Question about pain

Have I got breast cancer? Breast awareness, signs and symptoms
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Hello,

I have been going through a tough time. Last Tuesday I suddenly started having breast pain in my right breast. It was at the bottom outer of the areola and came out maybe an inch. I have implants so at first I thought it was my scar acting up again at first. The area felt tough, almost like large inflamed glands. I tried taking medicine to chill the inflammation and nothing calmed the pain. About an inch or so above the pain is a 3-4mm hard nodule. I of course googled why I would be having breast pain and the first answer was cancer. I was out of town when I had all this happen. So I went to the ER on Thursday thinking I could get some tests done and they could give me an idea of how to calm the pain. They did no diagnostics and told me to follow up with a general surgeon to have the nodule looked at. The DR told me that if it is cancer, at least it’s small enough and can be treated easily. Two days pass and the pain is just nagging at this point. I go to a different ER where they draw blood and do an xray, both normal. The DR gives me a referral to a breast health center. I tried to get some sort of reassurance from him that I shouldn’t think the worst, but of course he wouldn’t budge. He just once again told me that most cancers are slow growing and I show no other symptoms of cancer aside from a small nodule and we won’t know until I get imaging. He was very adamant about making an appt Monday for imaging. So that of course just heightened to anxiety.
I have no orange peel, discharge, redness, heat, swelling (unless it is so minor I can’t tell the difference). Only symptom I have is a tiny lump and pain. I think this situation is making me so hyper aware that every little pain I think is my lymph nodes causing problems. I keep feeling my underarms and collar bone to see if anything is different, and the stress is taking my energy and making me nauseous. I know, I sound like a crazy person.
Anyway, so I guess my question is….are there other possibilities aside from cancer? Has anyone ever had something come on literally over night, such as pain in the breast? Is breast pain even a symptom of cancer? Because everything I read, breast pain is usually only associated with inflammatory breast cancer. Any advice, kind words, something. I feel like I am running my mind into the ground with all this worry.

1 Like
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Hi, follow the Dr’s advice and get checked out. The first sign I had breast cancer was pain and then I found the lump which turned out to be breast cancer. I saw my Gp the next day and was referred to a breast unit. I hope you don’t have breast cancer but you are going to be anxious until it’s checked out.

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You’ve done the right thing by checking and now you’re in good hands.

Actually pain is an unusual symptom of cancer. Although I had it (it was a rare case of aggressive triple negative cancer which was growing quickly), having pain is usually a good sign, as most cancer tumours grow slowly and you typically won’t feel a thing.

When I first saw a doctor, they suggested it was muscle pain or something related to heart. I won’t speculate at this stage and your doctor will be able to advise you but in any case, pain is a good thing and it’s rather likely it’s cancer and rather something else.