Hi. I guess I am doing some classic reassurance seeking but am wondering if anyone has some advice that's not to go to the doctor. I went to my doctor about 2 weeks ago about something else and he seemed completely fed up with me and puts everything down to my health anxiety (probably correctly) so I don't feel mentally capable of going back to him already with another potentially irrational fear.
I have been trying to use CBT techniques to reduce the amount of 'checking' I do but this last week my symptoms for checking for lumps have gone out of control. I did a very rigrous breast self-exam on Friday and, whilst I didn't feel a 'lump' as such, I felt an area that felt strange, almost slightly swollen and a bit tender. Now, the reason I think (and hope) this is my anxiety is that the area in question is not actually in my breast tissue but on my rib cage underneath. The feeling of a swelling or raised area is not at all palpable in the breast tissue itself, only when I am standing up and pressing REALLY hard down to my rib cage through the breast tissue. I made my husband feel it and he said it was just my rib cage I was feeling and I would be inclined to agree, but if I feel on the opposite side, although I can feel the rib cage just the same, it feels harder and like an area of my rib is sticking out more on the side i am worrying about.
As I say, if you imagine examine only the breast tissue itself, I have done that from every angle and position and in great detail and it's only when pressing down hard on my breast standing up that i feel this area of concern to me.
Edit: also to add, it feels almost like an area thats swollen or bruised underneath where my bra was tight. if that makes sense? Anyone ever had breast pain from a bra digging in at a certain point?
Can you get breast lumps sort of on your rib cage? Is this something I should make myself face my doctor about AGAIN? He's examined my breasts at least twice in the last two years. I am so sick of feeling scared all the time.
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