IBC or Infection?

PumpkinSpice

Wednesday evening I noticed that my left breast was sore. It felt like I was due to get my period soon, but I'm post-menopause (a little over 2 years without a period). When I woke up Thursday morning my breast was sore, heavy, I could feel large lumps on the underside of my breast, mostly around my nipple. It felt like I was nursing and had missed couple feedings. I got ready for the day and took some Advil thinking I would give it a couple days to see if it went away. Later that morning the nurse from my primary care dr (well PA actually). called with the results of my latest thyroid test so I mentioned the soreness and swelling and she said I should come in. Their schedule was full so I saw the on-call PA. I noticed then I had a red streak, about 1/2" wide and 4" long moving up from my nipple toward my armpit. The PA commented on that, looked at my breast, felt for lumps and then said we should do a mammogram today if possible to rule out IBC (which I had never heard of until that point). They were unable to schedule me into their clinic on Thursday so I suggested I go to the specialty clinic I use for most of my doctoring (honestly, the clinic in our town isn't very good overall) and my specialty clinic has my previous mamo's (most recently in August). They got me an appointment there first thing Friday morning. My primary gave me antibiotics as well, Cephalexin 500 mg, 2 capsules twice/day if that matters.

I took 2 doses of antibiotics on Thursday and when I woke up Friday morning, I had some relief. The red streak was faded quite bit, I wasn't as swollen, and slightly less sore.

At my specialty clinic, they ended up doing an ultrasound vs a mammogram, thankfully because I didn't know that putting a very sore breast into a mammogram machine was the best idea. They said they did not see any collections of fluid, which they said was a good thing. The radiologist also looked at the US pictures and double checked the spots where I had the lumps and said he didn't see anything of concern so they sent me on my way. I had 2 more doses of antibiotics yesterday and haven't noticed any real reduction in symptoms from yesterday other than the red streak is pretty much gone. I still have the sore lumps under my nipple but overall, much better from Thursday, that is for sure.

Over the past 6 months or so I have just had a general feeling of being not quite right, fatigued, a lot of joint pain, memory issues, some off and on swollen glands, numbness and tingling along the back of my scalp and around the right side of my cheek to my lips. I've had various blood tests and other tests but nothing really showed up as something they could "diagnose" so they are pretty much saying "arthritis" for the joint pain and they aren't sure about the numbness and are continuing to watch that.

So, getting some relief from antibiotics so I'm leaning toward an infection of unknown causes but of course, there still is concern on my part that "what if it isn't." What is protocol from here on out? If I still have symptoms after I am done with my antibiotics, even though there is some relief, are their follow-up tests I should be asking about? Since I have relief after a few days of antibiotics, even though not gone totally, am I probably in the clear and don't need to do anything? Just looking for some information from people that have been there, done that I guess. Thanks.

pokie88

i am dealing with pain in my breasts and under my arm on right side but i already have a surgeon appointment for monday and since it is saturday i am not feeling up to ER, i also am fatigued etc. maybe try looking under not diagnosed but worried? I find help there right now. wishing u well pumpkinspice

LovesLoons

I can't say if it is IBC or not, but you may want to look up tick-borne "bartonella" streaks or rash. Sometimes they look like a stretch-marks. This is an infection one can get from a tick; my daughter had this. It can cause a variety of symptoms including a streak-like rash, joint pain, memory issues, getting mad at little things, confusion, anxiety, and many others. Just something to check out.

The tick infection wouldn't show up on tests as it probably is not one of the few species they test for. Lyme tests are pretty unreliable too. If it turns out not to be IBC and you want to be checked, you would want to find a Lyme specialist.

PumpkinSpice

Thanks. I don't think that is what I have. The red streak, to me, looked like an infection streak. I did have a Lyme test this past summer and it was negative so it was certainly a possibility. Thanks for the heads up though, my son has had some, what we thought were stretch marks from growing, but they were oddly placed on his back, that look suspiciously like the rash pictures I just looked up. I'm going to have him go get tested!

LovesLoons

I could have mentioned, but forgot, an easy way to tell sometimes is that I believe a Bart rash will NOT blanch. (If you press on it, it will not turn white/skin colored). To be able to see this clearly, use the bottom of a clear glass or something similar.

If you have any questions on this, don't hesitate to ask me in a private message. I've been studying tick-borne diseases for almost 10 years now. (If you Google bartonella rash winona Lyme, you'll find my daughter's back).

Sorry for the non-cancer talk interruption. Back to your regularly scheduled breast cancer conversation.