Does BC cause systemic systems if it has not spread?

mkinoly

I've seen stories of women saying they didn't feel sick or have any symptoms when they were diagnosed with BC. BC seems different than some other cancers where pain or blood work hints at a problem. If someone has BC that has not spread, no metastisis has been found, could that tumor be causing systemic symptoms while it's just isolated in the breast (like fatigue, nausea, pain somewhere else, etc)?

rleepac

Anecdotally, I can tell you that mine caused fatigue, decreased appetite, and weight loss (18% of my body weight) with only a micro metastasis to one node. But I don't know what the scientific answer is...

mkinoly

Was the fatigue, etc for a long time before diagnosis, or just before, or ?

rleepac

My symptoms started about 6 months before I felt the lump and 9months before actual diagnosis.

I also had night sweats but I'm perimenopausal and that's been going in for over a year.

Dancermom1999

For me, I was not feeling right for 4 months before my diagnosis. Couldn't pinpoint anything wrong, just that I knew I did not feel right. I remember telling my husband that something is wrong with me. 4 months later at my annual mammo the diagnosis of breast cancer.

tangandchris

I didn't feel well either, for awhile, maybe a year or so prior to dx. However I didn't have insurance and just couldn't afford any major medical expenses. I felt really fatigued and run down most of the time....like falling asleep at 9p all the time which was very unlike me.

ksusan

I felt fine and had good blood work other than iron on the lower end of the normal range.

littleblueflowers

I didn't notice anything different except my nails got really weak, which is not normal for me, and my hair got really gross and limp. On the other hand, during treatment I haven't noticed the fatigue everyone talks about as a side effect. Weakness and sickness, yes. But not fatigue. I actually seem to need far less sleep than I used to before diagnosis. Normal sleep for me befor diagnosis was 10-12 hrs. Soo....I dunno.

mye

Hi, I had night sweats and some weight loss befioe I was diagnosed with a ~2cm IDC and DCIS. The doctors never said for sure that there was a link though.

mkinoly

Thanks for the responses. I've had pain and fatigue for years and was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. No matter what I tried to feel better (tried gluten free for awhile, tried eating low fat, tried tumeric, tried exercising 3-4 times a week at a gym, etc...) it never got better, only worse. I've had MRIs and all kinds of blood tests, nothing shows up. Now I have a 3cm breast tumor, which I understand has likely been growing for awhile to reach that size. I'm so curious to know if how I've felt for years (which seems much longer than any of you have said) could be in any way attributed to this tumor. I was thinking maybe some people are more sensitive to such things, because I know everything affects everyone differently.

ORgal

I felt totally fine and had no symptoms whatsoever. I even renewed my life insurance, which required blood work, just a month before diagnosis.

ElaineTherese

I felt I was in excellent health until my diagnosis. I had lots of energy and was busy taking on more responsibilities at work. If it hadn't been for that lump, I never would have thought I had cancer.

Artista928

I felt very fatigued sometimes light headed for months before I was diagnosed end of May when it turned to pain and discomfort. But having anxiety/depression issues and being on meds for it it's hard to really tell what is from what. But I will say as time has gone on since my dx to know (sx is 8/6) when I'm pooped I'm more pooped than I used to be. Makes sense because your body is continually fighting the cancer cells 24/7 and knows no rest.

U4iachic

Felt great until I was diagnosed. I have a history of anxiety and depression. Now after mastectomy, expander removal, port surgery, chemo and radiation......I feel tired and over whelmed. I am 1 month out of rads and just overwhelmed. I have aches and pains and don't feel well in general. I'm thinking that my anxiety and depression are really contributing.

gooseberry

Mkinoly, I have a similar situation as you. Life was proceeding normal till about 5 years ago, I was getting pain, fatigue, and these weird burning sensations. I went through a ton of tests and they found nothing. I was diagnosed with Fibro and never really felt I had it. They just had to say something. So then I went vegan for a year feeling like it was the only thing I could do... and felt better, then I slowly went back to my old ways and now here I am with IDC, 2cm, ER PR and HER2 positive. Docs keep saying to me that it has been growing for years so I do wonder if all that was related... The formation or something. No way to know for sure but I think about it too...

sio

My annual mammogram in July 2014 didn't reveal any problems. In March of this year I had pain in side of rib cage and sternum, as well as some shortness of breath. I also felt like I had a sliver in the left breast, and blouses irritated the skin. I was experiencing fatigue as well, but put that down to the cold, relentless winter we were having. My doctor ran several tests and an MRI revealed several lesions across both breasts. A subsequent needle biopsy determined the lesions to be cancer. Shortly after, on June 1, I had a bilateral mastectomy.

