I had a mammogram in 2010. I was recalled to have a follow-up. I experienced pain after the first mammogram. Although I really didn't want to have a second mammogram, i thought I should. I wish I did not! I went for the second mammogram.. then an ultra sound. The ultra sound showed nothing. I still cannot feel anything with self exam. I have experienced pain for four months. I have used a heating pad , ice packs and pain killers. I feel these Mammograms are placing too much trauma on the breasts! Think about this: If you have this kind of test done on a yearly basis with trauma, I think you will develop cancer! I know of several people that have had yearly mammograms only to say...I've had mammograms every year for fifteen years and now I have cancer. Think about this... Nothing for fifteen years and now there is an abnormal mammogram... I will never have another mammogram!
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Your post had been the only one I kind find on the internet that is similar to my experience. I am 40 yrs old and had my second mammogram a few weeks ago.
The mammogram itself was just okay. The lady was nice and quick, but yes, it really hurt. Especially on my right side.
What troubles me now is that, I too feel like my breasts are "different". They seem to sit lower on my chest (without a bra) and are flatter. The tissue inside feels different. They also seem to go out toward my armpits more than before. I also started to think that maybe I was imagining it, (Did I not know what my breasts looked and felt like before?) but I'm sure I am not. I feel damaged. And there is no going back.
And like you, I hesitate to contact my doctor because what can be done? I feel like I just have to get used to my new breasts . . . accept the cards I've been dealt and deal with it. You are not alone.
The mammogram itself was just okay. The lady was nice and quick, but yes, it really hurt. Especially on my right side.
What troubles me now is that, I too feel like my breasts are "different". They seem to sit lower on my chest (without a bra) and are flatter. The tissue inside feels different. They also seem to go out toward my armpits more than before. I also started to think that maybe I was imagining it, (Did I not know what my breasts looked and felt like before?) but I'm sure I am not. I feel damaged. And there is no going back.
And like you, I hesitate to contact my doctor because what can be done? I feel like I just have to get used to my new breasts . . . accept the cards I've been dealt and deal with it. You are not alone.
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After reading all these post now i'm sure that what i assumed was true after my excrutiatful painful mamo i noticed that my breast seemed sort of deflated and smaller then before the mamo i asked my husband and he said he had noticed a change in my breast since the mamogram ..... i spent a lifetime sleeping in bras and wearing them daily to keep my perky breast and now after one torturous test all those days and nights where in vain you would think that technology has grown so much over the past decade that medical science would find a less barberic way of examing a womans fragile and tender breast but no unfortunalty not.
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Mammogram is really unnecessary for women in the 40s because they really disfigured the breasts. I did it today because I didn't know better. Then when I talked to my cousin who is a doctor, she told me it was just a scam like everything else for everybody to make more money. As a doctor, she think breasts MRI are the most accurate for screening breast cancer, because mammograms are more likely to have misleading results when the breasts were not pressed thin enough, and depending on the muscle tissues of the individual, images may come out like there is something but actually there isn't. My cousin thinks I am too young (40 and has no family history of breast cancer or any form of cancer and has no high risk factor either.) and my breasts are too good looking for the destruction of the mammogram machine. She told me most of her patients who had cancer were over 50 years old, the odds for anyone under 50 to have cancer are very rare. During her 20 years in practice, she had seen less than 5 women under 50 who had breasts cancer and these women all have family history of cancer. I just wished I had consulted with her first. I just never knew better. I hate my doctor for sending me there. My breasts will never be the same again and I'm only 40. I can't even sue because I had signed those fine prints before the screening.
