If anyone knows a good site with photos, for 'diagnosing' breast lumps, please post them. I can't find anything instructive....

(I don't mean instructions for self-examination.)

I read that benign lumps and cancerous lumps tend to look quite different from each other, but can't find the site anymore.

A lump that is painless, hard, and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancer, but some rare cancers are tender, soft, and rounded.

whew yer right on about trying to find info ... sheesh its like impossible for something that has so much press !

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

try googling the image tab in google. this will maybe bring pics and links
patty

Yeah and for something so prevalent, I thought there might be more information shared among patients, but I didn't find anything leaning to alternative medicine.


So if you find a soft, painful, uniform lump, it's likely benign.....


Thanks Dewey, that's the first thing I did, but the results aren't very helpful.

yep aqua thats kinda abouts what i read on most sites

i did try the picture option but just got mostly breast drawings lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I just recently went through a scare with this. Another element of non cancerous lumps is that they change with hormonal fluctuations...the get more tender and more pronounced before the menstral cycle. Mine were fibrous...and caffeine makes them worse. I also had some milk pockets that had calcified / hardened. And then from losing weight, I had some fatty tissue...just lots of lumpiness. I had a sonogram that determined everything was okay, while the mamogram still showed these "lumps" looking suspicious.

You could try curezone.com

I've been reading the parasite support thread and it's interesting that 'cysts' can be formed by parasites.

Love,
Prism

Am I inadequate or do many forums have formats that are hard to follow? Curezone should be a great resource, but there seemed to be so little there on this topic.
Also, I guess most women go straight to allopathic medicine when they find a lump, therefore the only shared info is about the conventional therapies they endure.

When I have the time and resources, I'd like to create a 'sick breast photo website' so the curious can compare their lumps with known diagnoses. Just reading the descriptions leaves lots of room for interpretation.

My neighbour just died from breast cancer, leaving two pre-teens and her husband. She was 37. My friend has it and has been going through the chemo etc and now another friend found a lump and everyone wishes they had had access to more knowledge right when they needed it. Lumps are so common, it seems they barely raise an eyebrow.

I think that's a great idea aquadecoco. My sister died of breat cancer at 34, leaving behind 3 young children and a husband. She had one lump a didn't want to deal with it until the sister pressured into going to the doctor. Surgery...chemo...death within a year! It's so scarey!

Islandgirl, how long did your sister wait after she noticed the lump?

Are you going to monitor your 'suspicious' lumps?

I think I read that younger (30-ish) women are more likely to die than older (60ish) women from breast cancer. Strange and sad!

I totally didn't need to read this thread either as I have a small, tiny hard lump.

Advice please anyone! Help! I'm 26!

In the town I used to live in, I used to go to the Cancer Agency office to attend support group meetings for breast cancer survivors. One thing that the breast cancer group had was a set of (soft plastic?) breasts with a couple of suspicious lumps in them. You could try to examine those breasts to see if you could find the lumps. It was very interesting - never would have realized just how hard you needed to press or how thorough you needed to be. I think every doctor's office should have one of these - even as a breast cancer survivor, I was not able to find the lump in the "practice breasts" on my own.

It was very funny, all of us ladies squeezing and feeling those breasts so carefully, we laughed our heads off, but it was also very serious. You might try contacting your local cancer agency to see if they have anything like that. It would teach you better than any picture or anything anyone could ever tell you. Personally, I thought it was the best teaching tool I have ever seen.

It's also important to watch for any other changes besides lumps - dimples, cottage-cheese texture skin, anything different or non-symmetrical. I didn't know this before I was diagnosed, so make sure you are aware.

Good luck, and try not to worry too much. Very few lumps turn out to be cancer, so no sense in panicking too quickly.

Sapphire



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/09/2007 10:34PM by Sapphire.