The March symptoms are now gone, but did they really correlate to the breast cancer diagnosis? Who knows, but one thing for sure is that I wouldn't have discovered the breast cancer that early had it not been for the symptoms.

mkinoly

Gooseberry, I feel the same, like I never really believed fibromyalgia was my true diagnosis but it was the default since they couldn't find anything else. I've been vegan for about 8 years and was vegetarian for about 12 years before that, although I freely admit to being a junk food vegan. It's amazing how many vegan alternatives there are for all the junk food people on conventional diets eat, though slightly healthier in some way but still junk.

Since your surgery was recent and you're taking meds, I'm sure you can't tell yet if having the cancer removed has made you feel better. I'd love to know down the line if your previous symptoms do go away or lessen.

Interesting to see the mix of responses of who felt great and who didn't. I really appreciate everyone's feedback.

I watched a video interview on chrisbeatcancer.com and they were talking about how if a person with cancer looks back about 5 years and sees what's happening in their life at that time (stress, anxiety, emotional), that some major "event" happened. I guess they're thinking cancer was forming but maybe our body had it under control and then 5 years ago some trigger occurred to allow the cancer to grow. hmm... I think I might start a new post asking others if they can remember an event. It's all so interesting to me since I technically didn't have any risk factors besides being overweight and mega lifelong stress, anxiety, and depression.

lintrollerderby

The medical term for the symptoms that some people experience before diagnosis that are not directly attributable to the effects of the tumor (but more like side effects) is called Paraneoplastic Syndrome. I've been fascinated by the subject since I was diagnosed because I felt I certainly could notice my body telling me that something wasn't right.

Here's a journal article on Paraneoplastic Syndrome if anyone is interested. There is quite a bit of info out there in the research publications. I have many journal articles on Paraneoplastic Syndrome saved over the last few years. While not an extremely common phenomena, it's considerably more prevalent in some cancers more than others--of which breast cancer is one of the more common, which could also be partly attributable to the sheer number of those diagnosed.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2931619/

mkinoly

Lintroller, thank you so much! I had no idea there was a name for it and things written about it! Now I can do some research.

lintrollerderby

You're welcome, mkinoly. Glad I could help.

Jennie93

I felt perfectly normal as far as I can remember. Healthy, fit, strong. But looking back, I did have an unusually large amount of stress in my life in the 2-3 years before diagnosis. Who knows? I really had no other risk factors. It's pretty much a crapshoot, as far as I can tell.

Zoritsa

A few months before diagnoses, I started to feel fatigued. I'd fall asleep on the couch before 10pm, and I'd never done that before. I also would on occasion feel nauseous now and then, but only briefly. What sucked though, was I had changed the way I ate before then and had more energy then ever before, and then all of a sudden...it felt like it was sucked away,even though I was still eating the same.

mkinoly

I saw my oncologist today and asked her about paraneoplastic syndrome. I went over my symptoms with her and she agreed to order the blood panels associated with breast cancer. I'm so interested in seeing the results.

Kruise

I also had fatigue and just didn't feel 'right'. I had some blood tests 6 months before I found the lump and some liver enzymes were raised - but I just took it as a sign to quit drinking for a while and eat better - which I did - even doing the liver cleansing diet.

The other thing I had was very vivid dreams before I found my lump. Dreams that were like I was drowning but then surfaced again, and powerful other ones like that - always like I was struggling to survive but overcoming it.

Very weird........

rozem

i had the symptoms of estrogen surges. My breasts literally felt as tender and sore as when I was pregnant. My periods were very heavy and painful. My cancer was 95% ER positive so I of course im thinking all that estrogen fueled the rapid growth...

mkinoly

The blood panels my oncologist ran to see if I have para, neoplastic syndrome were all negative. So, my pre-BC diagnosis and continuing symptoms are still a mystery. I'm not convinced some of what I feel isn't from the tumor, though. Several ladies report feeling something before diagnosis, so even if it isn't clinically defined, I find it hard to believe there isn't something to it.