Worried about IBC, ignored it for too long

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ocicat2
ocicat2 Member Posts: 4
edited October 2018 in Not Diagnosed But Worried

I'm a 32-year-old woman. A year ago I went to the doctor with a spot under my right breast. My breast was also red and swollen and I had pain in my armpit. She said it was an infection, the spot was an abscess, and that she couldn't feel any cancerous lumps. The abscess cleared up but the redness didn't go away. I Googled and found that breast infections were usually only in breastfeeding women (I'm childless) and IBC was often mistaken for one. I brought IBC up but she just said come back in a month if I was still worried. I should have been more assertive.

Over the year, my breast sometimes felt warm, sometimes didn't, armpit pain came and went. My breast was always redder and more swollen than the other one and the skin puckered easily. I sometimes saw doctors, but they didn't seem worried. A couple of weeks ago, I went to a doctor with "lines" in my breast (they felt like cords). She felt my breasts but couldn't feel anything and said if I pinched my breast (as I had done to feel them) I would feel things. She couldn't feel anything in my armpits either. I felt like I was worrying over nothing and put it out of my mind.

Last night I had a headache and felt exhausted. I put this down to PMS, but when I went to sleep, it was awful. My head hurt much more badly when I lay down (sleeping on my side helped a little) and I felt nauseous. I woke up a couple of times. The first time I noticed I was seeing things (patterns) and the second time my top was drenched in sweat. I knew this was not PMS. My left foot also tingles a fair amount and my right ear hurts. I fear I ignored the symptoms with my breast for too long and it spread to my brain.

The doctor can only see me in a few weeks, although she said to call for an emergency appointment if my nights keep being as bad as last night.

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited October 2018

    ocicat2, we are sorry for all the anxiety you are feeling.

    It is probably good to go and speak with your doctor if you are having these symptoms ongoing. It could be any number of things, completely unrelated to breast symptoms. Hang in there and take care of yourself.

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  • LoriCA
    LoriCA Member Posts: 923
    edited October 2018

    ocicat I'm so sorry about all of the symptoms you are experiencing. IBC symptoms do not typically come and go over the course of a year without getting drastically worse, usually very quickly. If an abscess or infection heals on its own, that's also a very strong sign that it's not IBC. You haven't mentioned if you've had a mammogram, but that you've seen multiple doctors and none have seen a reason to be concerned? Your sleepless nights could be due to anxiety, but the fact that you were seeing patterns and were nauseous sounds indicative of a migraine.

    If you had IBC you would have much worse signs of it on your breast after a year (and likely ulceration because IBC involves the skin) that would be impossible to ignore, IBC moves fast, when I was diagnosed I was told I had 60 days if it didn't respond to chemo; I would've been dead well inside of a year. I wish you all the best in determining what is causing your symptoms, but I sincerely think you don't need to be concerned about IBC.

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  • ocicat2
    ocicat2 Member Posts: 4
    edited October 2018

    Thanks for your advice. No, I haven't had a mammogram, the doctors didn't seem to be concerned about there being anything wrong (beyond the initial infection). I didn't think of migraine, I don't usually get them, although they do run in my family. As does anxiety, unfortunately. Luckily, I'm less fatigued now, but if I have a couple more nights like last, I will push for the emergency appointment.

    Again, thank you, you did ease my anxiety somewhat.

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