Almost two weeks ago I woke up to pain in my breast. It was directly outside the nipple area and felt like something was inflamed under the skin. Slightly above that is a small hard round lump. A couple days later another inflamed area under the skin popped up, this time above the lump. I have no redness, swelling, orange peel, discharge, etc. it’s strictly pain and whatever is inflamed under the skin.
I saw my primary DR on Wednesday and she did an examination, said she wasn’t concerned as all the spots were moveable and round. She said it felt like my milk ducts were clogged. She sent me for a mammogram and ultrasound.
I had my mammogram and ultrasound on Friday, in which they stated I have very dense breasts, there is no thickening present, no architectural distortions, and the small lump is probably a benign complicated cyst or lymph node. It says the issues above and below the complaint is unrelated, but neglected to state anything further.
I of course am freaking out! I hoped to have some solid answers as to what was going on and I feel like I have more questions!
Could this potentially be inflammatory breast cancer? Much of what I read online states that patients present with a rash. But pain is also a symptom. I am back and forth reading my imaging results and researching. But it keeps taking me back to inflammatory breast cancer. I’m really scared. Opinions?!
As someone who has recently been treated in this past year for IBC, (chemotherapy, mastectomy with axillary lymph node removal and radiotherapy) I would ask for a specialist hospital referral of you feel worried. My cancer presented like an irritating, itchy, intermittent pain in my right breast for about three weeks before I saw my GP, but no lump, rash, dimpling or other signs. My GP said he couldn’t see anything, but referred me just in case. Thank God. A week later a mammogram progressed to a biopsy and a meeting with a consultant. By that stage there was a swelling starting and a bit of skin thickening, three weeks later IBC was confirmed, but it was still something I could so easily have ignored as I always thought BC meant a lump. They had put me on antibiotics, in case it could have been an infection, like mastitis, but given my age at 60, that seemed unlikely, so I pretty much knew from the start. I wish you all the very best and think it is better to be sure about your diagnosis, which means seeing specialists for peace of mind, even if you feel you are ‘worried well’.