I was 47 when I found my lump but I found that my medical file at the general hospital I attended said I was 38 because they couldn’t subtract my year of birth from the current year properly. I queried this and said they should get my age right as the chances of cancer rise with age. Nevertheless they still misdiagnosed me after this
I think their mindset is that only older women get breast cancer.
Mole
Hi
It seems to bit of a lottery with the doctors and how they deal with painful lumps. I have not had painful lumps nut cannot fault my GP. They refered me no questions asked. Maybe every doctors policy should be send whether it is painful or not…better to be safe.
Hi All,
I’d just like to say that not all GPs are as ignorant and lacking in empathy as some described on this thread. My GP has been my best friend through my bc journey.
I was 46 at dx and I was referred straightaway - my GP said all the right things - statistically probably nothing to worry about, but need to have it checked to be on the safe side. After dx, he was very patient with me - always had time to chat and reassure about any other symptoms I got paranoid about. He told me about the effects of the rads and advised time off work etc. He was interested in the impact on me as a whole person through the whole thing whereas I found gaps between the different specialists that I saw, and even now I don’t think my onc has a clue about my medical history, even the complications of my surgery because of a newly diagnosed bleeding disorder.
Maybe its because I live in an area of quite dense population and my GP sees more bc patients, or maybe its because he’s older and more experienced. In any event, if you don’t feel that you’re getting the support you need from your GP, then you should ask to change to another one. There are good ones out there!
E xx
I complained about the lack of knowledge displayed by my GP and she said out of a practice of 3,000 she had only seen two patients with breast cancer as most of the people were younger than average. I have noticed there aren’t many older people when I go to the surgery. But that’s still no excuse. They should be clued up
Mole
I too agree about GP awareness and say to all my friends to persist as it’s our bodies and we know best…
I had a sister died at 28 with bc and mother had lumpectomy and she knew my history…when I said I had a painful lump I asked her for a mammogram and she said ‘Oh you don’t need that far too expensive and I can’t feel a lump anyway’…I stupidly trusted her and left confused then came back a month later insisting she feel it, she did and her face fell, I had an appointment the next day for tests…then diagnosis, mx week later with lymph nodes…
You know what I did, I kept her as my GP as my friends were furious and said leave her practice. I understand GPs are people and can make mistakes and believe me after a couple of years after I felt like sueing her but once i calmed down I wanted her to realise that I’m not just going away and that by me being a patient of hers still that she will think next time about not listening to women like me…you know, she’s very attentive now when I walk through the door…and I bet to other women too!!
Purdie x
I have not had a painful lump and I don’t know how much my Dr knows about breast cancer but what I do know is 10 years ago when I found a lump in my left breast one saturday I saw him on the mnday , he gave me a very cursory examination and rang the hospital to make an appointment for me there and then and within two weeks I had had the mamaogram,and the lump removed and biospised and had the results - it was benign. Last April I was diagnosed following a routinue mamogram right breast this time, a lump I could not feel and my GP has been great not that I have seen much of him over the year but he has rung or spoken to me if I have rung the surgery, I have felt very supported. My surgery which is in a major city and is busy, has a pharmacy connected to it and they have had to order my tamoxifen in as noone else has it there. So I guess they don’t have many patients in my situation.
I know there are are good GP’s and not so good ones out there… I had a lump under my arm, couldn’t get an appt with my usual lady GP, so saw another male GP - he was so dismissive, and couldn’t have made me feel more like I was wasting his time any more if he’d tried! I was nearly in tears as I left…
After pressure from my partner and my mum, I went to see my GP about 6 weeks later, she took my arm lump seriously, gave me a breast exam and found an area of thickening (never felt like a lump) and made me an appt at the hospital for a mammo and biopsy, and there it was, 5cm of triple neg. I was 44, and it was already in my lymph nodes, I’m so glad I listened to my mum and o/h!
Just wanted to add that I also was under the impression that painful, large lumps were nothing to worry about, it seems ridiculous now, but everything I’ve ever seen on TV or read about talks about pea sized lumps. I had no idea there was more than one kind of breast cancer or that it could affect younger women.
I was so lucky with my GP. I eventually went to see her after my large, painful lump didn’t go after my period. I was insistent it was only a cyst but she disagreed. I’m so grateful that my GP was so aware and referred me. The number of patients who haven’t been so lucky is truly shocking.
GP’s do need to be more aware, there’s no doubt, but I’d also like to see more information available to women (and men) about all the different kinds of breast cancer.
The idiotic myth about cancerous lumps not being painful really needs to be addressed among GPs, many of whom still subscribe to this nonsense.
I found my lump because it hurt like hell.
its not just myths about about painful lumps but also age and other breast chnages that GPs and women themselves should be aware of.
i know we dont want to scare people but i think early education is important so that women (well girls to start with) know what changes to look for, where breast tissue extends to and that early diagnosis saves lives… all too often i hear of women who were too scared to go because they didnt want to find out they had cancer.
so many times you hear taht some GPs have dismissed women because they think you cant get breast cancer under 50 let alone under 40 or 30 or even 20… but it can happen although very rarely in under 20s.
my first lump was painful… well not agony but was a tugging sensation which hurt… however somebody else may not consider that sore and others may have experienced it as very sore… pain and they type of sensation is a very individual expereince.
i have been told by my specialist breast nurse that my lump wasnt sore it was just a coincidence… however i still think shes wrong… it was indeed sore and now i have another lump with a similar tugging sensation which may or may not be a tumour… but im not deluding myself that its nothing just because it hurts.
