23 and probably worried about nothing - Dents

Have I got breast cancer? Breast awareness, signs and symptoms
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Hi so I’ve spent too much time on the internet, not a good place for a worrier. I tend to worry about very small things and less about actual problems so it could be nothing. Some background to my ongoing concern, I’m 23, a couple of years ago I noticed a dent in my right breast. It’s shallow with a clear edge not a slope and you can only really see it when light comes from the left but I can feel it and see it, just about, in all lights. I went to the Doctor’s about it then and they felt around and said there was nothing wrong with it and to come back if it changed. It never really changed so I never went back and I just kind of accepted it. I’m probably a bit overweight and my breasts are the same, I can never find a good bra so they ache a lot and I’ve just kind of accepted that too. However recently I got some sharp pain in my under arm and there was a small reddish lump which has now sort of faded again so I think that’s fine in checking out these pains I noticed an, again shallow, line type dent along the areola on my left breast, it’s goes along from near the top round to the bottom. I can’t really see how far because they’re too big, I went in to full google mode which I really need to stop doing and only really found the same stuff I had found before. I have really felt them both all over, they’re always lumpy though but relatively symetrical but they aren’t supposed to be perfect are they? Some of the lumpy patches are slightly bigger on the one side to the other but all sort roughly the same places I really poked and prodded probably causing more harm than good I never found anything though but they are big I couldn’t give as size as I don’t really know these days. Other factors that could be something to do with this stuff, I hear, is stress and anxiety which I have a lot of and hormone imbalance which judging by my inconsistent periods could definitely play a factor, I didn’t have one for six months last year, and sometimes I get sharp pains in my chest I don’t know if that’s important. 

I’m sorry, I’m probably just being a hypochondriac again, I don’t really want to go to the Doctor, no one could really see the first one but me until I really pointed it out. I even got my mum to look. I know that it is really unlikely, no member of my family has ever had cancer and I’m young but the internet keeps bombarding me with things to check my breasts and telling me any tiny mark could kill you. If it was kind of the same as the other one I think I wouldn’t care but it’s longer thinner and shallower with curved edges so it’s the opposite. If it was higher up I might just think it was stretch marks not that it really looks like one but it’s lower so no such luck. Sorry again, I kind of just want people to tell me it’s fine, I don’t really want to know if it’s something worse but at the same time my brain won’t let me ignore it at the moment. 

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WaterfallFlight

 

Hello and welcome to the forum.  Well the first thing we tell ladies who come on here is not to google generally.  There is a lot of out of date and misinformation out there which would scare the living daylights out of even the most positive of people and if you are a worrier or suffer from anxiety it will only add to that.

 

It is good that you are listening to your practical part of your brain which is telling you not to ignore it, It is very unlikely at your age that it will be bc but due to the fact that you are a worrier, I would be inclined to make another appointment to see your GP just to give you peace of mind.  If they are not sure they might refer you to a breast clinic, but please try not to worry if they do, they are doing it because they are the experts, and there are a lot of benign breast conditions that they deal with, not just breast cancer.  You will see from the posts on here that there are many many ladies who find lumps etc., and when they get it checked out by the breast clinic they get the all clear.

 

Let us know how you get one if you want to.

 

Helena xxx

 

 

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Thank you Helena, I do sometimes wish that I could unlearn anything that googles ‘taught’ me. I know if it were any other place I wouldn’t even notice it, it’s barely there really, but nobody tells you to check anywhere else quite so vigilantly, thank goodness! Do you know what else could possibly cause it? Just to give something else for my brain to change the thoughts for a moment or two?

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Hi, It’s really hard once you get fixated on something to try and forget it, I think the only way to help is go and see your GP again. You won’t be wasting their time it’s what they are there for. 

 

We can’t tell what we think it is as from experience we know that breast changes come in so many different forms, the majority of them turn out to be nothing to worry about but it’s impossible for us to make a judgement. Age is certainly on your side and it’s likely that it is something that is just normal for you but it’s always wise to get yourself checked out. 

 

Google is most definately not your friend when searching for answers for something like this as it’s always the worst case scenarios that jump out from the screen, there will be perfectly harmless explanations too but our brains only focus on the negative things we read. 

 

Dont spend aymore time fretting, get yourself checked out Xx Jo