Bit of background; for 2 +years I have had breast pain and have been to the doctors x3, had physio x2 and finally had breast clinic referral and mammo last summer. Everything fine it must be hormonal (consultants opinion). At Christmas the pain suddenly stepped up a notch after 4m of tolerable pain. I returned to GP who was very dismissive but sent me for more physio, in March the physio was not happy as nothing he was doing was working and I had sharp pain in breast rather than the constant pulling ache I had had for 2 years so he sent me back to GP. She shrugged, said sharp, prickly pains not a classic BC pain + mammo clear so just take pain relief and will review in a month. Last week my chest felt hot and I looked and my upper chest was bright red with a pinky pinprick rash on the top and middle of both breasts. It calmed down after a few hours but since then everyday morning I have woken up with pink rash with spidery veins on my upper chest and breast. This morning there was a definite area on my breast than was more pink and that breast today feels like there is glass in it. Although it feels like it’s burning my skin doesn’t feel particularly hot (just warm). Have GP app tomoro where I know she will refer but I am terrified. This pain is so different than before and makes me cry and have never ever had rash before. Please provide some words of comfort as am on my own for the next few nights with 5 children and cannot cope. Thank you for getting this far. X
Hello Mish, I understand how you would have come to the conclusion it might be IBC but please don’t jump the gun as there is a much higher chance it won’t be anything serious, it’s not going to be easy while you wait to be seen and checked out so you have to find a coping strategy to help you function or you will go around the bend, just try and focus on seeing your GP tomorrow then getting an appointment through for the clinic and nothing beyond that, you can’t self diagnose, we all do it I know but speaking from experience it’s really not going to help you one bit! accept that your going to feel anxious but you are doing something pro active to get yourself checked, the help line here are a huge source of support and will talk through all your fears with you and of course on the forum we will be here to lend an ear and a virtual hand hold, we have all been right where you are now Xx Jo
Hi Mish,it’s horrible having such anxiety hanging over you .Like Jo says ,there is a good chance this will be nothing sinister but until you have it checked very difficult not to be worried .Good luck.Jill.
So just been to GP (not normal one) and she was horrible. Basically offered me antidepressants and anti anxiety meds and said rash is anxiety and stabbing pains are muscular. I just cried and she looked at me and said " I am running really behind so will refer you again to breast clinic but they will not find anything" She also reiterated that breast cancer always has a lump is never painful and my mammo from last year would have shown up anything sinister and that nothing will develop in 7m. Going to go home and cry; she basically thought I was a nervous wreck.
Oh Mish what an absoloute cow!! How dare she treat you like that!! And to say BC always shows itself as a lump and isnt painful is so untrue and down right dangerous to tell people!!, im flipping speechless!!! Xx
How on earth can she say for certain the pain is muscular what proof does she have? And like others have said it isn’t always a lump that you find. I didn’t but had other symptoms. I thought GP’s were really on this these days if you had any worries. No wonder some people are put off going to their GP’s if that’s how you’re treated. Don’t give up until you’re satisfied that nothing is wrong xx
Well called doctors today and she hasn’t done referral letter yet. Does IBC rash come and then not fade? Had really bad pain today and when I looked where the pain was I had 2 inch by 1 inch long rash again with the visible tiny blood vessels. Had been coping ok and wearing high cut tops so I didn’t focus on rash every day lately but this (combined with GP not referring yet) has freaked me out. Am so scared and to top it all off had to have a biopsy this week due to an abnormal smear. ?
Is it worth going to see another GP in the practice ?This one sounds useless.I don’t know re rash coming and going.Whatever it is you need to know and get it treated .
Well I had my breast clinic appointment today and consultant did an ultrasound and said she could feel that my painful breast is fuller than the other breast and found a dense area. She said she was not concerned by it at all (she was really lovely) BUT she took a biopsy of the area to allay my fears. She was talking about how we will treat my breast pain look bf term when I come back for biopsy results but I am scared now as dense area was exactly where the broken blood vessels and pain are. Local anaesthetic wearing of now too and it bloody hurts!!!
She didn’t mention anything it could be. I amworryi get this evening as the area that I receive the most pain is very badly bruised this evening whereas the other biopsy areas haven’t bruised at all. The worried part of me is thinking an inflamed breast will bruise more. I am still numb as no other doctor has ever found anything on examination before. I have an appointment in a week as there was one appointment left. Consultant did say it would probably be a few weeks originally as it wasn’t a concerning biopsy.
Yes; she said there is no urgent need to see me as she has biopsied to rule everything out so we can draw a line under it and move on to discovering the real reason behind my pain. She said the tissue samples looked Normal in the needle. Hubbie more worried as he thinks she wouldn’t biopsy unless she had an element of doubt.
Sorry to be confusing. She said there was no need to have an urgent appointment to get results and I would be offered a “normal” appointment so could be 2-3 weeks. In fact they had one normal appointment space free next Tuesday due to a cancellation so I wil get results sooner than anticipated. Re; the tissue. I have no idea what she means. She did mention fatty tissue initially so perhaps it didn’t look like that???
Wish I could sleep; am so tired. Everyday I feel more anxious and convinced results will surprise the consultants. Just found out yesterday I will miss my LB 's assembly cause of clash with appointment. Never missed one before.?
It was a core biopsy rather than needle aspiration.
So results are just normal breast tissue. Rash on chest is worse than ever though and spreading. She wants to see me in 3m as I have a huge blood clot because of biopsy and am in lots of pain. So relieved it’s nothing sinister but don’t feel the pain and rash is resolved as worse than ever so can’t draw a line under or sadly.
How did you get on?
Hope your ok.
Because of anxiety I really worry about undiagnosed problems but also know that anxiety can cause lots of physical symptoms. Rash on chest no worse but now it feels like it’s burning and I have had a little spot on chest for nearly a week. Problem is I keep fiddling with it so it won’t clear up but knowing what o know about IBC it doesn’t help
Now breast clinic have requested to see me again as I went to see my GP and he is not happy with how swollen my collarbone is and the redness and heat from my chest.
Next Tuesday