October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but Breast Cancer Awareness and Prevention: Don’t forget your monthly self-exams! – are essential all year round. After all, being attentive to your body and abnormal situations can help you detect cancer early, even before it develops.
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So when a Reddit user asked others about their breast cancer symptoms, many people shared stories about “the first sign something was wrong.” Here are some of their stories below:
A note for those who suffer from medical anxiety like me: many of these symptoms can also be caused by other, more benign causes, so don’t panic if you’ve experienced any of these signs. Don’t run to see Dr. Google either; If you have a real concern, contact your general practitioner instead!
1. “For me, every night when I went to bed, I would notice a burning pain in the same place in my chest. I remember thinking, ‘Haha! Probably cancer!” It was a little later that I had it checked, and yes. Diagnosed stage IV, just eight years old. Good times.”
—u/T_Max100
Related: “15 patients who learned the hard way to never lie to their doctor”
2. “My aunt had a lump. The other had a mammogram because the first found a lump. They are ten years apart and were diagnosed with stage III and stage II, respectively, one month apart. The first underwent chemo and a mastectomy. The other underwent radiation therapy and a lumpectomy. The first had a recurrence in her other breast and underwent chemotherapy and mastectomy again approximately 3.5 years later. Both are doing well now.”
—u/gunnapackofsammiches
3. “At first, I had fatigue and a lack of appetite, which I simply brushed off. A few weeks later, I felt a lump the size of a marble. I was diagnosed in 2020 at age 29, with no family history.”
—u/fj926
4. “In her late 40s, my aunt hit her chest really hard with a handlebar while she was putting away some bikes. She got bruised and bruised for over two weeks. She went to the doctor, he sent her for a mammogram. Nada. She still felt like something was wrong, so she ordered a PET scan. They found a tiny spot near the bruise. They did a lumpectomy, two rounds of chemo, radiation, all that ‘all natural’ and homeopathic stuff, fruits, vegetables, ionized water, all sorts of supplements, etc., she finally quit smoking and drinking, then a double mastectomy, then a reconstruction, then a reversal because it was super painful and she didn’t care about having boobs at 65!
—u/tessiegamgee
5. “I’m 36. In February, I lay down for a nap, lay down and ran my hand over my left breast, where I found a lump. I felt fine. I went to see my GP, who referred me for an ultrasound, thinking it was a fibroid or something benign. I then had a mammogram, followed by a biopsy, and a few days later I was told that It was cancerous. I had a double mastectomy in April, where they learned the infection had spread to “
—u/ImpracticalThriller
6. “My grandfather discovered a lump in my grandmother’s breast when they were 72. When I discovered this at 14, I was horrified. Today I’m almost fifty and hope to have one again in twenty years, as they clearly did.”
—u/(deleted)
“Your S/O could very well be an integral part of discovering abnormalities in your body and therefore be an ally in healing your body. I think that’s awesome.”—u/Atleastithinkisee
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Related: “20 Unsexy Hygiene Habits People Swear By”
7. “I found four lumps in my breasts (three benign, one cancerous). Some looked like a pea under the skin. One looked like completely normal tissue but was leaking blood from the nipple. The fourth lump, which was precancerous, looked like a pea. It had been there for a few days, then I couldn’t feel it anymore. I almost canceled the doctor’s appointment because it was gone. Either way, my moral is one that changes quickly in size/shape are the scariest. Record what your normal breasts look like so you can refer to them when a new lump appears or old thick tissue changes.
—u/no_we_in_bacon
8. “At the end of a yoga practice, my mother was lying on her back with her hands on her upper chest. She felt a small lump and was able to get it checked out about a week later. It was determined to be breast cancer. Fortunately, it was caught early, especially since the location of the lump would not have been detected on a typical mammogram.”
—u/babyminxjp
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9. “When my mom was diagnosed, she had a problem with…leaking for a while. So that’s something to watch out for.”
