• You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community, you will have access to additional post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), view blogs, respond to polls, upload content, and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today! Just click here to register. You should turn your Ad Blocker off for this site or certain features may not work properly. If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us by clicking here.

Breast Self-Exams

Domino

ENFJ In Chains
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
11,429
MBTI Type
eNFJ
Enneagram
4w3
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Serious answers only please. I didn't start this for it to get littered with stupid jokes.

I want to know if the women on the forum do self-exams? I do sometimes, but more often than not, they just freak me out. Both my grandmother and great aunt had breast cancer back in the 1960s, post-menopausal, and it was not fatal for either of them.

There's a debate about whether or not women should self-exam because of the potential to cause unnecessary anxiety, but then there's also the very real idea of early detection.
 

Unkindloving

Lungs & Lips Locked
Joined
Dec 10, 2009
Messages
2,963
MBTI Type
ENFJ
Enneagram
4w5
I do so infrequently, but not intentionally or traditionally, despite how that comes off :huh:.
It's usually an unconscious checking if I'm in the shower or laying down and bored. I think if I consciously made the effort often, I would become far too concerned over nothing. I also used to be very bad at scheduling my annual appointments.. annually. Being better at that is definitely helpful, although I should check more often than I do.
 

Domino

ENFJ In Chains
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
11,429
MBTI Type
eNFJ
Enneagram
4w3
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Well, at my last PAP smear, I didn't get the exam done because I showed up late. I tend to freak myself out, and I'm trying to be a big girl about it, but I really hate it.
 

Tallulah

Emerging
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
6,009
MBTI Type
INTP
I'm the same, Domino. I should be more diligent, but because of my family history (both cases after menopause, though), the thought of finding something freaks me out.
 

Domino

ENFJ In Chains
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
11,429
MBTI Type
eNFJ
Enneagram
4w3
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Does anyone know the significance of post vs. pre-menopausal breast cancer?
 

Aquarelle

Starcrossed Seafarer
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Messages
3,144
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
I don't do them. I used to promise myself, everytime I went for my annual physical and a doctor did a breast exam and found nothing, that I'd start doing them after that. But I've read that research about it causing unnecessary anxiety, and that really made sense to me. I have no family history of breast cancer (well, my grandma had it, but not until she was like 79, and even then it was a very treatable case), but I do have a personal history of anxiety problems, specifically about medical issues. So I figure the chance of me having breast cancer is much lower than me having unnecessary anxiety about having breast cancer. Does that make any sense? I don't know.
 

Tallulah

Emerging
Joined
Feb 19, 2008
Messages
6,009
MBTI Type
INTP
Does anyone know the significance of post vs. pre-menopausal breast cancer?

I've always understood that family history with pre-menopausal breast cancer is a greater cause for concern. My mother's post-menopausal breast cancer, for instance, occurred after hormone replacement therapy, which is also thought to be a big possible cancer causer. So it's harder to know how much of a role family history played, and how much age and other factors played. Women also develop a greater risk of breast cancer with age, as I understand it.

I'm hoping the fact that I've always taken pretty good care of myself, exercised, etc. will work in my favor.
 

Domino

ENFJ In Chains
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
11,429
MBTI Type
eNFJ
Enneagram
4w3
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Makes plenty of sense. Plenty.

A lot of things have happened lately that have weirded me out. A friend was diagnosed with breast cancer and she's doing well, but it bothered me. My father has been having skin cancer removed, and he knows at least three people being treated for cancer right now, so I guess it just hit me right between the eyes. Overloaded me. Then when I was taking a shower I felt something that I didn't recall being there, and though I didn't panic, I did internally freak out a bit.

Talking to other ladies about it makes me less anxious and helps me build a bigger picture.
 

Aquarelle

Starcrossed Seafarer
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Messages
3,144
MBTI Type
INFJ
Enneagram
4w5
Instinctual Variant
so/sp
Yeah, sometimes I get quite scared about cancer, too. I have some moles that sometimes itch, and I've asked my doctor about them several times and she always says they look fine, but I still get freaked out about it. But I also know they have been there, and been occasionally itchy, for many years, so I think if it was cancer I'd know by now.