Lulu
Woah Lulu - how does your specialist breast nurse know what YOU are feeling?! The arrogance of some of these people really angers me.
I remember the radiographer telling me that it wasn’t radiation that was making me so tired and unwell, oh no according to her it was the 15 minute drive to the hospital that was doing it. Oh please …
I obviously wouldn’t wish this disease on anyone but there have been quite a few occasions during treatment when I have wanted these medical professionals to get a taste of life from where we are sitting.
The day I was diagnosed I came home and phoned my local surgery, I wanted to speak to one of my own Dr’s. No appointments! Told them what was wrong ‘I told you, we have no appointments! Big sigh, hang on a minute - someone will phone you back in half an hour’. Dr phoned in half an hour ‘what’s the problem? ‘who told you that?’ Does your husband know?’, this was in a snearing voice! ‘Sounds like you are being well taken care of, keep us posted’. That was it!! Still cant believe his attitude but I will never go to that Dr now no matter what is wrong.
Others in the practice have been wonderful since that.
bumbing thread…as we all have been through the same sort of thing with our Gps …
Posted on behalf nigela:
can I ask did you have any pain I am so worried as my gp has dismissed my strage itch sensation in nipple for 2 years now. Now got bad pain too. Nigela
Hello
I’ve been away a while.
I say, if it’s not feeling right for your body keep going to the Dr’s until you are satisfied. That’s what I did.
A lot of the time it is nothing to worry about but it’s safer to check it out…and you are not putting anyone ‘out’ by persisting…persist, persist, persist!!. Believe in yourself. I feel for you and send you my hugs xxxx
On the note of painful lumps, I went back to see my GP’s to explain that cancer can hurt though they still said cancer doesn’t present itself with pain and I was lucky mine did hurt…so I said, evidently it does…
I have finally managed to change the view of one GP surgery and they now accept it can happen but I just wish someone would look into the guidelines on cancer tumours and note the ‘Pain is a good sign theory’ is now highly questionable considering everyone on here and those I have met say the same.
Lots love & hugs to you all xxx
I was at the breast clinic only yesterday for investigation of a painful area in my right breast. I had my mammogram and was called back into to see the very nice lady registrar who promptly told me that she knew straightaway that I would be OK as breast cancer lumps don’t hurt. So the myth persists. I do hope in my case that she has got things right as I have been discharged from clinic.
Hi, I always had painful lumps since I had my last daughter in 1973, and regularly had them checked, I was only 27! I was told by my GP that they were nothing to worry about also. I lived my whole life being very healthy, but at 59, got my painful lump diagnosed as a 12mm tumour, so it was still early stages. But agree, that all lumps painful or not should be taken very seriously. Footloose
I had painful breasts for years that always troubled me. 9 years ago I had a lump checked and first off was told it was a fibroadenoma. A year later it had changed (and yet the docs say those never change). I did in fact have breast cancer - early slow growing etc so that was dealt with.
Almost immediately my other breast started to get more painful and after coming off tamoxifen got worse and worse. It had noticed a hard area for some time - which the docs knew about at my annual check ups. Nothing showed on the mammograms until March last year by which time I had found a tiny lump in one of my lymph nodes at the side of my breast. I had to have a mastectomy and the works with chemo and radio. It had been multifocal/multicentric and in all my nodes.
I feel so let down by doctors who dismiss pain in breasts as being ‘related to your cycle’ or worse still 'the pain is not related to the cancer.
I have just had my remaining breast removed and reconstruction to both sides. Had I known what was coming I would have done this 8 years ago with the first cancer and perhaps saved myself such trauma and fear I now live with daily (due to node involvement).
Please please please - PUSH DOCTORS TO LISTEN TO YOUR PAINS AND INVESTIGATE THEM!!!
Pain is a sign that something is not right in the body. If you had constant headaches - they would be investigated!!!
Just wanted to put in my tuppence worth. I found a painless lump in my armpit & on speaking to GPs Practice nurse she said ‘If it’s not painful I don’t think it’s urgent’ Being the bolshy B I am I insisted on emergency appointment that day…10 days later diagnosed double BC invasive & non invasive with lymph node involvement. Now on chemo with bi lateral Nasectomy on the cards! I am raging at this so called nurses’ words, someone of less confidence than me may have just left it at that and not gone to GP at all. I did tell my GP & advised her to have a word, don’t know if she will, but I cannot look at the woman if I see her in Health centre, I want to give her what for!
My lump presented like mastitis, i.e. a large red lump on side of my breast, very very painful (that was how I first noticed, when my son cuddled up to me on the sofa one evening). The GP was excellent, tried me on antibiotics for 2 days, then I went back as the area had grown from 3 to 7 cm in 2 days! and he referred me straight away, biopsies 4 days later confirmed BC - a 1.2cm grade 1 tumour spread to one node, BUT the red swollen area was an infection, somehow the duct had got blocked up by the cancer so it inflamed and became infected. If I hadn’t have had the infection, then I wouldn’t have known! Always get anything unusual checked out, even if your GP is not sure. I was so sure it was likely to be an abscess that I very nearly went to the breast clinic alone - thank goodness I didn’t. All the doctors have been very surprised at this presentation, but I know that they will think twice before thinking a red lump is “only mastitis” in a woman who isn’t breast feeding or hasn’t recently had a baby.