Reactive Lymph Node. Breast acting weird. Worried.

ioana1213

Hey there!

I hope everyone is doing as good as possible and I wish you all good health because everyone deserves it.

This is a bit detailed, but I needed to get it off my chest. Sorry for any mistakes, I'm not a native speaker of English.

I'm a 23 year old woman and I know it's statistically rare for me to get breast cancer, I'm still worried. As far as I know, my family history extends to: dad died of lung cancer last year, one great grandmother of ovarian cancer, one great grandfather of stomach cancer. There's probably other cancers in my history that I don't know about.

In January I observed that my left armpit was swollen. It didn't have a definite lump on it as Google Images showed me how a swollen lymph node should look, but it felt and looked swollen or fatter than my right armpit. I had discomfort and pain in my left armpit and breast for two weeks (granted, it could have been hormonal because since February my periods are messed up). I still have discomfort, but pain comes and goes every couple of days. It was either a pain like when you pull a muscle or a burning sensation. I also observed my left breast felt a little fuller, a little bigger and my areola skin looked all wrinkly. More on my left breast than my right breast.

I've never been to a doctor to physically examine my breasts, but I decided to get a ultrasound in February. My appointment wasn't quite what I expected. The ultrasound was alright albeit a bit rough. At one point, in my left breast, my doctor went over some sort of lump but he didn't say anything so I assumed it was breast tissue. That lump was painful and when he went over it, it felt like when you go over a bump in the road. He focused on it but said nothing.

The doctor told me both of my armpit lymph nodes are reactive but other than that I look perfectly healthy.

On my (quite short and a bit uninformative) report it says that 1) I have reactive lymph nodes in both of my armpits 2) my BIRADS is 1 3) "No suspicious lesions for mammary neoplasia detected" (may sound weird as I translated) and 4) Yearly ultrasounds recommended. He gave me a gel with ibuprofen for the pain and sent me off.

I looked up reactive lymph nodes and found out that they're caused by infection, chronic illness such as HIV or cancer (breast, lung or lymphoma), but if it's a common infection, the swelling of lymph nodes should go down in a month. I was shocked that the doctor sent me off, despite my reactive lymph nodes.

I did have a long time infection, but it is obviously unrelated. A tooth on the /right/ side of my mouth was infected. I even got antibiotic treatment for it in February and it had no effect on the swollen lymph node. This was after I went to the ultrasound otherwise I would have mentioned this to the doctor.

Anyhow.. it's 24 March and my left armpit lymph node is still swollen and causing me some trouble. Breast pain comes and goes every few days, but I mostly have discomfort in my whole arm which sometimes aches or pulsates or tingles. Sometimes I feel like my left arm is weakened in compared to my right arm.

I also have (but I have had them for a long time so I didn't make any connections at first) two visible veins on the side of my left breast.

I'm planning to do the ultrasound again at another clinic. I'm always stressing about this because I suffer from Anxiety which has focused on Health Anxiety lately. I know I have some mental health issues with anxiety, but my symptoms are real.

If any of you have anything to say that can help, that would be awesome.

KBeee

Reactive lymph nodes can stay swollen for a long time. My son had some in his groin that were swollen for 2 years. That being said, they followed them every 6 months to observe for changes.

Try to not keep pushing on the node. That will aggravate it further.

Perhaps you could get it checked again in 6 months

ioana1213

Really? I'll keep it under observation and will get it checked again eventually.

And yeah, I do tend to poke at it since I'm anxious, but I will try to restrain myself.

Thank you!

KBeee

I have some that swell from time to time and it is soooo hard not to keep poking and prodding at them!!! I do understand!

djmammo

ioana1213

Can you post the complete ultrasound report of your breast and arm pit?

ioana1213

Sure thing! I also put the two images he gave me of my lymph nodes. Not allowed to post links so just take out the parentheses around the dot. imgur(.)com/a/INguh

Translation:

• N- 0, AV- 0 (No idea what this means.)
• Hormonal treatment (contraceptives, progesterone, DIU) - Negative (They asked me if I'm on any contraception and I said no.)
• Thoracic Radiation - Lung X-Ray Positive, Mammography Negative (They asked me if I had an x-ray or a mammography done recently and I said I had a lung x-ray in January)
• Weight - 52 kgs
• Height - 1.60m
• AHC - Negative for breast or ovarian cancer (I was asked if I have a history in my immediate family - siblings, parents, grandparents)
• Surgical procedure - Negative

Right Breast:

• Globular ultrasound suggestive for predominantly fibroglandular mammary tissue.
• No images of sold or chistic lesions visible on ultrasound during the examination.

RIGHT ARMPIT:

• Image of lymph node with reactive characteristics.

