Hyper awareness/anxiety or IBC
In 2015, I found myself here as I was experiencing some skin changes with my breast and upon googling (the worst, I know), found out ibc existed. I didn’t have it, thank God, but it took 3 diff breast doctors to tell me that. My mind created all sorts of problems.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago and my right breast (which is the same one I was worried about last time, and has always been significantly larger) started feeling heavy. It was during my period so I didn’t think much of it, but it lingered - and is still lingering. Whenever you google a problem with one breast, every article is about cancer. I didn’t learn not to Google, I guess. I went to a breast surgeon - a really good one, this week and she said I don’t have IBC (she was confident) but I’m still worried. Beyond the heaviness, I am getting some pimples but they’re going away. There are minor skin changes but not orange peel type changes. The doctor still wants me to get a mammogram and ultrasound but the earliest they can get me in is April.
I’m in my late 30s and never had a child if that matters.
Should I be worried? Has anyone ever had heaviness on one breast and it wasn’t cancer? Again, the right breast is significantly larger and has always been that way. It’s not red, doesn’t seem bigger than it normally is.
I appreciate any advice. Thank you so much
Comments
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I think perhaps until you have mammogram no matter what you read you are going to worry. The thing about worry is that it doesn’t change what information we find out, it just steals our time and our energy and our joy. But no one here can tell you that everything is going to be perfectly fine nor is it likely you will get a whole lot of stories about people who had something similar but there was nothing wrong BECAUSE a those people without an issue don’t normally stay hanging around a board like this. So yes I believe that there are probably a lot of people just like you who have gotten good news and non cancer news, I’m just not sure they will be here to share that.
Here’s the upside of things. Your doctor obviously is being through and willing to give you a referral that allows everything to be checked out. That doesn’t mean she believe there is something there and just not telling you, it means she wants to give you both the ability to have all the information available. So definitely an upside. Google is what Google. It’s not the best source of information or the worse but it’s not about you. So you can read tons of stuff that might sound similar to you which give you scary possibilities but that still doesn’t make them about you. You recognize that, you recognize the fact that last time it took three doctors for you to feel security. So you know yourself enough to say okay maybe I over think things sometimes. So I guess you need a plan while you wait. A plan that doesn’t involve going down a deep hole of worry or staying up nights reading things that might cause more stress. So I’m not saying you shouldn’t worry because I know you are going to be perfectly okay, I’m saying it because worrying isn’t going to make things better while you wait. But of course that is easier said then done. The standard advice is to find something else to focus your time and energy one. Take up a hobby you have been wanting to try, reread a book series that you love, buy a cookbook and try out a new recipe a week. Start binge watching a tv series with the goal of finishing it before your appointment. But mostly importantly take care of you physically and mentally and emotionally April must seem a lifetime away at this moment but it’s not don’t put your life on hold while you wait for it.
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thank you so much, that is so helpful. Just mentally, I appreciate it so much
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IBC is very rare, and chances are excellent that you do not have it. That said, a mammogram seldom is the basis for diagnosing IBC, which is a clinical diagnosis. Any skin thickening and the "scatter" of IBC (as opposed to a tumor) will be more evident with the ultrasound. I feel that if your doctor was concerned about IBC, there would be more urgency in getting your tests done ASAP. Good luck to you.
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