Breast Pain

About a month and a half ago, out of the blue, I started having pain in my left breast.  I literally woke up with it one morning, and since then it has hardy gone away.  Sometimes it is aching, sometimes it feels a little sharp, but I can never pinpoint it to an exact location.  Sometimes it goes into my armpit, and other times it feels like it goes towards my shoulder.  Still, other times it seems to be at the base of the breast, while other times it's in the nipple area or above.  I called my doctor about the pain after 4 days of it not going away, and they told me to take vitamin E and see what that did, and to lay off the caffeine.  (Besides tea, I didn't drink a lot of caffeine, anyway.)  

A week after the pain started, I began checking for lumps to find a possible cause.  I did find a lump.... to me it felt small, round, and hard, and in the top right, deep down.  I called my doctor again, and they scheduled me for an examination.  My doctor felt the lump as well, and said it was probably either a fibroma or fibrocystic related, but she scheduled me for a scan just to be safe.  The scan came two 1/2 weeks later, and they couldn't find anything!  no cysts, etc.  They did multiple mammograms and an ultrasound.  The radiologist couldn't even feel the lump, although the doctor did, and he said to him it didn't feel hard (compared to the hard lumps he was used to feeling.)  He said not to worry about it, but that if it did worry me, to call a surgeon for my own piece of mind.  The report they sent to my ob/gyn was that it was a clump of "fatty tissue."  

A week and a half after the scan, I was still in a lot of pain, so I called my doctor back.  They are scheduling me to see a surgeon to get a second opinion because I am still in pain.  My question is, what could this possibly be?  Anybody else experienced anything similar to this?  It seems like I feel the pain more when I am tense.  Perhaps due to constricting blood vessels?  I am under a lot of stress (I am in school w/ 2 kids), and the pain doesn't help anything.  I should mention that I am 24, and the doctors obviously haven't seemed very concerned about the lump b/c of my age.  Thanks.

[japdip]

breast pain can have many causes. Fibrocystic Breast condition certainly is one of those. This condition is very common among women of any age. Caffeine can be a factor and it's not only in what you drink ... chocolate contains caffeine also. you might ck. on the internet for foods that contain caffeine.  Since the films were all negative I'm not sure what the Surgeon can do but perhaps he may have some additional advice. Keep in mind that these hormone related cysts do vary in size from time to time as does the discomfort associated with them. The finding may well be some fatty tissue as the report stated. Stressing over this isn't going to help either you know and you say you are already stressed. Have you tried wearing a really good sports type bra and whatever over the counter pain medication that you would normally take for aches and pains?  Just a couple of thoughts.  Hope you visit with the Surgeon answers some of your concerns.    Regards ....

[lizzy100]

hey, im 24 to, and can relate to some of your symptoms. i had bleeding though, and then since that been having bad pain, the consultant said he thought my breast felt a bit lumpy, but the ultrasound didnt show anything so there was nothing they could do. yea maybe its just fatty tissue or something. but im still in alot of pain, and they just said pain could be anything, do i drink alot of caffeine? was it cyclic? blah blah, and just gave me a leaflet on breast pain, it says eveing primrose should be used for 6 months and then stopped? er thats about all it says. might try it, but still dying. its kind of like a sharp pain too but can last a few seconds, and is nowhere imparticular. and i was always fine before the bleeding happend so im still kind of scared that they dont know what it is. yea and everyone just says its nothing coz of my age. o well at least ur seeing the surgeon again, let me know what he says. good luck, hope they can help with the pain. p.s ur not on a new type of c pill or anything are u, i think that can cause probs? xx

[lizzy100]

cysts would normally have shown up on the ultrasound.

[lizzy100]

er really annoying u cant edit these. why on earth did they do a mammogram on u when ur only 24? strange.

[joycea]

Well, since all this started, I have tried my best to take caffeine out of my diet altogether.  I bought decaffeinated tea, avoided chocolate, and I didn't drink sodas anyway, so that wasn't a problem.  But even avoiding caffeine hasn't done much.  (The pain is still there.)

The doctor prescribed Naproxen, and I take that plus Tylenol, but even taking the two together has not had much effect in taking the pain away.  

Does Fibrocystic Breast Condition normally not show up on a mammogram or ultrasound?  They specifically said they found no cysts.  Also, does fibrocystic breast condition only affect one breast?  My right breast is still very much normal.  

Lizzy:  What did your doctor say the bleeding was from?  Other than that (and the lump), it sounds like we're in the same boat......

Thanks again for listening.

[lizzy100]

joycea, fibrocytic breast cond usually affects both breasts but not always, one may be more lumpy than the other? but yes i think it would show up on an ultrasound because they have to do biopsys sometimes to distiguish between fibrocytic and breast cancer, so they must be able to see it i guess. ?
they basically dont know what caused the bleeding, so im still worried. said it could be anything, changes, hormonal etc, but it all sounds pretty strange to me. yea i dont drink much caffeiene now anyway.

[japdip]

If no cysts were found then there aren't any. It is true that mammograms are sometimes not so valuable in younger breasts due to the density of the tissue but this is relative and they are done in conjunction with Ultrasoud for a complete picture. Biopsies are ONLY done when a suspicious area is discovered on film .. Fibrocystic Breast Condition produces cysts ... they wouldn't be doing a biopsy on something they couldn't see. Very seldom is a cyst confused with a cancerous breast tumor. If you have cysts they can certainly be in only one breast ... Breast pain is a difficult thing to figure out when all the tests are negative. You might ask your Dr. if he/she thinks a Breast MRI would be of value. They are much more sensitive than the other types of imagery. Just a thought. Regards ....

[lizzy100]

thanks for that japdig. i did think about MRI but i know there expensive and so for some reason they didnt suggest that to me at the clinic. its just weird with me that i didnt have pain before the whole bleeding episodes.
maybe you could ask ur surgeon about MRI joycea?

[aimeebaby]

i'm sixteen & i've been having horrible pain in my left breast too. my doctor said everything looked and felt normal and to call if it kept hurting. it stopped for awhile, but i recently started getting the pain again, its more intense. i don't know what it could be, any suggestions?