I posted on here a few weeks ago but am struggling with my anxieties and wondered if anyone else had similar symptoms or could offer any reassurance.
3 weeks ago I found a lump in my right breast, it was about finger tip sized and in the lower/outer area of my breast just below my nipple. It sort of feels like half a grape? I have no dimpling, my breast looks normal and there are no changes in my nipple or any discharge (I check this regularly incase I have any other symptoms developing). I have just turned 31.
Panic took over and I was convinced I had cancer, I know many people who have had breast cancer and are doing well now but I also know of two people who passed away due to it in their 40s. I went to an out of hours GP who examined me and felt both my breasts and armpits. She said she felt the lump but in her words thought it was definitely a cyst. She said it was very smooth to touch and was moving around a a lot. It was tender to touch so she felt it might be infected and she gave me a weeks worth of antibiotics. She said it probably wouldn’t go with the antibiotics but to leave this for a few weeks and return if it got more painful, bigger and to monitor it over my next period.
3 weeks later the lump is still there and I have just finished my period. I have very bad general anxiety and health anxiety. I cannot stop obsessing over it and keep touching it! I have already decided I will book a private appointment if it is still there as I would find it hard to cope with the long wait for a referral (although I know so many people are having to do this!)
It seems to have gotten smaller and almost moved ‘higher up’ my breast more towards my nipple but it is still there. Sometimes I cannot find it, and it moves around depending on the angle I touch it from. If that makes any sense!
I know rationally it is more likely to be something else but I cannot get out of my head that she has got it wrong and it’s something sinister. The fact I have anxiety anyway does not help!
Sorry for the very long message, I just cannot get it off my mind!
x
Dear Em896, so sorry to hear you are so stressed, which is not necessary, please contract your GP tomorrow for an appointment face to face, you need to get some reassurance as soon as possible, or you could called the nurses on this site they are understanding and so caring. I did have a lump just behind the nipple which turn out to be a cyst so finger crossed for you.
Hi Em896 - I fully agree with everything Tili says. I’m also sending you hugs and really hope you get some reassurance very quickly. We are here for you anytime. Evie xx
Thank you both so much for replying and for the advice/reassurance, I’m sorry for the late reply!
I have an appointment on Thursday evening for the breast clinic (I did go private in the end).
The lump still feels the same in that it’s smooth and moving but I am back to being terrified incase they find something. I know I can’t carry on like this though so it is no good putting off the appointment.
I’ve woken up very panicky today. I just kept waking up in the night and imagining them telling me the worst. I know it’s very much my brain in overdrive but I can’t help it!
I’ve been to the clinic tonight. The doctor was very nice. He said it didn’t feel worrying.
Then I had my ultrasound and the radiologist (who was also very nice) said he was not worried about it and thinks it is a benign lump, he said he’s a bit too honest and will say if he thinks there is something to worry about. He showed it me on the screen and said the lump is very smooth and all the same colour all the way through, a couple of ‘nodules’ in places but nothing to worry about. So I asked if I could stop panicking and he told me no more panicking.
But he said because it’s the first time they’ve seen me with a lump they’d always do a biopsy just to make sure. Then I saw the consultant again who said the ultrasound was conclusive with what he thought was a benign lump. He said it very much isn’t something to go home and panic about and he thinks it’s a Fibroadenoma. He said basically having a private biopsy would be a waste of money because it’ll come back benign but it’s just policy to do a biopsy as it’s the first time they’ve seen me.
I will probably worry a little before the biopsy but I am relieved that they were very convinced of it being benign.
Thank you @Tili , @lottiedog and @Evie-S for thinking of me and your wishes, it genuinely means so much. I will try to relax a bit now, I need to trust what they say and they are both experts in their field who wouldn’t have said benign so many times if they thought it was something to worry about.
It sounds like you already very much have the measure of me and my natural worrying @Evie-S , it’s good I can refer back to what I wrote on the night if the flashes of doubt go across my mind. I’m hoping the consultant’s letter will also be useful for that when it gets here.
I will keep you posted about the biopsy and I hope you all have a lovely weekend. Thank you so much for the reassurance and kind messages, it was hugely helpful in the run up to something I was so anxious about.