The VALUE of the Self Breast Exam (SBE)

I found my lump 6 months after mammogram, 17th, I  started at 30.  My PCP couldn't feel it, I insisted on a diagnostic mammogram--huh, two lumps, totally 2.6cm, located in a hard to see place with a screening mammogram.

My mom had mammogram 6 months later she had breast pain, was told bc doesn't hurt. Finally, got another mammogram, lump, and sadly, my mom only made 3 years and died at 58.

I tell my friends to feel themselves up REGULARLY.

Hugs--Karen 

I think high school girls should be taught BSE in their health classes.  Getting familiar with their breasts may help to make them less afraid in later years that they'll find something.  I found a lump at age 20 which was examined by 3 docs the SAME day!! and determined to be a cyst.  But I had been made aware by my mother who, 3 years before, had been dx'd with BC.

Having said that, my ILC at age 59 was only discovered via mammo and U/S -- no lump felt.

I have dense breast tissue and "lumpy" breasts and I have always believed that it was *more* important for me to do bse because I'm the only one who knows the textural map of my breasts.  I've been having lumps in my breasts since I was 18 and yeah, the first one was really frightening until I realized the pattern (too much caffeine, blah blah, go away after next period).  When I found the lump early this year that turned out to be cancer, I knew immediately that it was different.  I didn't let myself worry too much because of my history, but I honestly wasn't all *that* surprised when I got the results of the biopsy.  But this lump, even after being confirmed by my doctor, wasn't picked up on the mammogram, and even after it was biopsied & confirmed to be malignant was *still* not found on the mammogram.  A second lesion was found by an MRI.  I know my experience is by no means universal, but for myself I don't have a huge amount of faith in mammograms but oh you bet I won't stop self exams and I sure as hell won't stop telling all my female friends to do theirs.

I was having mamograms every 6 months with sonograms.  All this missed the 1cm tumor because of dense breast tissue.  If I had not done self-exams and been educated about what to look for, I would not live to see another year.  BTW  I have a son in drug/alcohol treatment.  He called me @ 7:30 am this morning to tell me his roomates saw this on the front page of the paper and woke him up to call me. 

I'm a federal government worker, but this is an example of pure STUPIDITY.  KEEP ON EXAMING YOUR BREASTS--THOSE OF YOU WHO STILL HAVE THEM.

Found my lump last year at age 47.  It was in the lower part of my breast, next to my rib - did not show up on a mammogram.  Self exam more than likely saved my life.

Since so many "experts" consider our "anecdotes" so meaningless, here's some more "data":

A paper from Seattle says 48% of breast cancers are first detected by self-exam
(see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12209738)

and a 2009 paper from Mass General/Harvard says 71% of cancers in women under 40 are first detected by self-exam!
(see: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19800464)

I wrote a lot more about the "two huge studies in Russia and China" that were cited by the Task Force as evidence for the "worthlessness" of BSE - hope you don't mind my linking to that post:
http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/110/topic/744039?page=2#idx_41

And women ages 35-50 SHOULD be taking care of themselves because they are raising the next generation and offering society excellence by their careers just as much as the age 50-75 girlfriends have done in the past and continue to do so.  And what, when you turn 75 years old it doesnt matter anymore? 

UGH! 

Those studies in Russia and China are meaningless and absurd to those of us who detected our own cancers! 

I know!!!  It's just appalling to me that that's what these new guidelines are supposedly based on!

I found 2 lumps through BSE on Sept. 20th, 2009.  I had a clear mammogram 4 months prior to my self exam.   I am grateful every single day for my self exam that day!! 

Mammogram never revealed my cancer....  Utrasound revealed the 2 areas I had already found.... MRI revealed 3 areas of cancer..... Surgery revealed 4 areas of cancer.

I shudder to think where I would be if I hadn't checked on that day. 

I was consider LOW RISK for developing breast cancer prior to my diagnosis.  I am 40 years old. 

