Possible Solution to Port Access Pain

Well, after having the port accessed four times now, and each time being very painful (to the point of tears and pain for over a half hour afterward and pain off an on for two days afterward) I think we have an probable answer.

I use to get massages every couple weeks and my massage person always had problems with my upper arms and upper chest area …..with me howling from pain at the slightest touch in those areas. I was relating this to my GP today in our weekly consult, and her eyes brightened up…and she said, “I think you have fibromyalgia and the port is over a pressure point.” Interesting. I had told the nurses that the pain was far more than the lidocaine cream could fix……that it was a deep and sharp pain…and it continued long after they punched the skin and port. Well, this all makes sense…though I had thought that fibromyalgia wasn’t a real problem. Guess I’ve been wrong.

I can’t use Advil or anything like that due to the blood clots I had and taking Coumadin, so we have to come up with something else to quiet down those muscles and tissue. So, next Wednesday, I will be putting an ice pack over the chest muscles around the port and hope that by numbing the tissue with ice, it will make accessing the port less painful.

Hope this might help someone else out that who has experienced some of the same problems I’ve had with the port. My port is also put in at an angle….not the best job of implanting, and that may be “some” of the problem…but I think the fibromyalgia may be the rest of the story.

Julie T.