Hi All
On the 2nd January 2016 I discovered a swelling under my right armpit that extended into my right breast, on the Monday I made an appointment to see a GP (unfortunately my GP was on Jury Service for 3 weeks). Both my breasts are extremely tender too.
At the above appointment I was referred to the Breast Clinic and was seen on the 12th January 2016. Thanks to all the information on this site I thought I knew what to expect, so imagine my surprise when my Breast Clinic appointment lasted less than 5 mins. The Nurse was extremely rude and not very forthcoming with any information. I was handed your leaflet/booklet headed Mastalgia and told to take 1000mg of Starflower oil for 4 months, and told it’s hormonal. I was not asked any questions, and when I started to ask questions I was shut down and basically treated like I was wasting their time. Told they would organise scans, but wasn’t told what they were and was shocked as had assumed that everything would be done on the same day as per your booklet.
Later on in the week, my breast started to wake me up at night because it was so painful, and was beginning to itch. Made another appointment at GP (saw someone else as again my GP on Jury Service) Checked me out and told me that there was no infection and they couldn’t see anything worrying, but that I should ring the Breast Clinic and find out what the Scans are and when they’re likely to be. One Ultrasound Scan and one Mammogram which I now know will be on 8th February (I know only another week now but that’s still a long time to wait). I was told to keep taking the Paracetamol (unfortunately I can’t take NSAIDS due to other health problems) I don’t like taking paracetamol for long periods of time as it’s one of the only painkillers I can take, and it scares me that if Paracetamol no longer works what am I going to use. So I use it when absolutely necessary. I had tried the Ibuleve gel but that just made the itching worse, so I stopped using that. Spoke to the pharmacist who suggested the Voltarol which is much better and lasts forever. First application 8 hours of relief.
Last week after finally sorting the date and exactly what the scans were for, I was extremely emotional and bursting into tears for no apparent reason. However this has now calmed down, but I am suffering from absolute extreme tiredness, muscle soreness, and muscle weakness. Saw yet another GP yesterday who basically ignored my breast issues but has scheduled some blood tests for tomorrow. I have yet again been on the phone to the breast clinic as the nurse led me to believe that I would be told my results on the day, but when I queried that the letter I received said they would be sent back to the referring GP I was asked if I had been told that if the results were ‘normal’ that I wouldn’t need another clinic appointment, I said no, I was told that I would be given the results straight away. Now I have no idea which is correct. I am scared. There is a good reason for this as I have family history albeit paternal, but it’s there. I was also told that it was highly unlikely I would have an autoimmune disease which I took to heart and didn’t worry about it 3 days later I was told that I had the autoimmune disease that I was told would be highly unlikely. I’m afraid I don’t trust my local hospital, I’ve had a lot of problems with them before and this isn’t proving much better. What’s making this worse is I was never told anything at my very first appointment and like I say was under the impression that all tests would be carried out on the same day, but instead I’m being made to wait with little or no information and the more I ring the breast clinic the Nurse I saw is getting even more rude than she was to start with, which is not helping with the stress levels. I’m not very happy at my treatment and I’m scared of the results if I have to wait another 7 days for them. The only thing I’m hanging on to is the fact that if there was anything worrying then I would have been seen earlier…but the whole thing has just been a disaster from the Breast Clinic onwards. The first GP I saw had me referred as you can see within 6 days…
Sorry for the rant but I really have had enough of not being told what is going on, I still don’t know how I’ll get the results and obviously that’s what i want and need to know as soon as possible.