Concerned I might have Paget disease of the breast

Melissa031

The symptoms start less than a month ago. About three weeks ago my right nipple became quite itchy for a little over a week. Didn't think much of it at that point. After that I noticed some dry, flaky skin on my right areola and nipple. Again didn't give it too much thought, figured it the two issues were correlated. It wasn't until a little over a week ago when I noticed a dull pain in my right breast followed by swollen montgomery glands around the right nipple that are quite irritated that I started freaking out. I'm not sure if the right nipple seems less erect as the other due to the area around it being inflamed or if the skin around the right is thicker because of that. Currently I do not have an insurance plan as I lapsed in filling paperwork and I made an appointment with planned parenthood on Monday for a breast exam, but beyond that I don't know what to do. I'm panicking, cancer is quite prominent in both sides of my family. If it is cancer, what do I do with no insurance? What should be my next step? I applied for Medi-Cal but that could take 45 days to go through.

Moderators

Hi Melissa031,

Welcome to the community forums.

We're sorry to hear that you've been having some breast health concerns recently but it sounds like you are taking the right steps by making an appointment to get yourself checked out.

Understandably, you are worried about your insurance and we do have a forum dedicated to insurance that we have linked below. We have also linked some main site content on Paget's Disease FYI.

Employment, Insurance, and other Financial Issues

Paget's Disease: Symptoms and Diagnosis

Do come back again soon and let us know how your appointment went.

Best wishes,

The Mods.