Breast Radiation: I feel very tight in rib area, anyone else?

Sorry this reply is a bit late!! It showed up on the CT scan.. Yes , now a year later my lung capacity is diminished. The skin on my chest wall has become so tight that it impedes my breathing. It feels like I can’t expand my rib cage enough to get a good lungful of air. My exercise hill (300m) which I used to almost “fly” up, now I am slow and sometimes need to stop to catch my breath☹️😖. Also the scaring in my axilla impedes the movement of my arm and has caused me to stop playing tennis and putting my hair up is very difficult and painful.
The doctors are thinking I still have cancer and want to put me on AI . Tamoxifen or Letrozol. I am worried about my bones with the Letrozol an my eyes with the Tamoxifen . How is anyone’s experience with these drugs. How quickly did you feel bad? Did you feel bad?
Thank you for any info🙏🙏🙏

You have been going through a lot. Have you had PT at all for the arm movement? Possibly it can be improved with exercises or even some massage. Have you asked the oncology team about tightness on chest wall. I know how uncomfortable that is--my rib cage and intercostal muscles were injured many years ago from a surgery (unrelated to cancer). Here again, PT has helped. And I've gotten some coaching from a pulmonary therapist, too. There may be things you can do to help. You sound like an active person who might feel good about working on the physical symptoms with an expert. What have you tried? I might have missed that if you previously posted. Wishing you the best.

Luckily it’s been over 2 months from radiation. My arm is pretty good, the only things I’m dealing
with now is a stab in my rib maybe 2 times a week and itching under arm.
I hope it keeps getting better and I don’t have long term effects that can happen years later. I’ve decided not to take hormones since I might be at risk for endometrial cancer. So I will just 🙏🙏 for the best.
I hope you are doing good.

I too had radiation that resulted in fibrosis of the muscles of my chest wall, the intercostal muscles( the muscles between the ribs, and my pectoralis major and minor muscles. This was confirmed with CT. I also had lymphedema post radiation. PT with a breast cancer therapist helped enormously!! With radiation you do have the risk of developing what is now called pulmonary pneumonitis. This can occur up to five years out post radiation. If you have not seen a pulmonologist, you should. Do I still have pain and stiffness. The answer is yes, but my PT program has made it so much better. I wish you and any one else who have dealt with these issues the best!!

I am 2 years past my radiation and I still get PT for my pectorial. Radiation changed the elasticity of the muscle. They said it's just part of radiation. It is a total drag and it always feels tight. I had a recurrence in my lymphnodes and had an axillary disection so I have a lot of numbing as well. The tightness is always there and sometimes pulls of the scar which feels like burning or an abrasion that you get on your palms. I do streches all the time and I have had improvement through the last two years. I know this doesn't sound positive and somedays I feel absolutely deflated from it but I am grateful that I am alive still. I just have to work extra hard.

How long did it take fibrosis to start after radiation was complete?

A couple of things to the whole post.
Yes, radiation hurt my ribs and my lungs. I had whole breast radiation for 24 treatments. My right lung is scarred, two months after treatment, I contracted pneumonia, right lung collapse, intubated for 8 days and hospitalized for 14. I know everyone is different - but it was too much for me and in retrospect ill prescribed. (I'm somewhat tainted in my views now - sometimes believing it's more about the money and not about medicine, sadly.)

I was on Letrozole for approximately 7 months. Over the first several weeks, joint and muscle pain increased and eventually became crippling. My Oncologist prescribed Cymbalta for pain for a couple months, but it had little effect. I was weened off cymbalta and left with no other option than to stop taking the Letrozole. I'm about 9 weeks free of Letrozole and about 60% better on the joint and muscle pain but have severe neuropathy in my right hand and moderate in my left. Two fingers have "trigger" finger which may never resolve without surgery.

I retrospect, I would have fought much harder against the radiation - My "numbers" were so close to having a very short treatment of 3-5 days vs the full boat. I also would have researched (and most likely refused) Letrozole - the side effects were so severe.

I'm in a watchful waiting mode with the onco dr. and prayerful to not have recurrent cancer.

I was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer after Larposcopy in april gone, it left my wife of 20 years extremely distressed, contemplating suicide if i die, 4 surgeons who preformed Larposcopy informed me two hours after op that I've stage 4, im infested with cancer, they did deep deep biopsies of organs, 3 weeks later at first meeting they miraculously said they can prolong my life to 5 years, we were delighted overjoyed tearful, 2 months of FLOT chemo then stomach removed and whatever else in August, released on 6th september, in an awful state, wife whose 45 years had a letter from her own doctor to attend A+E for a simple Xray, which showed spots on her lung, they kept her in hospital for tests and within one week of the day of my release from hospital, she was diagnosed with stage 4 aggressive kidney lung and brain cancer, she recieved two session of immunotherapy and in november her first dose of radiation to supposedly remove the small tumours from her brain, she was ok for a few hours after but then experienced severe headaches which they said was normal, one week after radiation she collapsed out of our bed at 9.30am, she had a brain bleed under the small tumour that semi paralysed her, unable to speak, they operated took tumours from her brain, she fought hard for 5 weeks and died in my arms just over a week befor Christmas in hospital under Palliative care, i believe radiation fries the brain, and they should operated to remove her small tumours as they stated they would do initially, thats just my story i like to share in relation to radiation, her second month anniversary is near, get a second opinion before radiation

Thanks for your reply Miriam, yes I have seen and still see a physio. Unfortunately it doesn’t help much and it is very painful after stretching all the tight skin and muscles and tissues. I am still waiting to have a MRI to find out what is really going on in / on my chest wall and in my axilla.

Thanks for your response 🙏 . I also have nerve damage, Ulna Nerve, causing numbness and loss of sensation in my hand , little and ring fingers.
I find it all very disappointing as I was told by radio onc. it is very precise and will only focus on the cancer in my skin and would not affect my lung. Also some of my nails,3, became “dead” flaking, buckling and breaking. They are now, nearly a year later almost back to normal.
I am very concerned about starting on AI as the side effects seem so bad. I think I am leaning towards Tamoxifen as they say it doesn’t affect osteoporosis??? So difficult to make these decisions. I also have a husband with dementia who is worse than no help😱. Sorry about the complaints, I am having a bad day! Wishing you all the best🙏🙏