Hello,

just wanted to share my experience here for all the women who tends to stress disproportionately (like me) when they find a lump(s) under their armpit with pain associated. 

I'm 24 year old and noticed around April-22 that I had sudden pain under the armpit for no obvious reason and I could feel a big lump/swollen tissue in the armpit. I assumed straight away that it was just swollen lymph nodes as I tend to have them on regular basis and that it would go away after 2 weeks.

6-7 weeks later, although the pain had mainly gone, it was still there, and it felt uncomfortable and swollen. After a visit to the GP on a friday, I was sent urgently for a breast cancer check on the Monday. To say I had a bad weekend is an understatement, it's difficult to stay reasonnable and rationale. What worried me was that the GP didn't mention any possible explanation outside of the risk of breast cancer, which was enough to give me some worries. I am grateful to him for wanting to rule out bad deseases first however and am not putting his professionalism in question here. 

At the ultrasound, despite the clear swollenness of my left armpit felt by the specialist, my lymph nodes didn't look swollen and were not at worry at all. We did discover a tiny tumor in the breast, but it looked benign and smaller than 2cm. The conclusion is that the pain was actually coming from the ribs and not the breast. 

So just as a word of rationality for all the ones who are not yet diagnosed, don't panic and assume like me that the "lump"/swollenliness of your armpit is definitely a lymph node, even if you had some previously and that it felt similar. Only the scan can tell you for sure if it is indeed your lymph nodes you are feeling. There is about 100 other possibilities outside of cancer and lymph nodes (especially if you are less than 40 year old), and going for checks doesn't mean that you are at worry at all. 

Wishing you all the best health,

Ariane.