Hi all,
i know I’m not alone here, for me the thought of goin back to GP is the hardest step for me. To see the eyes till the big sigh and well let’s check but you know what I’m going to say…I may sound synical but its reality I’m afraid. I’ve been going back and firths for 2 years. I got sent to breast clinic after seeing a different doctor an she could feel a lump close to side on rib. Anyway the whole time I’ve said it’s not my breasts I can feel things it’s my armpits and just behind also my chest. For the past year I’ve had increasing back pain, and I have loads of marks all over chest. Along with multiple what look like stuck on freckles. In the past 3 weeks, you can feel the heat radiate from my armpits breast and shoulders. My shoulders and back an chest look like a body builders. I’ve been told the muscles are in spasm. I can’t get anyone to actually check the areas that I’m worried aboutsky the skin beneath breast an up sternum has changed it sort of looks like leather. There’s a patch at top of chest going up one side of neck now too. If I pull the skin slightly on top of breast/chest it’s easier to see quite a lot of dimpling and is it peau d orange. But it’s not always easy to see. I have been getting a real deep ache/pain in various parts of chest and when I lay down or rest/lean on 1 arm, the lump that is in armpit but its almost just begind the armpit. if i lay on my side it feels like my chest is crushing. i now have loads of hard lumps in armpit stretching up the front to collarbone at one side a doctor actually asked me just a few days ago if I’d had an injury that’s how obvious it is. Yet when I told her she did nothing.
lastly my right nipple is pulling towards sternum an has a shadow it’s not centred anymore. And breast look like I have loads of insect bites that won’t go away.
Im seriously so very very scared that its IBC or something and that by the time i make someone actually listen its going to be too late… What right do doctors have to make a patient feel so degraded that you can’t face going back again…
someone help.
Best wishes to everyone on here,
38 year old mum of 2.
Hi Fizmeplz
I am sorry you are so worried. It must be very upsetting if you feel you are being ignored by your GP. I think if you feel that bad about going back to your GP that it is worth either trying to see another one or perhaps going straight to A & E.
PLEASE give the Breast Cancer Care helpline a call tomorrow. I am sure that they will advise you how best to get help.
Don’t give up. You really should get some advice that you can have faith in.
I wish you well. Please post again to let us know how you get on if you can.
Where are you in the country geographically? (I am not asking for your address, but the region, nearest city)
Verity
Hi Fixmeplz Verity is right, you must see a doctor ASAP, even if there is nothing wrong, so that it canput your mind at rest. I am not a medical person and therefore cannot advise you on your symptoms. But I can tell you about my experience. I had a battle with my gp surgery for a year to get referred for my bc (which presented as a thickening ) I was told on repeated visits it was cyclical changes, no lump palpable, nothing to worry about, too young for bc (I am 43). Eventually a locum took me seriously and referred me for a mammogram which dx me with IDC stage 2,grade 2. I have recently finished chemo prior to surgery begin Feb. It has been scary, but made worse due to my gp messing me about - the delay in dx has ensured the lump is bigger and I have lymph node involvement hence chemo which may have been avoidable if dx quicker. I have absolutely no faith in my gp centre and wish I had pestered them more than I did. So please if gp won’t listen go to your A +E. There are many things that could be causing these symptoms. Not just bc. Justifiably you are worried. Please seek medical advice ASAP. X
I had the same sort of experience with my GP years ago. I’d actually been advised by a BUPA nurse to see him because she had thought an area on my left breast was denser than the rest of it, but he said there was nothing to worry about. I got really upset because my sister had died from breast cancer earlier that year but I think that just convinced him even more I was overreacting. My husband rang the surgery up to say please just refer her to the Breast Clinic to put her mind at rest but he refused point blank. I felt like saying ‘I told you so’ when it actually became a lump he could feel and he sprung into action. Of course with benefit of hindsight I should have changed GPs. Please do something as soon as you can. xx
Hi Fixmeplz
You know your body better than anyone else so stamp your feet, scream just do whatever it takes to be heard.
my Dr dismissed me twice telling me to come back after my next monthly cycle. He said he was not concerned and only agreed to refer me when I said I couldn’t sleep because I was so worried.
Even the Dr at the Breast Care Centre told me he was not clinically concerned and said it wouldn’t be treated as urgent, between the 2 Drs lack of concern they cat me 14 weeks delay. It had spread to my lymph nodes and I am convinced that if I had been listened to on my first visit I may have been able to avoid this.
At the end of the day it’s your body and your life, don’t hold back and wait any longer go and get a second opinion from another Dr.
big hugs
Stella
Fixmeplz - you must keep banging on at them to do some tests. I took advice 2 years ago and ‘left well alone’ with a tiny lump in my areola. Drs said it was an insignificant blocked duct (fact is I dont think they could feel it and were patronising me). Said to come back in six months - no different so discharged. Had all normal check ups over time, put on some weight so lump burried in fat. Lost weight this autumn and lump reappeared. Same size but I saw a different consultant who agreed to remove it for peace of mind. Turned out to be IDC and had spread to my lymph nodes. Like Stella I’m sure if I’d been taken seriously first time round I wouldn’t be in the mess I’m in now.
Please don’t be afraid of making a fuss. Finding out what’s wrong and getting it put right is way less painful than fretting about wotif all the time.
Good luck.
M x