Just diagnosed with IGM

[ktbh8]

Hi - I was just diagnosed 2 weeks ago with IGM via my pathology report. My doctor said that he has never treated this disease in 15 years of breast diseases and prescribed me prednisone to take (50 mg).  He also wanted me to see a rhuematologist.  The two rhuematologists that I called have not treated this disease either and basically said they would be "winging it".   I am hesitant to just start taking the steriods, when I am not sure if there are other remedies out there, other things I can try or do first.   Does anyone know a specialist in the MD/DE/PA/NJ area that they can recommend?  

[ktbh8]

I just went to a rhuematologist last week, who ordered tons of blood work, basically to test for everything they cover that has "granulomas".  Has anyone actaully been diagnosed with an underlying cause or autoimmune disease?

[kuulei04]

I hope you find the path that works for you.  Just stay positive because you will heal from this =)

[kuulei04]

So sorry, I don't know of doctors in your area.  None if the doctors I saw ever seen or treated GM before either (I live in Hawaii). EXCEPT a radiologist who specialized in breast imaging and recently moved here from Texas. He's ended up offering me a biopsy and confirmed it but couldn't treat me for it as a radiologist and never having treated it before.  That was fine with me because I decided to heal naturally.  I did go to see a rheumatologist though because supposedly GM is autoimmune, but sometimes I wonder if it really is. And when you have one autoimmune disease, you tend to get others.  Seeing a rheumatologist allowed me to get additional testing done to check for a bunch of other conditions, which I ended up being clear of.  That was all my intention in seeing him.  He did offer me treatment of methotrexate and steroids, which I declined. I don't know if this helps you out, but maybe at least see a rheumy to get tested for other stuff. I did feel at ease knowing I was clear of everything else.

And only you can decide your healing path.  Read through old posts on this forum and see what others had success with since yes, no doctor really knows how to successfully treat GM, which is so sad to me. Although nowadays, I believe in natural healing with everything.  I did take steroids because I got Erythema Nodosum, and it did help my breast, but as soon as I got off the steroids, the breast just continued to flare up.  I didn't like the side effects of steroids that I experienced; bad anxiety, constipation, mysterious cough just to name a few.  You can read the list of possible symptoms, it's pretty long.  There's also a book other women on the forum suggested , coping with steroids? Or something along that line.  I'm curious if anyone had success with methotrexate, I think I'll post a question about that.