Male breast cancer

[sputnikmoon]

Thanks for reading.

Since I hit puberty I've had little lumps under my nipples that are quite common apparently.

I've not given them a second thought for years, then the other week, whilst stretched in an odd position, I went to itch my chest and became aware of them again...

I noticed one lump was a lot larger than the other and that there was some thick bumpy tissue in that breast which wasn't as pronounced in the other which freaked me out...

In kicks the health anxiety and I pretty much spent a week searching the breast for lumps, massaging it, rubbing it, poking it a few times a day... at this point it began to get a little tender and I decided to go the GP last Tuesday.

She had a check of both breasts and my lymph nodes and said she can't feel anything out of the ordinary and that breast cancer is super rare for men, especially those under 30.

Brilliant. So I promised myself to stop checking, which I have :)

My issue is that since I've stopped checking, the tenderness has shot up - to the point the breast and armpit feels notably angry, swollen, burning, achey and heavy, even when it's not being touched... It's been 4 days now since I last prodded at it and there's no sign of it easing.

Has anyone else done this to themselves through checking their breasts and glands too much so that they hurt, even when not being prodded? If so, does it usually take this long to settle back down?

I've got it into my head that I've induced Inflammatory Breast Cancer through my prolonged disturbance of the breast tissue during my checks and it's really upsetting me and effecting my daily life - can anyone relate to this?

Thanks for your help!

[nivekc251]

Bro anytime I feel something I prod the hell out of it to where it hurts just to look at it my neck armpit testicles eyes you name it. Trust ur doc male breast cancer is rare try and relax. Just leave it alone and if it keeps getting worse go back to the doc and let the take a look at it.

[spacebunnyx]

If you prod yourself you will make yourself sore... Also if you are anxious you will "feel" more discomfort in that area. I'm being investigated for bc at the moment.. I do not have the symptoms you describe. FYI IBC only occurs in 1-4% of cases, so given your gender and age you'd probably be the only person in the world ever.

---------- Post added at 14:04 ---------- Previous post was at 14:03 ----------

P.s you cannot give yourself IBC!!!! Omg that's a really silly idea!

[sputnikmoon]

Haha, thanks guys!

It's a weird one - I actually went back to the GP as the pain was getting pretty severe and I was still refusing to touch them myself, otherwise I'd just fall off the wagon and be touching them all the time again :p

She had a good touch, confirmed again that there were no worrying signs, that my lymph nodes were non existent.

However!

I noticed that when she was touching my breast tissue, it wasn't actually increasing the pain - in fact the pain seems to be slightly separate from the nipple lumps and breast tissue, it felt deeper.

I'm now starting to think I might have unwittingly yanked my arm and pec when I caught some luggage with this arm when helping my wife with some chores at the weekend. This ache is maybe muscular but I'd just attributed it to the nipple issue due to the two symptoms and areas overlapping and because I was refusing to poke, thinking that poking is what was causing the ache, I hadn't come to this conclusion earlier.

Nothing alarmed me at the time when my arm was yanked by the heavy luggage, but seeing that the breast tissue isn't actually sensitive to touch (which you'd have thought if it was painful enough to burn and ache when not being touched, manipulation of it would make some nerve cry out) and that I can influence the sensation with different arm positions (I'd previously thought this was because the arm was moving my nipple) then this might be what is going on? :p

At least, I really bloody hope so!

Regardless, she's put me in for an ultrasound and blood tests to ease any fears, but hopefully this will have cleared up by the time they come around... and if it hasn't, at least I'm getting in early if anything sinister is going on.

I really hate how scared we are about our bodies :/

[Fishmanpa]

I actually went back to the GP as the pain was getting pretty severe and I was still refusing to touch them myself, otherwise I'd just fall off the wagon and be touching them all the time again :p

She had a good touch, confirmed again that there were no worrying signs, that my lymph nodes were non existent.

However!


The only "however" is in your mind. You were just totally and completely cleared AND you're getting additional unnecessary tests for reassurance. When these come back clear, perhaps looking into therapy to help with you worries and fears would be in order :)

Positive thoughts

[sputnikmoon]

Haha, cheers Fishmanpa.

Yea, now it's clicked in my last post, I'm hoping it is just muscle strain overlapping with my nipple anxiety :p

This is a new one for me, my health anxiety normally revolved around my heart and arrhythmia :p

[sputnikmoon]

Really sorry about this, thanks for reading.

Hmmm... I'm struggling at the moment.

Still got the pec, arm and shoulder discomfort and pinching feelings, mixed with a general feeling of arm weakness. It's been around 12 days since the event that I "think" may have caused this neck and shoulder strain...