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All I gotta say I am glad I am not alone. I am 35 and had my first mammogram a few months ago. A lump found in my left breast prompted my mammogram and ultrasound. My breasts are not that big (34B) so it was a little difficult to get a clear image; however the technician placed my breasts in the vice and squeezed until I couldn't stand it anymore. She said the more they squeeze the better the image so I just sucked it up and held my breath. Mammogram checked out okay considering my breast tissue is dense and the ultrasound showed multiple cysts (approximately 6)... the technician said the more the merrier. I was told that the cysts can be painful and can move around. I was also told to monitor them every month as I am performing my self breast exam to make sure they have not grown in size. Not sure how I am going to monitor them if I can only feel (2) at the touch, but I guess I will try my best. Since then... 4 months AFTER the mammogram I am STILL experiencing pain in my right breast. The pain seems to arrive during ovulation time and lasts for 4-5 days. The pain is more less of a burning sensation. It is very hard to explain, but I never experienced it before my mammogram. I really do think my breast tissue sustained damage from the mammogram... I am just hoping time will heal. If anyone else has experienced this type of sensation after a mammogram please let me know. I've seen the word "sore" used, but my right breast feels like it is sunburned - to a point where it will itch a little - as the burn heals you have the urge to itch it. They appear normal, but don't feel normal. Wondering if I am making any sense? Anyway, feedback would be appreciated :-)
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It does not matter if you speak to the technicians, physicians, etc. You are placing 100% of the responsibility on the women when, in fact, it is the health professionals who need to significantly up the quality of care.
The stories here need to be in national news all the time until something is done - because nothing is done to change these scenarios.
There need be no reason why Ballerina had 3 mammograms other than that: they don't know what else to do; and, breast ultrasound is often not offered, and offered first.
These women are left in pain that may indeed have been exacerbated or originated because of the mammogram. Should there be benign conditions, someone may throw a bit of evening primrose at them, and then that's that. Established medicine cares nothing about ongoing breast problems, and, certainly not as they relate to the whole woman.
A friend of mine was told on the basis of a 'screening' mammogram that she had invasive breast cancer in both breasts. There were no symptoms. At the time of the mammogram, when the technologist saw the architectural distortion, the technologist freaked out, sending my friend into a panic that is only known by women who have experienced this situation.
After the radiologists telephone call, and even though my friend knew in her gut none of this was right, and that, this over-the-phone diagnosis, (the doc refused to meet with her), this began a 7-month long investigation, spanning three different facilities and medical practitioners, and included an horrific and useless MRI, and an excisional biopsy. Like a rat on a wheel going very fast, no matter how strong you are, it is hard to get off. The end result? There was nothing. Nothing at all.
I had a cyst removed through fine needle aspiration. The radiologist took a long track to get to it, and the subsequent, chronic pain has continued years later. Some of that is due to excessive scarring; some due to cellular/nerve 'memory', I am convinced.
It took me two years to get anyone to take the painful lump I had seriously. Nothing showed on a mammogram. It was passed off as being normal. On exam, it was only when I insisted that one of the docs I saw palpate the breast when I was sitting up and somewhat bent over, that the recommendation was an horrific, "You need a mastectomy."
On to other physicians, and a fine needle biospy that showed malignancy, followed by a core biopsy that found nothing at all. This was at a prestious facility.
In the end, I found a surgeon who performed an excisional biopsy. DCIS and LCIS were found. I had nothing else done. I was luckyin that the whole story was so confounding and was spared the HER this and that that women are enveloped with now.. But no one ever believes any of this happened, even though it is all documented.
I did a search today and found this website because there is something wrong with my left breast. I do not have a primary care physician and none are available. Not that having a pcp would matter, as, as with my friend, they have only functioned as a referral agent, if even that. Unless one is ill, one does not establish a 'relationship' with a physician, and, even, then, these pcps do not necessary act as advocates for their patients.
I need a breast ultrasound, done by a top-notch technologist, and read by a top-notch radiolgist who knows breasts like crazy, neither of whom will go to extremes of behavior no matter what is, or is not, found. I can't get an ultrasound. Ultrasounds are only done after mammograms. Due to the nature of the problem, I want the ultrasound first. I want that visual before having my breast compressed.
It won't be done, and I won't have the mammogram done first. Then again, I need a referral for anything, which, incidentally, is not true everywhere, but increasingly so, because we're all running around demanding needless ultrasonography and mammography, right?
