Breast Pain while on dialysis?

[alrightstill]

So as you can see from my siggy  - I'm a seasoned dialysis patient. 

Just recently though I've been starting to experience horrendous pains in my breast.  Ladies -you know the pain you can sometimes experience when its cold out? Well that's the pain I get .. with 39moretimes intensity.  And it's not the  nipple part.. on both breasts it the bottom half.  It feels like 10oz  of boiling hot blood suddenly rushes to that area.  One night it was so bad I even took some dilaudid..which didn't really help.  I then get off the machine and maybe within a half hour time.. I'm back to normal.

I am on a birth control (the same one for the past year and a half) so maybe there's a connection there.. but then why does it only occur when I'm on the machine? ---  And not  EVERYTIME I'm on the machine.. It happened tonight and I marked down the last time it happened was April 15th.. (Happened a few times in March as well).

So I guess before I contact my ob-gyn and my nephrologist I just want to see if anyone here has any idea what could be going on?

Thanks in advance for ANY insight.

[Rerun]

Sorry, I have no advice because I have not experienced this.  Hope someone else can help.

       

[Wallyz]

I would guess, based on location and timing, that your mammary glands are getting filled with fluid when you are carrying extra fluid, and that when you take off the fluid you are taking it off faster than it can osmose through the cell membranes.  This sounds similar to the pain experienced by nursing women (notably in my case, my wife) when a duct is blocked off,and they are carrying too much fluid.  Hot compresses worked for her, as well as light massage.

Does the pain come when you are taking off more fluid than normal?

[alrightstill]

I would guess, based on location and timing, that your mammary glands are getting filled with fluid when you are carrying extra fluid, and that when you take off the fluid you are taking it off faster than it can osmose through the cell membranes.  This sounds similar to the pain experienced by nursing women (notably in my case, my wife) when a duct is blocked off,and they are carrying too much fluid.  Hot compresses worked for her, as well as light massage.

Does the pain come when you are taking off more fluid than normal?

Wow.. that makes sense!

I have been trying to take off more than normal.. Something weird has been going on in that department too because I'm suddenly gaining weight.. even thought the past 3 months I've been eating less and exercising.  But I've had to raise my dry weight because about an hour into treatment I start to get light headed and dizzy.  Granted... My bp is ALWAYS super low (another prob the docs can't figure out why..) so I just usually pop a midodrine to raise it.. which lately hasn't been having much effect. 

Perhaps they're alllll related though.  I'm glad you put in your two cents Wallyz because when I do present the prob to my doc at least I'll have an educated guess to back up my complaint with.  :-)  Thanks again!

[swramsay]

I have tender breasts occasionally also like PMS although I had surgically induced menopause in 2004. I too think I've been gaining weight when I shouldn't be. Much of it seems to be in my breasts which are heavier for some reason. Odd isn't it?
I was wondering if some hormone is being triggered by something I am taking for dialysis...like my hair coming out because of the heparin.

Your situation doesn't seem right. I'd talk to your doc.

[alrightstill]

I have tender breasts occasionally also like PMS although I had surgically induced menopause in 2004. I too think I've been gaining weight when I shouldn't be. Much of it seems to be in my breasts which are heavier for some reason. Odd isn't it?
I was wondering if some hormone is being triggered by something I am taking for dialysis...like my hair coming out because of the heparin.

Your situation doesn't seem right. I'd talk to your doc.

Whats  going on with your hair?  I've been having tons of hair loss too.. Sometimes its weeks straight of big clumps coming out everyday.  Has it been related to heparin?

[jbeany]

swramsay and alrightstill - what are your PTH levels?  Increasing PTH induces lactation in some women.  The increase in fluid in the breast could be contributing to some of the problems.

Just one more stinkin' thing to try and juggle. . .

[twirl]

are those animals looking at a badminton birdie
so cute

I hurt and that night I went to the ER and ended up in the hospital for 5 days ------ too much fluid -
my recent hospital visit

[swramsay]

My PTH was 478...not terribly high but still high. We are adjusting my hectorol dosage.

[swramsay]

Whats  going on with your hair?  I've been having tons of hair loss too.. Sometimes its weeks straight of big clumps coming out everyday.  Has it been related to heparin?

The hair loss stinks. I've lost about 1/2 of the volume of my hair. I pulled out my wig from chemo today. As a matter of fact the picture of me with my son is with my wig during chemo. I read it can take several months for hair loss as a result of heparin usage. They say hair will grow back once heparin stops which is why I want to know if there is a substitue for heparin during dialysis. I only use a 500 unit bolus before each treatment.

[Wallyz]

You can se a citrate bath, but not with nxstage.

[jbeany]

I think, with Nxstage, it is possible to simply do a saline flush every 30 minutes or so, and skip heparin entirely.  Seems like someone on here was talking about it.

[Wallyz]

I did that for a little while.  Its a PITA, but it works.