Curious on my symptoms. Could it have to do with breast cancer?
My family has a long history of breast cancer. All females from my mothers side have passed away due to the disease and the only females left are me, my mother, and one cousin. So I'm stressing a little.
I haven't felt up to par the last week and have been in bed sleeping for the last 4 days. Friday night my right breast started hurting. By Saturday it was itching like crazy and had a burning sensation. I also noticed Saturday night that I had a dime size discoloration/bruise like. I've had constant 'stabbing' pain since Friday night in that area. Now the discoloration/bruise has grown to over a quarter size and hurts to touch. When I get bruises I don't normally even notice for I do have a very high pain tolerance but this has me in tears it hurts so bad.
I'm not sure what kind of dr/physician to make an appt with or if I should just wait it out for a few more days. I'm extremely nervous being as my family history as had such tragedy by breast cancer. Please help!
Has it been established that the cases of breast cancer in your family were due to one of the rare inherited faulty genes known to be responsible for hereditary breast cancer, BRCA1 and BRCA2?
Breast cancer is rarely hereditary - only in 5 - 10% of cases. And breast cancer diagnosed after the age of 50 is even less likely to be hereditary.
If one of the BRCA genes does run in your family, the only way you could have inherited it is if your mother carries it. The child of a carrier has a 50% chance of inheriting the gene - so if your grandmother carried it, there's a 50% chance that your mother inherited it. IF your mother inherited it, there's a 50% chance that you did too. If she didn't, nor did you. It can only be inherited directly from a parent.
A friend of mine carries one of the genes; of her three adult daughters, one has inherited it, the other two haven't.
So if it's been established that one of the BRCA genes runs in the family, your mother getting tested seems a good idea.
If it hasn't been established, then it's very likely it isn't the case; with one in 8 women developing breast cancer, it isn't unusual for several women in the same family to have had non- hereditary breast cancer.
Now - to your situation Feelong below par and tired aren't breast cancer symptoms; nor is bruising. And pain is rarely a sign of breast cancer - most people diagnosed with it have felt no pain.
You don't give your age but my impression is you're quite young; I don't mean a kid, I mean somewhere in your 20s perhaps - forgive me if I'm wrong.
Fewer than 0.1% of all those diagnosed with breast cancer are under 30, and only 5% are under 40. Most (80%) are over 50.
All that said, yes - make an appointment to see your regular doctor if this persists for more than a few days more. Unexplained pain should always be investigated. If your doctor finds reason to be concerned, s/he will refer you for tests. If s/he doesn't, it would be worth getting a second opinion, as some doctors tend to dismiss young women's concerns about their breasts because the chances of breast cancer are so small
PreOp® Patient Education Breast Biopsy Wire Guide Surgery 3