Part of the thing about breast exams causing unnecessary anxiety comes from exactly what you're talking about - you feel a lump and get really scared, and maybe go through some painful tests and excruciating waiting time, only to find out that it is nothing. That happened to my mom when she was pretty young.

Of course I'm not advocating for skipping breast exams. For some people, it definitely makes sense to do them regularly. If there is a family history, for example. But for me, at least at my age, I think the anxiety causes me more trouble. Maybe I'll reconsider when I'm 35 or 40.
 

Randomnity

insert random title here
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
9,485
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Does anyone know the significance of post vs. pre-menopausal breast cancer?

I've always understood that family history with pre-menopausal breast cancer is a greater cause for concern. My mother's post-menopausal breast cancer, for instance, occurred after hormone replacement therapy, which is also thought to be a big possible cancer causer.
Tallulah is right, it's because the familial form of breast and ovarian cancer (i.e. BRCA1/2 mutations) typically causes earlier breast/ovarian cancers, often well before menopause, sometimes approaching menopause or sometimes later. However, having the mutation doesn't guarantee you'll get cancer before menopause or even at all, because there are mostly unknown environmental factors that are involved too - sometimes you need most of a lifetime to build up your "risk" (apparently the lifetime risk is only 60% even with a known mutation). Here's a random paper about it, if you're interested in the technical side of things http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19372713

If your grandmother and great aunt are sisters/related there's a chance they carry that mutation (though you might not even have gotten it), but breast cancer is common enough that it could spontaneously appear by chance, too. It's a much bigger concern if your immediate family members are affected. I guess it's always good to think about these things, but usually your doctor will let you know when you should actually worry.

As far as the actual topic, I don't really but I have a long-since-okayed lump that I like to check on every so often, because I'm a little paranoid. I'm not really in the most common age for developing cancer yet, though I've been on the pill for a long time already and the jury's mostly still out on whether that might increase risk (it's probably fine, but, you know).

I work in a cancer center (research, not patients, but I still walk by the patient waiting rooms several times a day) so I have an excessive share of paranoia about it.
 

Randomnity

insert random title here
Joined
May 8, 2007
Messages
9,485
MBTI Type
ISTP
Enneagram
6w5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Oh and also, when I got my lump checked out it was totally not a big deal, so you should go for it if you noticed something strange. I just asked my doctor, who looked at it and prodded it a little, then sent me for an ultrasound which was quick and painless. A little embarrassing, the whole procedure, but it was definitely a lot better than worrying about it for months/years on end, which I would definitely do.
 

Saslou

New member
Joined
Feb 1, 2009
Messages
4,910
MBTI Type
ESFJ
I do them sporadically but i freak myself out sometimes as do feel little lumps but think it may be tissue or a cyst or something .. I'm not stressing about it.
 

miss fortune

not to be trusted
Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
20,589
Enneagram
827
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
I taught the man how to do them on me and what to look for since he always wants to play with them anyways... that makes it a lot more fun in a way :laugh:

I'm not hyper diligant though because nobody in my family history has EVER gotten breast cancer :shock:
 

Domino

ENFJ In Chains
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
11,429
MBTI Type
eNFJ
Enneagram
4w3
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
Thank you, ladies!
 

Fidelia

Iron Maiden
Staff member
Joined
May 31, 2009
Messages
14,497
MBTI Type
INFJ
I used to do self-exams when I was younger and still developing. I didn't realize then that breasts may feel slightly different at different times of the month and one time decided that for sure I had cancer. I still do self-exams, although not on a routine schedule, just check now and then. I think it's better to know than not to know if there's something that you are worried about and in the meantime read up on the things you can do to lessen your chances of breast cancer.
 

Donna Cecilia

L'anima non dimora
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
1,219
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
1w9
I do self exams frequently, since I had antecedents of death by that disease in my family, and my Mother is a breast cancer survivor.

I also have mammogram screenings once a year.
 
O

Oberon

Guest
I share an office with a breast cancer survivor. She found a lump during a self-exam in her mid-30s, and it's a good thing she found it too. She's been through mastectomy, radiation, and chemo, all of which was better than dying of breast cancer.

Do the exams, Dom.
 
Top