Do your lipomas hurt?

[Unicorn1985]

Hi. I’m pretty sure I’ve got lipomas. One in my thigh that I discovered about two years ago, doesn’t hurt, quite firm but never grown so left alone.

I have another on my back I guess where your love handles are, I’m overweight. I only found it because it started to hurt, it was very sore. It coincided from sitting on hard wooden chairs all weekend in July last year when family came to visit. When they left I no longer sat on hard chairs and the pain went. It does hurt if I push on it, but it’s not attached to my rib but it’s inbetween the fat over my rib, so pain must be from it pushing into my rib? It’s not grown I don’t think, but it’s hard to locate sometimes because I’m overweight. I think I’ve found another tonight about an inch from the one on the love handle. It’s a bit sore. Should I be concerned a new lump has come up?

Im having a bad flare up of my costochondritis at the moment which is the same side as these lumps. When I’m rational I’m ok but the anxiety part keeps making me think the lumps are linked and I don’t have costochondritis but some awful bone cancer that’s spreading. I know it sounds silly but it’s not impossible.

Im just really struggling at the moment and being in pain isn’t helping my mental state.

Thanks

[RadioGaGa]

unknown1985 hello

I have a very small lipoma on my thigh - discovered in 2016 when I was showering. It hasn't changed since, so I want to reassure you.

I assume these lipomas have been diagnosed by your doctor and you're simply seeking reassurance? I should point out that a "painless, hard/fixed lump" is generally the hallmark of a cancerous lump. Anyone with access to a computer can find that out. You do not describe either of those features in your post.

discovered about two years ago, doesn’t hurt, quite firm but never grown so left alone

Cancer doesn't appear and then NOT grow for two years. So that rules anything sinister out with this. Moving on:

This post could get long, but I'll try to avoid that.

When I was about 20/21 I was in a relationship with a medical student (I was studying pharmacy at the same time) and I remember asking him if a node on my neck was swollen. I was convinced it was because I could feel it if I poked around. He felt it and said no, when there's something wrong with a node/lump it's very obvious. (I had HIV fear at this time).

I didn't really believe him until I had a throat infection sometime later and my neck nodes became swollen. And yeah - he was right. It was very obvious. I didn't have to "poke" to find them or search for them. Just resting my fingers on my neck I could feel them (ever notice how when your doctor feels for nodes, it's never aggressive - they feel very lightly? That's why!)

You have quite a clear cause and effect here - sitting in wooden chairs, then not sitting in wooden chairs and pain going away. Obviously, if you sit on something hard like a wooden chair, which puts pressure on the lipoma and then the surrounding tissue/bone, it will cause pain?

Said ex above told me that anything malignant feels like a bag of frozen peas and it won't move at all.

Assuming your doctor has felt these lumps and is not concerned, you certainly should NOT worry. A "new" lipoma shouldn't cause concern either. If it feels like the others, that should be reassuring. But any new lumps should always be felt by a doctor.

I really think you're fine (and I think you know that deep down!) but none of us are qualified doctors

Good luck

[Unicorn1985]

unknown1985 hello

I have a very small lipoma on my thigh - discovered in 2016 when I was showering. It hasn't changed since, so I want to reassure you.

I assume these lipomas have been diagnosed by your doctor and you're simply seeking reassurance? I should point out that a "painless, hard/fixed lump" is generally the hallmark of a cancerous lump. Anyone with access to a computer can find that out. You do not describe either of those features in your post.

Cancer doesn't appear and then NOT grow for two years. So that rules anything sinister out with this. Moving on:

This post could get long, but I'll try to avoid that.

When I was about 20/21 I was in a relationship with a medical student (I was studying pharmacy at the same time) and I remember asking him if a node on my neck was swollen. I was convinced it was because I could feel it if I poked around. He felt it and said no, when there's something wrong with a node/lump it's very obvious. (I had HIV fear at this time).

I didn't really believe him until I had a throat infection sometime later and my neck nodes became swollen. And yeah - he was right. It was very obvious. I didn't have to "poke" to find them or search for them. Just resting my fingers on my neck I could feel them (ever notice how when your doctor feels for nodes, it's never aggressive - they feel very lightly? That's why!)

You have quite a clear cause and effect here - sitting in wooden chairs, then not sitting in wooden chairs and pain going away. Obviously, if you sit on something hard like a wooden chair, which puts pressure on the lipoma and then the surrounding tissue/bone, it will cause pain?

Said ex above told me that anything malignant feels like a bag of frozen peas and it won't move at all.

Assuming your doctor has felt these lumps and is not concerned, you certainly should NOT worry. A "new" lipoma shouldn't cause concern either. If it feels like the others, that should be reassuring. But any new lumps should always be felt by a doctor.

I really think you're fine (and I think you know that deep down!) but none of us are qualified doctors

Good luck

Thanks for your reply.

Im really not concerned by the one on the leg as like you say it would of grown if cancerous and it’s stayed the same. The one on the back made me panic initially but when the pain went away from sitting on those chairs I tried to be rational and think cancer doesn’t cause pain one minute and then no pain the next.

Ive never had them checked by a dr so I guess that’s partly why I’m thinking what if? They are self diagnosed limpomas as although firm not rock hard and as they didn’t grow I tried to be rational and say it’s not cancer. I think the back one would of grown if anything sinister since I found it 7 months ago? It also could of been there longer than 7 months because I only discovered it becsuse of the discomfort.

Ive gotten better at being rational but with my current flare up of costochondritis I’ve just got back into spiral mode, connecting dots that don’t necessarily add up but my brain is making them connect. I just can’t ever shake this impending doom feeling. This feeling that I will be get cancer and when they discover it, it will be too later, I will be one of those rare horror stories you read about in the paper. I know it’s the same for all HA sufferers.

[Fishmanpa]

I have another on my back I guess where your love handles are

I had one in the same spot for around 15 years. Same thing happened. It happened to be in a spot where sitting irritated it. Went to the Doc, had it checked out and scanned and we decided to remove it. It was deep and embedded in the muscle wall. Simple outpatient local anestesia removal and problem solved

Positive thoughts