Right, my post may be strange and something else, but I am genuinely worried.
My my mother had breast cancer, age 40, and I have read that if you have direct links with blood like that, it ca n double your chances to get cancer. Great. Another thing which doesn’t help is my weight. I’m on the fatter side for my age. 14 stone at 14 years. Yikes. Now, I am very active. I go to the gym weekly and actively participate in walking my dog, going for walks etc.
However, last night I was laying down and felt, for the first time ever, pain in my breasts when I lay down on them. This worried me, so I began feeling and I found a singular lump in my right breast. I cannot see anything on the outside, such as nipple discharge, redness, etc. And, my nan told me (as I have to live with her now) that my mothers cousin had lumps, as well as her mother had lumps, but they weren’t cancerous.
Im still very worried, I know this isn’t common at my age, but I don’t know what to do. Other than the obvious, going to see my doctor.
Hi Khatlin,
You don’t say what your age is…you mention '14 ’ and weight at one point, but how old are you now? The obvious that you stated, a quick pop to the GP, will be required to put your mind at rest. It needs to be remembered that 80 percent of ‘lumps’ are nothing more than something benign, and if you are very young then chances of anything being sinister reduce dramatically. Hormonal changes, could easily be the cause of your pain in both breasts, especially if it came on that quickly, either related to your period or changes with your age. There are lots of benign conditions, which are listed on the fact sheets on this website. The point here is that you need to have your anxiety over this matter addressed, and clearly the fact that your mother was a BC sufferer is causing you more anxiety, I think no matter what your Nan says or what we say, you will still be concerned. Remember without somebody seeing you no diagnosis can be made.
The genetic issue isn’t as simple as ‘if your mother had it’ I believe, and maybe the GP can discuss that with you. Maybe someone else will come along shortly who understands the genetic links and tests that are possible? If could be though that your mother had an entirely spontaneous BC, just as I have at 47.
If there was any question that the GP was concerned you would get a referral to a breast clinic. It could be a non urgent referral, which I understand can be up to a 12 week wait for being seen in the some places. I would urge you to take a quick 5 minut visit to your GP for your own peace of mind.
Charys