Difficulty trusting what the doctors/nurses say

[WorriedOlive]

Hey

I’m having a bad time with health anxiety at the moment and feel I am at a point where even being cleared by the doctors isn’t giving me any relief. That used to kill off the current worry and it would slowly move onto something else but recently I get that what if they’re wrong niggling feeling.

I had a breast check booked in yesterday as I had found a ‘mound’ in my breast near the top inner section which was far more prominent in one side. The nurse felt and said that’s just rib/cage / muscle and had a good feel around and said she could not feel anything suspicious in there at all.

My worry is that it wasn’t a GP. Which sounds awful as I know nurses are highly trained and that they wouldn’t have asked a nurse to do a breast exam if she didn’t know what she was looking for, but my anxiety makes me SO paranoid.

Would you trust if you were not sure if something was a lump or not and then the nurse did an exam and said it’s not? Feel like I’m being totally irrational.

[pulisa]

Yes I would trust the nurse. Why do you think GPs are better qualified to do breast examinations? They know a little about everything..supposedly.

[FamilyPicnic]

Hi, in general I have a hard time trusting doctors/nurses. I have seen and heard of far too many medical errors and misdiagnoses both in my own life and in others. I wouldn't necessarily trust a doctor over a nurse, or a nurse over a doctor. I've seen very competent doctors and incompetent nurses as well as incompetent doctors and competent nurses.

As far as your own issues with your breast lump - first of all, I've had lots of lumps and bumps looked at, prodded, poked, mammogrammed, us'd, MRI'd over the years. And this includes lumps that were actually my rib cage. In the whole spectrum of lumps, differentiating a breast lump from a rib cage lump isn't that difficult and any doctor/nurse trained in this area shouldn't have a problem in telling the difference. So more than likely, your "breast lump" is in fact a normal part of your rib cage. What it comes down to is your comfort level in what you were told. If you are not comfortable in what you were told by all means get a second opinion.

How old are you? If young, you most likely do not have bc (I know, I know, there is always someone whose 20 year old next door neighbor had it, but that's extremely rare). What kind of nurse examined you? If a nurse trained in this area I wouldn't be too concerned about her missing something, on the other hand, if it's a nurse trained in pediatrics or podiatry, well, that's a different story. If you aren't comfortable with the little niggly feeling inside of you, there is nothing wrong with going back and saying "I'm concerned, could I please have this lump checked again. I worry about my health and I would like to know how you can tell this is part of my rib cage and not a breast lump." I tell you this not because I think there is something wrong (because I don't think there is anything wrong, as I said it's easy to tell a breast lump from a rib cage) but because I want you to feel comfortable in knowing that everything is okay so that you can move away from this problem.

[WorriedOlive]

I am 26 y/o and her title is advanced nurse practitioner. I told the receptionist the problem on the phone and that’s who she said I could see. Would that mean I have seen the right person?

I really don’t want to go back to the doctors as I get myself in a real state. She pressed around quite firmly with me sitting up and laying down and seemed 100% that it was just bone I was feeling.

Hate how crazy health anxiety makes you feel! All my family said they would 100% trust the nurse now she’s felt it, my partner also felt before I went to the doctors and said it just felt like my body under the breast tissue.

My minds starting to feel a little better about this one.. and the Bowel cancer worries have now kicked back in (sigh) so I suppose that’s a sign it’s the HA talking.

[pulisa]

What do YOU think? If you can answer that question for yourself it's a lot better than asking others on here and your brain will begin to believe it.

[WorriedOlive]

What do YOU think? If you can answer that question for yourself it's a lot better than asking others on here and your brain will begin to believe it.

I find it hard to know what I really think/believe

[pulisa]

You can believe that you haven't been sent to hospital for further investigations. That's a pretty positive sign that all is well.