened and keep your cardiology team informed.  I note your mammogram was normal, but a thorough physical examination of your left breast area again might be wise to rule out any obvious enlargement of lymph nodes in the left armpit.

Good luck Loretta

Thank you Gemita!

by Loretta - 2021-05-15 13:27:07

Thank you for the input,it has eased my mind a bit.  I follow up next Tuesday with GP. I enjoy hearing from you. You are a God send :)

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