In the end, I will agree that a woman makes a choice about even attempting to enter this bizarre system, do what she can to address the concern on her own, whether through alternative methods or not, and accept the results of her decision. The problem is, it is criminal that things continue to operate the way they do. Please don't throw around your convictions when you have not experienced what so many women have experienced.
As to the 'low-dose' CT scan, bluehorse - read much more in depth about it. It's only the name that sounds good.
The stories here need to be in national news all the time until something is done - because nothing is done to change these scenarios.
There need be no reason why Ballerina had 3 mammograms other than that: they don't know what else to do; and, breast ultrasound is often not offered, and offered first.
These women are left in pain that may indeed have been exacerbated or originated because of the mammogram. Should there be benign conditions, someone may throw a bit of evening primrose at them, and then that's that. Established medicine cares nothing about ongoing breast problems, and, certainly not as they relate to the whole woman.
A friend of mine was told on the basis of a 'screening' mammogram that she had invasive breast cancer in both breasts. There were no symptoms. At the time of the mammogram, when the technologist saw the architectural distortion, the technologist freaked out, sending my friend into a panic that is only known by women who have experienced this situation.
After the radiologists telephone call, and even though my friend knew in her gut none of this was right, and that, this over-the-phone diagnosis, (the doc refused to meet with her), this began a 7-month long investigation, spanning three different facilities and medical practitioners, and included an horrific and useless MRI, and an excisional biopsy. Like a rat on a wheel going very fast, no matter how strong you are, it is hard to get off. The end result? There was nothing. Nothing at all.
I had a cyst removed through fine needle aspiration. The radiologist took a long track to get to it, and the subsequent, chronic pain has continued years later. Some of that is due to excessive scarring; some due to cellular/nerve 'memory', I am convinced.
It took me two years to get anyone to take the painful lump I had seriously. Nothing showed on a mammogram. It was passed off as being normal. On exam, it was only when I insisted that one of the docs I saw palpate the breast when I was sitting up and somewhat bent over, that the recommendation was an horrific, "You need a mastectomy."
On to other physicians, and a fine needle biospy that showed malignancy, followed by a core biopsy that found nothing at all. This was at a prestious facility.
In the end, I found a surgeon who performed an excisional biopsy. DCIS and LCIS were found. I had nothing else done. I was luckyin that the whole story was so confounding and was spared the HER this and that that women are enveloped with now.. But no one ever believes any of this happened, even though it is all documented.
I did a search today and found this website because there is something wrong with my left breast. I do not have a primary care physician and none are available. Not that having a pcp would matter, as, as with my friend, they have only functioned as a referral agent, if even that. Unless one is ill, one does not establish a 'relationship' with a physician, and, even, then, these pcps do not necessary act as advocates for their patients.
I need a breast ultrasound, done by a top-notch technologist, and read by a top-notch radiolgist who knows breasts like crazy, neither of whom will go to extremes of behavior no matter what is, or is not, found. I can't get an ultrasound. Ultrasounds are only done after mammograms. Due to the nature of the problem, I want the ultrasound first. I want that visual before having my breast compressed.
It won't be done, and I won't have the mammogram done first. Then again, I need a referral for anything, which, incidentally, is not true everywhere, but increasingly so, because we're all running around demanding needless ultrasonography and mammography, right?
In the end, I will agree that a woman makes a choice about even attempting to enter this bizarre system, do what she can to address the concern on her own, whether through alternative methods or not, and accept the results of her decision. The problem is, it is criminal that things continue to operate the way they do. Please don't throw around your convictions when you have not experienced what so many women have experienced.
As to the 'low-dose' CT scan, bluehorse - read much more in depth about it. It's only the name that sounds good.
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Thirteen years ago I had a mammogram, the technician was called away leaving my left breast between the glass and the base of the exray machine. My left breast was squeezed beyond reason. The pain remains today. If anyone has ever experienced this please respond. I am still in pain.
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Good for you. I too believe there has to be a better way. And I always wondered if these are doing more harm than good.