Self exam was key for me.  My prior mammo was fine 10 months prior to me palpating a lump.  The area was biopsied 2 times prior so I knew I always had something there, well it grew.  TO 4 cms ~ it was vague even on mammo due to my dense breast tissue.  Confirmed cancer after a core needle biopsy.  MRI revealed a second lump that did not show on mammo.  I think every tool needs to be used.  Mammography can definately not be ruled out until a woman is 49, and to say SBE is a waste to even educate women is completely ludacrious.  WHO better to know our breasts then US.  This who thing is sickening.  Any life lost due to cutting back on testing is a sin.  They should be ashamed of themselves.............. 

Alicia

I am one of those women for whom mammography was not helpful.  I had mammograms regularly since age 40, but the density of my breasts obscured any lumps that might have been there. Nothing was ever mentioned about my dense breasts in my mammo reports or by my GYN, though.  The first I learned about it was from my breast surgeon, when we met to plan my mastectomy.

I found my lump myself.  My "mammographically dense" breasts had always been full of lumps and bumps -- fibrocystic tissue.  I had an awful time trying to sort it all out, and I asked my GYN at least 3 times to tell me how to distinguish the "normal" stuff from a "bad" lump.  He wouldn't tell me how to do that.  I guess maybe he already thought self-exams were worthless.  He did keep telling me to "look for changes."  Well, my lumpy-bumpy breasts were changing constantly.  I had lots of pain and swelling with PMS, and the lumps would come and go.

Then I discovered a lump that did not come and go.  I pointed it out to my GYN but he said he couldn't feel anything; and the screening mammogram I had a few weeks later was "normal".  I was still able to feel the lump at my next GYN visit, but my GYN told me it was just fibrocystic tissue and was the same on both sides. Once again my screening mammogram came back "normal".  I guess that means clinical breast exams are of "questionable value"?

My cancer was finally dx'd at a large breast health center where my GP referred me when I complained about my GYN's inattention to the lump. So, if I had not felt that lump and realized it was not part of the "normal" architecture, my tumor might still be in my breast.  At least now it's in a jar of formalin on a shelf in the Path Lab.

I can understand why a panel of "experts" might look at a file full of numbers and decide that self-exams are "of no value."  I know how hard it was to differentiate "normal" from "suspicious" in my own breasts.  I did have two cysts aspirated over the past 10 or 12 years; both were "benign".  Those incidents would have been counted as false-positives, since they were lumps I detected that turned out not to be cancer.  That's why the panel said self-exams were of no value -- it's because women detect things that then must be investigated and usually turn out to be benign.  If we're not examining our breasts on a regular basis, we're not detecting those lumps and not having those procedures done.

It might sound as if "discouraging" self-exams (or the teaching of self-exams) would not save any money, because doing a self-exam doesn't cost anything.  But, having a suspicious lump investigated isn't free, even if it just amounts to a doctor's visit and doesn't even lead to imaging or a biopsy.  And, according to the USPSTF guidelines, those false-positives cause women too much anxiety and stress.  Do they really have a CLUE what's going on in our minds?

Yeah, I'm really sure they're looking out for our interests through all this, aren't they...  This whole thing really is making me way too angry.

otter 

 SHEILA

That is how I found my cancer!

It is as if this government taskforce WANTS to kill women.  No, touching your breasts and minimizing any lumps that a woman may find if they are under 50.  And no getting mammograms until you are 50..no reason to worry about the dangers of not knowing...yada yada yada...

I am 37 and found my cancer when I was nursing my daughter.  It was IDC.  I had 6 treatments of chemo before I had surgery.  When it came out I had zero IDC left (I could not feel a lump any longer and I thought that I was one of the few who wouldn't need rads and was doing well)    I STILL had a 10 cm (you read that correct) lump which was DCIS that you could only see on Mammogram.

So, yeah, mammograms AND self exams are very important.