—u/candy
10. “I had a lump the size of a dime when I was 23, accompanied by night sweats and a general feeling that something was wrong. For example, I knew he. I had a mammogram and the doctor told me it was a benign hamartoma. When I tried to get a second, third opinion, everyone did not follow his conclusions. When it was the size of a golf ball, doctor number six said, “This doesn’t look normal,” but he wasn’t willing to operate on it because of the risk of me being “malformed.” I had an elective lumpectomy performed by a plastic surgeon. She sent it for testing and she had to send my samples. No one could understand what it was; she said it was like cancer was multiplying on the dish.”
“And it turns out I had a very rare type of cancer called a malignant phyllodes tumor, often confused with a hamartoma. It’s a fast-growing, aggressive connective tissue tumor that eats away at surrounding tissue. It was heading toward my lungs and the only treatment option was surgery.
I was sent to the best breast specialist in my metropolitan area. She had never seen one outside of medical textbooks. The tumor had actually grown to the size of a lemon. I hate to turn anyone into a hypochondriac, but I am fully, fully trust this feeling that something is wrong.
—u/pizzatoucher
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11. “Diagnosed in 2020: Lymph nodes in my armpit were swollen and painful. Pain in my ribs. I was confused because I’m younger than mammogram age. I let this go on for months because I didn’t think it could be serious. I never had a lump in my chest that I could feel.”
—u/reverendcatdaddy
12. “I had no signs. No lump, no bump, nothing. I quit my job, so I decided to use the last month of my health insurance to do all the medical work. I had a mammogram, and that’s when they saw it. Get regular mammograms.”
—u/FluffyPurpleThing
13. “My mother discovered a lump at age 50, just a few months after a clean mammogram (she and I have dense breast tissue, so it’s possible the lump was there and the mammogram didn’t see it). She accidentally brushed her hand against it one day while she was getting dressed, and it caught her attention. She has since had a double mastectomy and chemo and is doing great more than five years later! This reason, I had to start getting mammograms at this age 35. Mammograms really aren’t that bad. Make sure you get them every year! If you find out you have dense breast tissue, insist on getting a 3D mammogram!
—u/(deleted)
“Ladies, just my little PSA.” Dense breast tissue can make mammograms more difficult for radiologists to interpret. On mammograms, the fat is gray; an ultrasound or MRI if you are considered high risk, the MRI is the best solution, but insurance does not pay unless there is a “good reason”. A mammogram is also good, but it must be done every year.
Dense breasts feel lumpy and bumpy. Take your exams the week after your period when hormones are lower. You know your body best; if you feel a change, have it checked. I can’t even begin to tell you how many patients skip a mammogram a year or two here or there, and when they come back to our office, they have cancer that could have been seen earlier. Yes, dense breasts are more difficult in terms of imaging, but annual mammograms detect these subtle changes, ladies!”
—u/Altruistic-Dish-617
14. “I once had a lump that was biopsied and it was benign. I had a few children who were breastfed. Two years later, I felt a lump and thought it was a milk duct. I felt a tingling sensation and knew it was time to get it checked out. On another note, if you need to have a medical exam, make sure your doctor is really at it. listening to your concerns An ultrasound can only detect so much; a mammogram can’t detect everything either.
—u/nanseek
15. “My mother was flagged after a mammogram. No symptoms, nothing to ‘notice’. It turned out to be a malignant tumor.”
—u/(deleted)
16. “I was diagnosed in October of last year. My lump was so small that I couldn’t feel it, and neither could my doctor. It was found on a mammogram, and it was so small that it took three biopsies to get it! They kept missing the spot. I’m very grateful to my radiologist because he knew from the looks of it that it wasn’t benign and kept trying until let him get it.”
—u/Scarlett_Uhura1
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17. “I had noticed a small lump near the bottom/crease of my breast for several years. It had been brought up during a routine breast exam in the past, and I was told it was nothing. Over the years, it seemed slightly larger and firmer than before, and I came to think that I felt a little “bubble” that I could move…
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