Scared of Breast Cancer

Hey! I recently realised my left breast was significantly bigger than my right and reluctantly made a doctors appt. I had started to get an achy pain in my breast at this time. Dr was able to identify 2 different lumps which were hard and not well defined. Dr has referred me to the breast clinic where I think I’m being triaged on a 12 week wait due to my age (23 years old). Since being to the doctor 10 days ago I’ve started to have an achy pain in my armpit every day - it seems a little swollen but I can’t identify any lumps! The past 2 days I’ve developed puckering above one of the lumps when I raise my hands over my head! I’m really scared and wondering if I should go back to my gp since these new issues have arisen …

Parents
  • Hi there, 

    So sorry to hear you are going through this. I would suggest you contact the GP again especially considering you are experiencing other symptoms. I’m 21 myself and I’ve just had my appointment at the breast clinic today, I had an urgent 2 week referral and I’m young myself so please be persistent with your doctor. Breast lumps as well as any other symptoms should be investigated by specialist at the breast clinic.

    if you don’t mind me asking did your doctor tell you how long you’d be waiting for your appointment to come through? I was referred on a ‘suspected’ cancer pathway so received an appointment within 2 weeks and symptoms were a breast lump, pain and slightly thickened tissue. The best advice I could give you would be to contact the GP and request another appointment since you are experiencing new symptoms. 

    I hope everything goes well for you xx

  • Hope you got on ok yesterday xx

    i was originally referred under the 2 week wait but somewhere along the line it was triaged back to 12 weeks. 

    just really worried at the moment! Must try contact my gp again today thank you. It’s such a disheartening process constantly chasing people to sort all of this 

  • Hi Shell27 

    please go back to your GP and ask if your appointment can be pursued particularly if you have noticed further changes. Hopefully you will hear something soon. Remember changes are not always sinister and you are very young which means it could be a hormonal issue? Try not to poke and prod as you may cause swelling. I did this so many times and ended up in pain too. Please let us know how it goes x

  • My appointment went well thank you, doctor confirmed a fibroenenoma which are benign and are most common in women ages 14 to 35. I know how hard the process can be when I originally had an appointment with my GP they wanted to me ‘wait and see’ if the lump disappeared but I wasn’t satisfied with this and managed to get another appointment and I was seen at the breast clinic exactly 2 weeks from the day I went to see the GP. 

    Please chase this up with your GP again, breast cancer is unlikely in younger women but not impossible so it is always worth getting it checked out by a specialist. My GP estimated my lump to be around 4cm but at the clinic they discovered it was only 1.7cm so just goes to show that GPs aren’t experts when it comes to things like this. 

    I hope everything goes well for you and you manage to get seen at the Brest clinic soon xx

  • Really hoping it is just hormonal. Main reason I’m worried is having been on high tech meds for arithritis over the years puts me at a higher risk of all these scary things! 

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