Anti-anxiety med for stereotactic biopsy?

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Muffkin78
Muffkin78 Member Posts: 60
edited January 2019 in Waiting for Test Results

Hello! So I had my first mammogram just before Christmas (40 years old), and was asked to go back in for magnified images this past week. One small cluster of "faint" microcalcifications BIRAD 4, so I get a biopsy on Thursday.

I'm a cryer. Is it weird to want anti-anxiety meds for just a seated biopsy? I keep thinking that if I can't handle a local anesthesia biopsy, this stuff (just getting mammograms each year or whatever turns up) might be crazy-difficult mentally. But I also can't imagine how the radiation techs handle doing a 30-90 minute biopsy on someone who has tears streaming the whole time because of anxiety...

(Btw, it's kind of ticking me off how positive the medical staff is each time they ask for more images or discuss images. I get it - they don't want to scare people. But I know this is serious stuff.)

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  • MelissaDallas
    MelissaDallas Member Posts: 7,268
    edited January 2019

    They don’t want to scare people because the vast majority of call backs and biopsies are benign. From what I have seen posted here, if the radiologist is pretty convinced it is most likely cancer, he or she will tell you that.

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  • AliceBastable
    AliceBastable Member Posts: 3,461
    edited January 2019

    If the techs had been all gloom and doom at me, I'd have left and found another place to have the necessary things done by sensible, cheerful people.

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  • Muffkin78
    Muffkin78 Member Posts: 60
    edited January 2019

    I guess by "positive", I mean I don't quite trust them because the tech says one thing and the doctor another. For example, the imaging tech told me when I was done with magnified images that they'd see me in 6 months, but to wait outside for a few minutes in case the doctor needed more images. Sure enough, the doctor called me back to a room to review the images with me (not to take more images), and she seemed to indicate they knew they'd want to biopsy after the first mammogram and that they just require two sets of images on different days before making the biopsy referral. So it's confusing when the techs feed info with a standard script and seem unaware what is actually happening. So when the doctor said she felt it wasn't clearly a benign presentation of microcalcifications and she wanted to biopsy just in case (which I would have though would be BIRADS 3), I think she has something more serious going through her mind than what she's saying (my report said BiRADS 4). I assume they don't "rosy it up" once you have a firm diagnosis?

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  • Muffkin78
    Muffkin78 Member Posts: 60
    edited January 2019

    Okay, I realize that what I was wishing for was to know exactly what the doctor was thinking, but no one probably actually wants that. Better to wait and see what the test results are. Must be a difficult job.

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  • Wigging2000
    Wigging2000 Member Posts: 295
    edited January 2019

    hi Muffkin-

    I’m a crier too and I have existing anxiety disorder. I have taken Xanax for all of my biopsies and very glad that I did. The most important thing is that the doctor gets the tissue he/she needs, and if you’re anxious and fighting emotions that may make being still and calm harder.

    If you feel you need meds, ask for them. You might need a driver with you and might need to sign consent for the procedure prior to taking the meds (this was my experience).

    Good luck to you on Thursday! I hope for benign results for you! Most BIRADS 4 are!



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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited January 2019

    I took Ativan for one of my biopsies and it helped a lot. Do what you need to do!

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  • Muffkin78
    Muffkin78 Member Posts: 60
    edited January 2019

    Okay - my PCP is prescribing low-dose ativan, and I'm supposed to bring it with me and take it after I sign the consent form. Now just the waiting... the last two days I think I looked up everything I possibly could on microcalcifications. Today was back to normal - laundry, grocery shopping, went for a jog, returned some shirts to the store. I felt much calmer today.

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