Will IBC show up on a CT scan? My doctor is scheduling me for one Monday morning. I can feel something, not a lump, but rather a prescense of something between my breast and chest wall and going up to my arm pit. Mammogram was normal. Ultrasound was normal. Hormone levels are normal. The breast specialist I saw said everything felt normal and it wasn't IBC. I didn't trust his opinion at all because he said he has never hear of such a thing when I told him about having an icy/hot sensation. He said I was having psychosomatic symptoms. I have an Icy/Hot sensation still that comes and goes, sorenss if I move my breast to the side and touch my chest wall. I can't sleep because my arm keeps rubbing against my side and irritating whatever the heck it is. Slight skin puckering under my armpit on my side and a small spot on my breast. The breast specialist said the puckering on my side wasn't breast tissue and so dismissed it. The puckering that I had on my breast, he dismissed because he didn't see it when it looked worse. The breast specialist refused to do a biopsy. My doctor would do one but where? Do I just tell him to do it where it is sore? I can't feel an area with my fingers that feels suspicious to tell him where to check. Most of my symptoms are internal.
I'm so tired of trying to figure out what this is, that I am feeling run down.
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Nichola Joined: Nov 2007 Posts: 141 |
May 10, 2008 04:54 pm
Nichola wrote:
I think that CT scans are so thorough nowadays that it is unlikely to miss anything.... I must say, your symptoms aren't typical of IBC, but obviously something is up, so why not ask them if they are so sure it's not IBC what they think it is? Dx 11/28/2007, 1cm, Stage IIIb, Grade 1, 0/10 nodes, ER+/PR+, HER2- |
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NancyD Joined: Feb 2008 Posts: 769 |
May 10, 2008 07:06 pm
NancyD wrote:
I wouldn't say they're atypical of IBC, but they are only a few of the symptoms that present with IBC, and drs look for several before they jump on the IBC bandwagon. However, why wait until you have more? Let's see what the CT scan shows and go from there. Your best shot, if it is IBC, is to catch it early. Too often, IBC gets diagnosed as something else and treated incorrectly for months. And it is one of the more aggressive bc's so that's not good. |
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MomtoBCLT Joined: May 2008 Posts: 27 |
May 11, 2008 08:02 pm, edited May 11, 2008 08:04 PM
by MomtoBCLT
MomtoBCLT wrote:
I did ask what my PCP what he thought and he is stumped. I just pray that the CT scan finally shows something. I am very frustrated to have all these symptoms but no answers to what it could possibly be. I asked both doctors if it could be an infection and they both said no. I am going to ask my PCP on Monday why he doesn't think it is an infection. I assume it is because I don't have a fever, feel sick, or have anything red. I would like to try an antibiotic just to see if it helps. I put on a sports bra tonight to see if having a really supportive bra on would help on my side but it is making is worse. |
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MomtoBCLT Joined: May 2008 Posts: 27 |
May 13, 2008 07:04 am
MomtoBCLT wrote:
I am scheduled for very early Thursday morning. I just pray that it can see what it is going on. |
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MomtoBCLT Joined: May 2008 Posts: 27 |
May 15, 2008 02:58 pm
MomtoBCLT wrote:
I had my CT exam today. I know someone in the records dept. so I went and got my report already. It showed nothing abnormal. I am so utterly frustrated right now. I'm happy it didn't show anything, but I am left wondering what is the problem. Can anyone give me any ideas other than BC that these symptoms could possibly be? I will try to shorten this up as much as I can. In March my problems started with tenderness in my left breast, then breast puckering, then it started to clear up but then new symptoms started. The tenderness went away but I now have a deep ache. I also had an icy/hot sensation that would go through my breast, into my arm pit and down my arm a bit. This is not happening to often now though. It felt like heart burn behind my breast. The deep ache has turned more into pain now that comes and goes. The breast is slightly puckered again. My left breast is swollen a bit now and is also raised higher than my right breast but is also slight. I know my own body so I can notice a difference (my husband notices a difference to) but I don't know that my doctor would. I have to put a pillow under my arm when I sleep so that it doesn't hurt laying on my side, yet when I try to find a sore spot when touching it with my hand I cant find a sore spot anymore. It is really strange. Should I just wait and see if it worsens, make another appointment with my PCP, or ask to be sent to a bigger hospital? My gut tells me to go to the bigger hospital that has an IBC clinic, but I almost feel like it would be a waste of time if my symptoms aren't more obvious visually. So far I have had a mammogram, ultrasound, hormone test, and a CT scan all which have come back normal. |
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nash Joined: May 2007 Posts: 1154 |
May 15, 2008 04:54 pm
nash wrote:
MomtoBCLT--I'd be frustrated, too. I think your idea of trying antibiotics is a good one, and I hope you can get your PCP to prescribe some. I would try that, and if the antibiotics don't help and your symptoms don't resolve or even worsen, then I'd go to somewhere with an IBC clinic. One can have a serious infection w/o fever or malaise. I walked around with a peritonsillar abscess for a month a couple of years ago, which took forever to get diagnosed precisely b/c I didn't have fever and malaise. Just really narly pain. Two docs totally misdiagnosed it, and it wasn't until I ended up in ER with my throat closing up that it got diagnosed. So my point is that with your breast, either it will resolve or it will get worse, and in the absence of anything on the breast imaging, I think the infection route is the one to pursue right now. The only other imaging that might be worth pushing for would be a breast MRI. Good luck, and keep us posted! Dx June 2007, age 38, Stage IIa 2.7 cm pleomorphic ILC, ER+/PR+ HER2-, CAFx6, rads, tamox
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leaf Joined: Dec 2005 Posts: 2295 |
May 15, 2008 05:49 pm
leaf wrote:
Gad, I am so sorry this is happening to you. How incredibly stressful!
If you're going through hell, keep going-Winston Churchill
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