Hi adic-tongue,

Even without the weight loss you are at an age where your breasts are still changing so it's good that you do self-examine and keep track of things.

Thankfully there has been lots of promotion of how to self-examine etc. but the downside to that is that increasingly people have it in their heads that lump=cancer, and that just isn't the case usually.  Like may people my breasts were lumpy in my 20s and that meant that occasionally I would find a lump that needed to be checked out.  These all came back as nothing to worry about.  Other people don't have lumpy breasts necessarily but find a lump due to all sorts of other non-cancerous medical conditions.

I hope it helps a little that the chances of your lump being cancerous are incredibly small, they really are.  The chances of it being an indicator of one of many other non-cancerous conditions is likewise very high.

Just a note that lifestyle isn't a cause of breast cancer.  While there are many things that can increase your risk of developing it (by a small amount usually), they still aren't the actual cause.  Like you, and like my mum both times she had it, I have a healthy lifestyle and am a good weight etc.  The things most likely to give you breast cancer are simply being female and living a long time unfortunately.  It's good for people to be aware of what can increase their cancer risk but, to be honest, just about everything seems to increase our cancer risk.  People would probably do better to consider their heart health and the health of other organs as any one of us can cause damage to those by our lifestyle, whereas plenty of people live incredibly unhealthily and still never get cancer.

Breast clinics seem to differ a little.  Where I am they can only do a physical exam and ultrasound.  If they determine a biopsy or mammogram is needed then that is done in the mammography department of the hospital.  But other people on here seem to have breast clinics that do biopsies and mammograms too.

Whether or not they can tell you anything on the day is dependent on how your lump presents.  They may know from their experience that it is a fibroadenoma and be confident telling you that on the day.  Ultrasound might also help them diagnose it as something non-cancerous.

I get that you're likely still going to be anxious that it could be cancer but please try to distract yourself from that, it is very unlikely to be cancer.

LJx

Thanks for your reply, it really made me feel a lot better. 

Just to update in case anyone else reads this with the same worries - the doctor at the breast clinic felt it and it's really reduced in size since the GP originally felt it, he said he wasn't worried about it at all and it's very likely hormonal. He said to keep an eye out! But I didn't even need a scan or anything. 

So panic over :) thanks for your support here and sending good thoughts to everyone here. 

Hi, I had my appointment today and it turned out to be caused by hormones and nothing to worry about. 

Had you been to see someone yet? I hope everything turns out ok. As everyone said here, it's worth checking out to be safe but really often turns out to be nothing.