I'm echoing MinusTwo. Odds are it's nothing. Just do your best to keep busy, make xmas plans, do your online xmas shopping! Watch the Hallmark channel xmas movies. Stay off google - it doesn't know you.

"I wish I could stop googling and going onto forums trying to find the answers."

It would be better if you could stop googling, but if you can't, you need to change your approach on how you look at what you find. I have osteoarthritis and chronic sinusitis; with those two conditions (and various other on-and-off health issues), I have some ache or pain pretty much all the time. I google symptoms all the time. Yet I find that I am almost always reassured when I google, quickly realizing that I don't in fact have anything serious, other than my known conditions.

You found a breast indentation. "Then of course I googled it and I was devastated all that come up is ibc." Okay, but did you read the rest of the symptoms for IBC? IBC has about 7 or 8 common symptoms. You have 1. And that 1 symptom is only noticeable under one condition. So why would you think that you have IBC when it usually presents with several symptoms, and you only have 1 (maybe have 1)? If it were me, I would look at that list and immediately think, "Good, I have the indent but I don't have anything else to suggest that this is IBC so I don't have to worry about IBC, at least for now."

Tingling in your breast? If you google that you'll find it's not usually associated with breast cancer. In your case, given your worries, it's probably most associated with stress.

An ache in your neck and shoulder? About the most common health problem in the world, and again, often the result of tense muscles and stress. Not a sign of IBC.

As for going onto forums trying to find the answers, there is nothing wrong with doing that, but you have to listen to what people are telling you and pay attention to what you are reading. Is there anything that you've found in the answers or on this site that suggests that a single symptom of a breast indent is likely to be IBC? If you do a search on this discussion board for "breast indent", you will find thousands of posts - it's a very common concern - but you will find very few people who moved from the "Not Diagnosed But Worried" forum into the "Just Diagnosed" forums.

Any breast change or concern needs to be checked out. You have an appointment scheduled for next week. That's good. In the meantime, since you can't stop googling and reading forums, pay attention to what you are reading. None of it suggests IBC as a significant possibility. Of course the indentation may be a sign of something going on but it could easily be something benign - perhaps a cyst that is displacing the breast tissue and therefore causing the indent. At 42, since you are probably in peri-menopause when cysts are very common. That's a lot more likely than IBC.

Good luck on the 4th and let us know how it goes.

you know, a concrete reasonable thing for you given your history would be to be genetically tested for hereditary cancer. Not the CA 125 but a genetic panel that looks for BRCA and other mutations.

Then, talk to your doctor about your screening schedule. My MO told me that given my history, my daughter should start screening 10 years earlier than whatever guidelines there are and do 'high risk' screening instead of normal - so MRIs &/or mammogram + ultrasound, whatever the imaging radiologists decide gives them the best views.

And I do think you have a bit of anxiety. That's ok. So many of us do! I do! But it's important to understand you might be super sensitive to certain inputs & be over-reacting. CBT is type of therapy that is very focused and can help with this (ti's not about 'tell me about your childhood' type of therapy, no navel gazing required).

Also the tingling in the breast is super common if you're stressed and experiencing pain in neck and shoulders. Several of the nerves that enervate the breast and nipple come from the upper spine area and if the muscles there are tense, the nerves will be slightly pinched leading to pain which can be tingling or shooting. If you have one of those exercise rollers try rolling out your upper back or just lie lengthwise on it (or on a skinny bolster or folded up blanket) and let your shoulders relax and fall back a bit. Have a bath with espom salts. Convince someone to give you a massage or go to a massage therapist. Treat yourself a bit.

while waiting for fluoxetine to kick in, L-theanine capsules might help. I have been told it's compatible with SSRIs but as always, check with your health care team. It's a supplement derived from tea.

deep breaths!

Hang in there! As a chronic worrier myself with my mom having breast cancer at the same age I feel you! I have a follow-up diagnostic U/S in 2 weeks and like you I'm in an anxious tailspin bc this the second time in two years. The ladies here have offered really sound advice (most of which I should be following too). I have been acknowledging my anxiety and recognizing I am creating my own personal hell with plenty of cognitive distortions. I am working on positive affirmations and trying to re-focus my energies in other things to keep me busy. Sometimes I'm successful, other times not so much but I am giving myself some grace. I am telling myself that last year's excisional biopsy came out benign and most likely this year this too will be nothing and my breasts are just extra special (fibrocystic). Hang in there, you will have more clarity and hopefully peace tomorrow!

That's great news. A benign mass, such as a cyst or fibroadenoma, can cause an indent.

I am a little surprised that a biopsy isn't being recommended. Fibroadenomas are usually quite easy to identify on ultrasounds and they are benign. With younger women - fibroadenomas are the most common lump in teens and women in their 20s - watching is normally the recommendation. But once a woman in her 40s, more often than not a biopsy is recommended, just to confirm that the fibroadenoma is a fibroadenoma. It's a BIRADs 4A biopsy - less than 10% risk - but it's done as an extra precaution once a woman has hit the age where breast cancer is starting to become more common.

I'd suggest that you get a copy of the imaging report to see exactly what it says, then then maybe talk to your doctor to see whether this extra step would be advised just to be on the safe side.

From the information pages of BCO:

Fibroadenoma

"If you're under 30 and diagnosed with a fibroadenoma through ultrasound, biopsy might not be needed. Your doctor can check on it with physical exams and ultrasounds to see if it changes or grows. If you're in your 30s or older, your doctor may recommend a needle biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. In many cases, fibroadenomas are first picked up as women start having mammograms in their 40s and often they are biopsied, notes Dr. Alan Stolier, a breast surgical oncologist at St. Charles Hospital and the Center for Restorative Breast Surgery in New Orleans."

Traceynacey, so happy it's nothing to worry about. Now, the next time you think "I know Wednesday is going to be bad news" when it's a health matter, remember that it WASN'T bad news this time. Don't let your anxiety guide your reality. But do have any oddity checked out, just don't let it freak you out until you have the facts. And even then, freaking out doesn't help!