Breast Cyst Pain

[Kay5673]

I am a 42 year old woman and my mother had breast cancer roughly 9 years ago.I had breast reduction surgery in 1987.I have also been told that I have dense breasts.I do not take hormones, but I use a natural hormone cream. Two years ago, I had a breast cyst, that was not painful, in my right breast that was aspirated.

Recently,I have discovered an extremely painful spot in my right breast, in the general area as my previous cyst. I have been told that I have a breast cyst in this area.The radiologist also said that there is some shadowing in this area. I am having sharp shooting pains in my right shoulder blade, pain in my shoulder, and pain down my right arm and numbness in my fingers on my right hand.Sometimes the pain feels like it 'shoots' from my breast into my shoulder blade.Could a cyst cause this much pain and this type of pain? Should I be concerned with the shadowing that the radiologist was speaking of? I am having the cyst aspirated. Should the pain go away after it is aspirated?

[CCF-RN,MSN-rf]

Dear Kay5673:  Breast cancer is not generally painful and cysts can be very painful.  Having said that, your pain sounds pretty severe, even for a cyst.  If the cyst is aspirated, the pain should go away if it is related to the cyst.  If the pain does not go away, you should see your doctor.

[surgeon]

breast pain can be referred to the shoulder area, even the arm sometimes. It's not likely to be causing numbness in the hand, however; that raises the quesion of a pinched nerve somewhere. Typically when a cyst is drained, the pain goes away. in your case, since it sounds like there's a question about what it is exactly, it's very important that, assuming fluid is indeed found, there's a plan to follow up on the image of concern to see if it went away. Likewise, if a cyst is drained but pain persists, it needs followup.

[beam]

I am a 50 year old female on HRT for the past 10 years.
For about 6 months I have been having a good deal of pain in the left breast area plus the breast is very warm and hurts. The pain has moved to under my left armpit and lymph nodes are swollen. The pain at times has been so severe that taking 4 advil tablets does not touch it. Also, there is a stabbing pain in the left breast and  feeling of heaviness and something just not quite right. Anyway, I had a mammogram that showed a mass and then an ultrasound that showed a cyst. The doctor said that it was a cyst as it was fluid-filled and not to worry about it. Just come back in another year and have another mammogram. I informed him that I have had lots of pain in the area of the cyst and it has gotten worse in the last month.
My question is??? Should I have it aspirated by a surgeon and can a cyst turn into breast cancer?
Thank you.

[Carla33]

A related discussion, Same question was started.