Well, good old Dr Google did it again - or at least I did it because I haven't learned my lesson!
I have been panicking like mad all the week - real breath-catching, heart-pounding, nauseous, appetite- and sleep-destroying panic - because I had a patch of red skin on the outside edge of my left breast under my arm. It had been there for a long time, but suddenly got bigger and redder, and what did I do? Googled 'red patch on side of breast', even though I thought I would never do that again and had learnt my lesson.
The very first thing that came up was a forum on inflammatory breast cancer! Even though further investigation revealed a set of symptoms quite different to mine, the seed was sewn. The good thing was that it made me get an appointment with the doctor - who I've seen this morning. He straight away said it is eczema, and prescribed some steroid cream. He did examine my breasts and explained to me just what a red patch would be like in a breast cancer scenario. He also linked the eczema to another skin condition I have elsewhere, so I feel it was a very worthwhile session and I'm on top of the world now.
Lesson: Trust your doctor, not Google! If you're worried about a health problem, don't go near a search engine, go to your doctor instead
Reply With Quote
