Lymphedema? Are You Kidding Me?
- Penny Aldrich
- Sep 9, 2017
- 2 min read
Usually, by the time you are diagnosed with Lymphedema, you have finished all of your breast cancer treatments, your hair is finally growing back, your incisions are healing nicely and you have a wee bit of energy when you wake up in the morning.
One day you notice something isn't quite right with one or both of your arms, so you go see your doctor and find out that now, on top of everything else, you have lymphedema!
How Did This Happen?
Usually, lymphedema is a potential side effect of breast cancer surgery and radiation therapy that can appear in some people during the months or even years after treatment ends.
Lymph is a thin, clear fluid that circulates throughout the body to remove wastes, bacteria, and other substances from tissues. Edema is the buildup of excess fluid. So lymphedema occurs when too much lymph collects in any area of the body. If lymphedema develops in people who’ve been treated for breast cancer, it usually occurs in the arm and hand, but sometimes it affects the breast, underarm, chest, trunk, and/or back.
Why does lymphedema happen?
As part of their surgery, many people with breast cancer have at least two or three lymph nodes removed from under the arm (sentinel lymph node biopsy), and sometimes many more nodes (axillary lymph node dissection). If the cancer has
So even if lymphedema gets mentioned during this time, you may not remember it. Or it may not come up because the focus is really on getting you well. So if lymphedema does develop later on, it can feel like yet another insult to the body, one that many women weren’t fully prepared for. The good news is that women can learn how to manage it and lead normal lives.”
"Although there’s no way to know for sure whether you’ll develop lymphedema after breast cancer, you can help yourself by learning more about it."
Know your risk factors, take steps to reduce your risk, and be aware of early symptoms. Left untreated, lymphedema can worsen and cause severe swelling and permanent changes to the tissues under the skin, such as thickening and scarring.
Adding to the frustration some people feel is the conflicting advice about how to prevent and manage lymphedema — perhaps you’ve encountered some of it! There’s still much more research to be done before we fully understand this condition. Also, many doctors don’t have a great deal of experience with lymphedema. Realize that you may need to take charge and find your way to an experienced lymphedema therapist.
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