My health anxiety is telling me that the lumps I found where a cancer that has spread to my shoulder and spine and making it really hard to focus on my work :(

Can cancers progress at this sort of rate, going from no physical symptoms other than a lump, to having spread to nearby joints, spine and bone and causing pain in under 3 weeks - all without causing any lymph nodes to swell?

Also, the lumps that I did find don't seem to be growing or changing... I take it tumours that are spreading to other regions of the body would continue to grow at the initial site of detection?

They wouldn't grow then stop growing whilst they then move onto other areas?

Thanks for your help!

[Gary A]

Cancer spreads through the blood stream and lymphatic system, it wouldn't go to bones and muscles without first of all going through your lymphatic system. This isn't cancer, stop trying to tell yourself that it is.

[sputnikmoon]

Haha, cheers Gary.

Is that right, for it to spread it needs to catch a ride in your lymphs?

I think I've been picturing a fast growing root system that's bypassed the nodes and heading into my ribs, armpit, shoulder and spine...

[spacebunnyx]

Sputnikmoon, what Gary says is true. When I've been to my boob appointments they always scan and check my nodes in my armpit and upper chest. Also, I have a feeling male bc doesn't spread as quick because there's no hormones involved... Like why bc is more survivable for women past menopause than before.

[sputnikmoon]

So then, I was put through for a battery of blood tests - checking my thyroid, estrogen, testosterone, blood count, liver function and a few other things I can't pronounce.

Got the results and most things were no further action.

However, they want me to retake another blood count and liver function test in 2 weeks time - what the heck does that mean?

[spacebunnyx]

Probably means they're just outside the normal range so they re-test. This has happened to me several times and I have no liver or blood probs.

Space xxx

[sputnikmoon]

Ah, that makes sense.

If there was obviously an issue then they wouldn't need to retest I suppose - they'd just action the next steps?

I've got a pretty bad wisdom tooth flaring up at the moment, that could be effecting the bloods I bet!

The liver retest is a little curious - I've not been eating as much as I should this past few weeks due my appetite always lowering when I'm anxious and the damn tooth, lost 7lb, which is good for summer to be fair :p

Is your liver function results involved with that side of things, fat metabolism etc?

[spacebunnyx]

Not sure... The one that often seems to go wonky for lots of people is bilirubin. If something major showed up they wouldnt make you wait.

Can't tell you how many times I've had weird blood results... Probably every other blood.test I've had

[sputnikmoon]

Hey Spacebunny,

Actually had the letter through for the blood retest and found out what was wonky...

It was slightly high haemoglobin, slightly low ALT.

However, the one that's worrying me is that bilirubin was 31umol, rather than under 25umol... which is on it's way to being jaundice I think?

That scared me as it's exactly how my grandmother first caught onto lymphoma!

I then remembered you saying that can often go wonky for people, from your experience is that what you are talking about... or does that seem a bit high for a hiccup?

Thanks for your time!

[sputnikmoon]

Bit of an update. Thanks for reading :)

Had the fresh blood test a few weeks back and the Bilirubin rose to 38umol - however all my other liver function results were pretty normal so they think it's Gilbert's Syndrome which is harmless.

At the rate it was rising I should be bright yellow by now and i'm totally not - so I'm happy with that diagnosis.

As for the breast issues. Pain has subsided a good 75% and now only comes when I've been sitting for a while with bad posture. Lumps are still there but they haven't notably changed since I first caught on to them - you'd think in 2 months a cancer would have grown or changed at least a bit?

I've begun to get over the breast cancer fears until 2 weeks ago when a small lump appeared in my lower cheek/lip and was accompanied by numbness in the corner of my mouth - a quick google to see if any home remedies would help brought up the first few hits talking about this being a silent red flag for metastasis of breast cancer - literally the first few results!!

This has really shaken me as the lump and numbness have been around for 2-3weeks with no signs of easing.

On good days I remind myself the mouth lump is soft, hasn't grown since it first arrived and it moves about in my cheek when tongued... I've even shone torches "through" my cheek (like ET's finger) as I read that cancers would cast a shadow, whereas I can see all my veins etc and no evidence of the lump...meaning it's the same or lower density as the rest of the flesh in my cheek

...on bad days I think it's painless, is on the same side of my body as the breast lumps, can't be a coincidence, must be related, has started effecting my facial nerves and that it's spreading into other deeper tissues in my mouth.

I think I might start therapy as this is extremely distressing.

The sensible side of my head just laughs at this situation - I'd literally have to be 1 of the 4 men under 35 to get breast cancer in the UK this year, yet it's super stealthy as my breast cancer doesn't present in the typical way that GPs look out for, it hasn't effected my lymph nodes, yet has spread to my face and induced a rare phenomena of numb chin and lips that has been recorded in a handful of women with undiagnosed breast cancer who were all over 65...

It's so frustrating as I'm sure a lot of you on this forum can identify with the power of irrationality to really ruin your head space :(