Left breast:

• Globular ultrasound suggestive for predominantly fibroglandular mammary tissue.
• No images of sold or chistic lesions visible on ultrasound during the examination.

LEFT ARMPIT:

• Image of lymph node with reactive characteristics.

Conclusion:

• No suspicious lesions for mammary neoplasia detectable by the ultrasound.

BIRADS: 1

Recommendation: Yearly ultrasound.

djmammo

ioana1213

I cannot review images for a variety of reasons primarily legal.

From the wording of the report its my assumption this was not from a radiologist.

The Birads 1 means negative so whoever interpreted this study doesn't feel the lymph nodes are a problem.

ioana1213

I understand. Thank you anyhow. for your words and your time.

ioana1213

I didn't want to start another thread so I'm just going to post here...

The pain in my left breast continues, but I have found two lumps, one of which hurts quite a bit when I push on it. Armpit lymph node on the left side is still swollen. Haven't yet gone for that second opinion, but I will. My anxiety is honestly kind of ruining my life and I really wish whatever I have is benign.

pomita

Since you had an ultrasound recently and it did not detect the lumps, I think it's possible that the lumps you feel now might be the lumpiness of fibrocystic breasts. Try not to worry too much, but a second opinion is always good to have.

ioana1213

Hey pomita! Thank you for replying!

I guess that could be it but what makes me think about it a lot is my diagnosed swollen armpit lymph node on the same side (both armpit lymph nodes were diagnosed as reactive but the one on the left side is visibly swollen). I wonder if those fibrocystic changes could cause a swollen lymph node... and for so long (3+ months).

I honestly do try my best not to worry until I go for that second opinion. I try to tell myself that best case scenario it's fibrocystic changes or something similar and that even if it is breast cancer, maybe it's going to be early stage and maybe there's still chances for me to recover.

Even if the healthcare system in my country is far from good.

But I am investing in this. I initially went to a small private clinic for my first US but my second opinion will take place at one of the most popular private healthcare providers in my country which has a breast clinic and good equipment so I hope they will be able to give me a clear answer and give me some advice as to what to do. I don't trust the public system here with a problem such as this. Just old equipment and dismissive doctors.

I saw you're also worried and can't seem to find a clear answer for your symptoms. I'm sorry you're going through that and it saddens me that you can't get a doctor to refer you to another US. Hope you'll be able to find an answer eventually.

ioana1213

A very small,probably unimportant update (I'm just keeping track of some symptoms and thoughts... and my health anxiety is giving me hell):

My two lumps (there are possibly more, I don't know, I can only really feel two of them) are still painful from time to time and one of them in particular is very itchy. It's localized itchiness, just on top of that respective lump. My left armpit lymph node continues to be swollen too. Last week I also noticed a very, very, very small smudge of clear liquid on my bra on the left side. It was very, very small. Like smaller than a drop. But that can be a number of things and is possibly unrelated.

I have booked a vacation recently for June for me and my mom because I haven't been anywhere in more than a year, possibly two... and since I'm going to get my second ultrasound in a month or so, I'm scared that I'm going to be diagnosed with something horrifying and that on top of the stress of living with these symptoms, worrying about cancer, managing my anxiety and dealing with work, I'll also have to cancel my trip because of a possible horrifying diagnosis.

I'm scared. I'm always scared.

I'm sorry if I'm not allowed to make these type of posts here.

ioana1213

Hey everyone! I haven't posted in a while, but I finally got some updates and would love to read about what would you do if you were in my shoes. I waited until now to get another ultrasound because life was busy but I finally did it. The doctor said that I'm generally fine and that surely there's nothing to worry about. He said he found no lumps in my breasts (although I have felt a painful node myself a month prior to today) and that my lymph nodes don't look suspicious.

This is what they said about my axillary lymph nodes:

Right armpit: Lymph node with reactive character that measures 16/7mm

Left armpit: Chronically inflamed lymph node with a narrow parenchyma and fatty center that measures 16/9 mm.

The doctor also said that my left armpit seems to have more fatty tissue than the right one.

BIRADS 1

She said that pain in breasts could be cause by dense breasts and that there are all sorts of reasons why lymph nodes swell, but I'm thinking we're talking about a lymph node that has been swollen for 6 months so I guess that's why she named that one chronically inflamed. I'm, once again, scared that they're not taking serious the fact that I have a chronically inflamed lymph node in my armpit that has caused visible swelling in my armpit without an obvious cause. I was thinking that since I'm a smoker and have the occasional smoker's cough, that maybe I should get in touch with a pneumologist and see if that particular lymph node is due to a low grade, but chronic infection in my lungs.

What do you think?