Breast Pain

[1scared girl]

I am scared. I am 43 with implants under muscle and a long history of fibrocystic breast. I also recently had started a job in an Oncology Surgeons office that required constant usage of rt.arm,lifitng ,reaching,etc.I also saw so many people with cancer that it must have put the fear strongly in my mind that every little ache I have must be something "bad".Anyway, I had very bad pain on rt. breast on the side of it (outer) and under armpit area. It did not go away completely after my cylce was over,still some pain and tenderness.I cannot feel any lumps ,but I do press on that area ALL day long.mY husband says this is causing the pain.Is this possible? Could it be an  underwire bra doing this along with the new use of the pectoral muscle area and the fibrocystic together? I know you can not tell me without actually examining me yourself,but I am so afraid.I called my dr. and he said my last mammo and exam just 2 months ago was fine and cancer does not present itself as pain in the early stages.Is this "usually" true????Thank you so very much.

[Ginny333]

A related discussion, underarm and breast pain was started.

[agsharp]

I don't want to scare you...I work in the medical profession also and know how scary it can be. However, please do not assume everything is ok just because breast cancer doesn't "usually" cause pain. I had pain in my right breast probably for about 6 months before I had it checked out. I thought it was my underwire bra too, then cysts. I did not initially feel a lump either, so I did not think it was cancer. Afterall, my previous mammograms were negative, and nothing was ever detected on breast exam. But in February, I had a cancerous breast tumor removed, which my surgeon said was probably there 3-5 years. It was very deep, right near my chest wall. Thus, it never showed on a mammogram. This time however, since I actually felt a lump, they kept shoving me into the instrument until it actually showed up...right on the very edge of the film. If I had not felt the lump, it most definately would have been missed again.
I pray you don't have cancer, but if you do, better to stop it early. I hope I haven't scared you to death (I know how I would have felt if I had read this when I had my pain!), but I just keep reading about pain NOT being a usual symptom. From my personal experience, if I had NOT had the pain, my tumor would probably not been detected when it was.
Ask for a breast ultrasound..it could pick it up easier if the location is deeper. Good luck to you.

[CCF-RN,MSN-rf]

Dear 1scared girl:  It is true that pain is not a usual symptom of breast cancer.  It is also quite possible that your use of new muscles, underwire bra and manipulation are contributing to this.  It is not uncommon for people who work in health care to become concerned about illnesses, but from what you describe, you have nothing to worry about at present.