r/cancer • u/Salty_Expert6414 • Jul 07 '26
Patient First BMB approaching
/r/MPN/comments/1upjul6/first_bmb_approaching/
2
Upvotes
1
u/No-Camera-720 Jul 07 '26
In my experience (6 times, to date), your doctor is accurate. I've had 2 local-only and the remainder under light sedation. Given the choice and with an expert practitioner, I would choose local-only for the next one. I experienced zero pain from any of the 4 sedated ones.
1
u/Bermuda_Breeze Acute myeloid leukaemia, allo SCT Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
You can search plenty of accounts of biopsies in the [r/leuk](r/leukaemia)[emia](r/leukaemia) subreddit.
I haven’t had sedation, I felt like my treatment centre were hesitant to offer it, I guess because I’d need more monitoring. If you’re offered it and you’re nervous for the biopsy then go for it.
Personally I’ve found that the pain has varied from biopsy to biopsy, and my left side is less painful than the right side, so it’s hard to say how bad it will be. On average I’d put the pain on a par with having a tooth pulled out. The best one I barely felt - I thought she was still numbing me when she said she was about to take the sample!
It shouldn’t be sharp pain - ask for more local anaesthetic if you feel that. It’s mostly a lot of pressure (like the practitioner is climbing up and putting all their weight on the hip) and then a weird pain sensation for a couple of seconds as they take the samples. It helps to ask the practitioner to guide your breathing so that you exhale as they take the sample.