Please give me some advice. My doctor wants me to have a mammogram just to be safe because I have been having pain in one breast, although he can't "feel" anything. I would do it without question EXCEPT for the fact that last year I had tons and tons of x-rays to try to diagnose pain I was having all over my body (which didn't show anything). I had cat scans, HIDA scans, chest x-rays, abdominal x-rays and spinal x-rays. And now I am just scared to having more exposure to radiation especially at my age (31). I've read some articles saying you really shouldn't have mammograms until 40 or so because of the radiation. Any thoughts? how much radiation is too much?
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think today the radiation of Mamograms are VERY minimal. You may want to ask the radiologist though. You said that you had pain and had all those tests and found nothingt? What kind of pain were you having?
This may be a stupid question or maybe you've already done this... but can't they just give you a breast ultrasound? I had one a few years ago because I have very cystic breasts, and my sister was having pain in one of her breasts and that's what she had done and they discovered the problem that way.
I was hoping that maybe I could have an ultrasound instead of a mammogram. I didn't ask my doctor...I should have I guess. So since you have cystic breasts, did you ever have a mammogram, or did they just do ultrasounds? My doctor kind of expects cystic breast for me also. As far as the pain I was having when I had all those CT scans, etc...they think it may be fibromyalgia...which I kind of wonder if that is what is causing the pain in my breast also. I guess I'm just having a hard time deciding if I should just trust my doctor (he's a pretty good doctor) or do I look into other options like ultrasound. I guess after he's said I need a mammogram, I hate to ask if I could have an ultrasound instead because it's like telling him I don't trust him...
I was hoping that maybe I could have an ultrasound instead of a mammogram. I didn't ask my doctor...I should have I guess. So since you have cystic breasts, did you ever have a mammogram, or did they just do ultrasounds? My doctor kind of expects cystic breast for me also. As far as the pain I was having when I had all those CT scans, etc...they think it may be fibromyalgia...which I kind of wonder if that is what is causing the pain in my breast also. I guess I'm just having a hard time deciding if I should just trust my doctor (he's a pretty good doctor) or do I look into other options like ultrasound. I guess after he's said I need a mammogram, I hate to ask if I could have an ultrasound instead because it's like telling him I don't trust him...
I've never had a mammogram, just the ultrasounds. Same for my sister and actually she sort of has the same problem as me, except that her cysts were very large. They drained a few of them and her pain was greatly relieved. I've heard that mammograms are pretty awful, so your doctor would probably understand why you'd rather have an ultrasound. Good luck!
It won't hurt to ask your doc if you could have an ultrasound. Just don't ignore the pain. You'd be better off having either one done and finding out it is a cyst rather than not do anything and find out it is cancer later on. Take care and I hope you are feeling better soon. ~~M
ps-baseline mamograms are usually done at about age 35. At 40 it is recommeded once every other year...
Im 31 and never had a mamogram but when the times come to have one I will definetly request ultrasound instead of xray mamogram. Not for one second I would think of having my boobies squashed like fried eggs to be xrayed. And besides I have readed from cancer/breast cancer forums that ultrasounds are better than mamograms for detecting tumors so that's the only thing I will get done.
Thanks for all your replies. I have just read so many conflicting articles I am still confused. Several articles say that nothing can compare to mammograms for accuracy...but some say not to do it either. Oh boy...