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They don't want to take this kind of case because mammo's are a big business. I wish every woman would use her brain. Most people just do what their told if the doc says to. They would never stop to question it. For me, mammograms just seem wrong. I understand the early detection part is great, but at what cost?
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I am covered under Kaiser Permanente through my work. Not sure if Kaiser is offered in any state other than California, but their breast care center will monitor me once a year upon my request. I plan to push for an ultrasound every year if I can. I don't understand "why" it wasn't offered first too? I plan to ask that question when I see my NP in Oct. 2012. The ultrasound clearly showed cysts - they can tell by the color of the image whether it is solid or fluid filled.
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OMG me too! The mammogram is dangerous and cruel! They could do MRI or Ultrasound, Or thermography! I am horrified after my experience!My breasts are dense and Momo is not what pic's up cancer in really dense breasts! it is like looking for snow in snow! Yet, they still want a Momo done before Ultrasound and force you to do it! They say no mampo no Ultrasound! I have a half dozen complex cysts and 2 biopsied! The doctors are hostle to me too! They just want us to act like cattle even when we don't fit the mold! I think Momo should be outlawed I think it does cause more cancer it make common sense! Shame on lady and brainwashed doctors and medical people! My breasts are in pain all the time since Mamo! This is one crazy nightmare!!!! This is America and they force women to do Mamo insted of the other methods! They don't care about us and I am doing no more Mamo only mri and ultrasound period! It will be hard to find a thinking for themselves doctor who isn't brainwashed to listen to common sense it is our body not theirs!
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I'm so relieved to read these posts as I thought I was the only person.I am 35 and had a mammogram 3 months ago after finding a small breast lump.Thankfully it isn't cancer.I have family members that have had numerous mammograms and I was warned it would be uncomfortable,in truth I found the mammogram excruciating painful.I've had six children with little pain relief so feel I have a good pain threshhold.I was awful sore later and couldn't bear to touch my breasts when showering etc... and I like to lie on my side in bed but when your breasts brush against the mattress it was too painful.Too cut a long story short,nothing has changed some days and nights it's not so bad but most of them time my breasts are sore.Some days I get terrible shooting pains in them and find it hard to lift things or raise my arms.My sex life has suffered and even lying down to sleep is difficult.My doctor has basically told me I'm imagining it and I can assure you I'm not,there might not be a name for breast pain after a mammogram but it doesn't mean to say it's not there.I am worried as I have to see the breast surgeon again in 3 weeks to have my harmless lump removed,I'm not afraid to have it removed,I'm afraid to have another mammogram if needed.Please Ladies I urge you to continue having mammograms though as they are life savers,a mammogram detected my Mother's breast cancer and I will continue to have them.I'm just relieved to see I'm not the only one with after-pain,that alone makes it easier to deal with.
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Ok ... I am 60 years old .... & have had mammograms since I was 16 years old. At that time had a lumpectomy (benign) was told at an early age I had cystic massive breast I am small breasted .... at age 32 had another lupm removed ... benign .... and have watched ever since ... The mammograms have progressively become more painful ... abusively so ... Last year was very painful as was this even more so .. last year they told me to come back in 6 mos. for a sonogram, watching a lump? So that leads me to that one ... firstly soooo PAINFUL (claimed they must do another momo of that breast ) then the sono .... this was over 1 & 1/2 months ago ..... This is getting out of hand!!! the physical abuse in the name of Medicine !!! Yes, we DO need to do our regular check-ups .... but I am sure there is a less painful way .....
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I too feel they have to come out with something better than that dreaded Vice like machine, totally not suitable. I am never going back for another, It totally put my body into a shock like state. felt violated and feel as though my breast are going south now when I was quite pert before. The machine must have been invented by a bloke, why dont they make it curved at least! The Radiation made me feel really weak, dont know what it done to my body,my body has never been abused like that before! It made me go into a panic state thinking it wasnt gonna stop compressing down on my was beautiful boobies AWFUL EXPERIENCE!!!!!
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