Dear my4boysmom, Pain in the breast is more often due to a non-cancerous cause. Evaluation of this symptom would start with a questioning about this symptom - when did it start? has it occured before? is it in conjunction with your periods? anything aggravate it (make it worse)? what relieves the discomfort? etc. Another question would be if you have noticed any changes in your self-breast exam? A clinical breast exam or examination by the doctor would be a next step in which they are looking for abnormalities. Further evaluation would stem from what is determined from this information.
although cancer can cause breast pain, most things that cause breast pain aren't cancer. It could be any number of things from fibrocystic change (very common at your age, and harmless)to a cyst, or even infection. Things that affect the pain associated with fibrocystic breasts are caffeine, time of the month, some other dietary issues, kind of support bra, etc. Stopping caffeine and taking vitamin E can help. The odds are it's not serious, but it MUST be checked out whenever there's a change in your breast.
What about a hardness behind the nipple. I was just comparing the gushiness from one the to the other and it's hard from a pea size to maybe slightly larger on the upper left side. It's really weird. My husband even feels it. Can that be a possible lump. I'm seeing my GYN on Wed. I'm not messing around.