Thickening found in breast and pain in breast and armpit
I am looking for advice/ help on an ongoing issue I have been having with my left breast and left armpit. If you feel I am overreacting please do not be afraid to post honest opinions. I just don't feel like I'm being listened to by my doctors or given great advice at the minute. Here is my story:
I am 23 years old. My mother passed away 6 years ago due to breast cancer. Please do not think that this is why I am concerned about my own health. I am genuinely concerned due to symptoms I am experiencing.
January- lump and pain in left armpit and pain in upper left breast. I was tried on 2 different courses of antibiotics which did not help me. I went back to my doctor and was referred to the breast clinic for investigation.
February- breast clinic performed ultrasound and found thickening of my breast tissue in my left breast. They put this down to hormones. They said that the armpit pain was due to accessory breast tissue in my armpit, and said that the pain and lump was also caused by hormones.
I was very happy with the outcome here and was glad that nothing else was found. I was told to take pain killers for the pain and that it should ease up.
April- after ongoing pain, itching and discomfort, I went back to the doctors. I am usually healthy but have been feeling very unwell since these issues started happening in January and I don't like having to depend on pain killers daily. I expressed my concerns to the doctor who ordered a blood test for hormone levels, as this is what the breast surgeon said was causing the thickening in my breast that was picked up on the ultrasound. The blood test came back normal, no oestrogen dominance like I had expected. I went back to another doctor after these results, as my usual doctor is on leave. She prescribed stronger pain killers and asked me what more I expected from them. I said further testing please to find out why these symptoms have been going on for 4 months with no real reason and she recommended that I go to a private clinic as nhs cannot help with that.
I would love to go to a private breast surgeon but after looking up the prices, I cannot afford it currently, as I am paying for my wedding that is in 10 months time.
My real question is, has anyone else had breast tissue thickening and on going pain and itchiness that has been nothing? How do you cope with the pain, as I feel like it is ridiculous for me to be taking pain killers 3-4 times a day everyday. Recently, the pain and itchiness has increased to my collarbone area and I have been experiencing hot flushes, and waking up drenched in sweat at night. The last few days my nipple has been especially itchy with shooting pains going through my nipple.
Am I overreacting, or should I borrow money to go private to sort the issue? I have heard of fibrocystic breasts which seems to have similar symptoms but this was never the diagnosis that the breast clinic gave me.
Right now I feel like my only option is to carry on with pain killers and wait and see if any other concerning symptoms appear.
Very confused and scared.
Thank you for reading and any advice or anything to settle my mind would be appreciated.
Comments
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If the pain killers are opiates I would reconsider using them and perhaps ask your doc for a suitable non-narcotic replacement.
I am concerned about the night sweats as this can be a sign of serious systemic disease. Tell your doc about them if you haven't already, get some blood work done, and have someone assess you for enlarged lymph nodes both above and below the waist.
Discuss "paying for your wedding vs. paying your health" with your intended. Missing an early diagnosis (of whatever this might be) would be unfortunate.
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thank you Djmammo for your advice. I am going to the doctors on Friday and shall ask for the above tests as you have instructed. Do you think the breast pain and thickening and armpit pain would be linked to a systemic disease? Also I left it off of my post as I thought it wasirrelevant, but could systemic disease be the cause of yellow/ orange stools?
Thanks again
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