hi, never thought i’d see myself posting here, yet here i am. I’m 20 yrs old and in july i felt a real heaviness in my right breast, i had an ultrasound in august confirming i had microcysts, the symptoms kept getting worse, my breast was getting heavier and bigger and more uncomfortable, i had another ultrasound in sept confirming nothing had changed. i feel tired and just generally sick and lately there has been a burning pain under my ribs on the right side. its like my body is telling me something is wrong but my gp doesnt want to hear it. even suggesting i have some mental issues and suggests i get counselling. I’m not mad, i just feel like no-one is listening to me, i feel like by the time they find out something is wrong it’ll be too late, dont know what to do x
Hi hsgal90
Welcome to the Breast Cancer Care discussion forums, you’ve come to the right place for some good support as the users of these forums have a wealth of knowledge and experience between them.
As you feel you aren’t getting any support from your local medical team, could I suggest that you give the helpline her a ring and have a chat with one of the staff who can support you through this. Calls to the helpline are free, 0808 800 6000, lines open at 9am this morning until 5pm (Mon-Fri 9-5 & Sat -2)
Take care,
Jo, Facilitator
when you found problems with your breast and went for the ultrasound you must have been worried as everybody else on here. Its a huge shock having the tests and waiting for results. you are lucky that your doctor took you seriously, many ignore breast changes in young women. The worry can make you ill and very much more aware of every ache and pain.
You have had to live with this worry, and the fact that it was just cysts does not make it any less a distressing time
I am not a medic, but i would say that they are very good now and assessing breast changes and if they say there is no cancer they are right.
Have you been feeling your breast a lot to see if you can find anything?? that in itself can make you sore and uncomfortable.
what have they said about the microcysts, do they want you to get them checked again next year? Are they singles or clusters?? Do you have a copy of the letter they sent to the doctor about the resluts.
You say your body knows something is wrong, well that is right, having cysts may not be serious, but it is still a change in your breast, something that was not there before, no mater how benign it is.
I realy would have a chat with the helpline, they are all nurses trained in the different types of things going on in our breasts.
I would echo what OldandLumpy says about ringing the helpline. They have so much knowledge and experience and will be able to talk all this through with you and give you the time you need.
It might be worth thinking about what would give you peace of mind. You clearly haven’t felt convinced by the Consultant (presuming you saw one?) when you had the cysts diagnosed. Sometimes if the Consultant fails to explain things well or you feel rushed or not listened to it means that you don’t get that sense of reassurance or feel confident in what you’re being told.
I’m not sure that your GP sounds that great either. I remember when I was your age and having terrible gynae problems I kept getting dismissed out of hand - I think there is sometimes a poor attitude to younger people. Is there another GP in the practice you could go to?
Alternatively, you could say to your GP that you haven’t been given peace of mind by the tests and that you would like to have a second opinion. You could get that done privately if you can afford it. A private consultation is normally about £150 to £200 (any tests would be extra)so I don’t know if that’s an option for you. You would also need a referral from your GP.
The feeling sick and tiredness could well be the result of all the worry you are experiencing. In any case, you need to have some help to get this resolved for you. I’m no expert but you could try counselling which might help you more than you think. Probably though you need that extra reassurance about your physical health first.
I’d say ring the helpline and see what they think about all of this. take care, Elinda x
thank you so much guys for caring, you guys are actually more supportive than my family, who have told me to “get over it”! in regards to oldandlumpy, i feel like this whole ordeal has just made me scared of life, every little thing makes me think im going to die, in my head logically im thinking, i’ve had 2 ultrasounds and nothing has been found, i dont understand why i am still worried, the fact that i was depressed beforehand probably didnt help. the consultant said i have quite a few microcysts and in his words “benign brest changes”.
to elinda45, i saw a private consultant twice because my gp was being dismissive and both times were out of my own pocket, cost about £400 a go. He didnt really explain what was going on, he just said 'it’s not cancer and that all you have to worry about". i think i know that i’m alright im just shook up by it all, stressed myself out so much i didnt have a period for a couple months, amazing what the mind can do! and i agree about the whole being dismissed because i’m young. i dont know how women handle breast cancer, this ordeal has turned me into an emotional wreck, there are some strong women out there x
sounds to me if now what you need is some professional help to come to terms with all this. Do ring the helpline. they are there for everyone and are so understanding. They can talk you through your fears and perhaps suggest some places you can go to get help.
i am afraid its the norm that family and friends do not understand what the fear of cancer does to your brain. Its only people who have been through the worry of tests that do.
i am sorry but I dont think much of your private consultant. You pay for care and attention and you should have been given a full explanation of exactly what the scans show. You could ring his secretary up and ask for a copy of the radiologists report, you paid for it so you must be entitled to it. Then you can go through that with the helpline who have all the time in the world to talk to you.
So now you have two jobs.
get the report to find out exactly what is going on in your breast , that will help
get some professional help on getting your head round it all, preferably from one of the cancer support agencies.
you could start on these two things today and I am sure it will make you feel abit better. For some people its the feeling of not having any control that makes everything worse
Completely agree with Old and Lumpy - really good advice.
Do talk thing through with the helpline and consider having counselling. The last thing you want is to be feeling scared all the time as that will impact so much on your quality of life as you’ve already been finding.
For those of us who’ve had cancer, you deal and cope with it because you have to. I suspect if you’d asked most of us before our diagnosis how we’d feel I expect a lot of us would have said we’d never cope but we did.
Worry is such a debilitating and exhausting thing. I hope with the right support that you’ll be able to put all this behind you and enjoy your life. It’s always good to get things checked out of course but not good for any of us to sit and dwell on the negatives all the time.
take care, elinda x