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Has anyone had a painful biopsy? What was the explanation?
Hi all--thank you for this warm and compassionate space for sharing experiences and encouragement. I have already learned a lot.
My question--if you have experienced a painful biopsy, did you ever get an explanation for the pain? And did you find anything that helped?
I have had three ultrasound-guided biopsies now for a cancerous tumor in my left breast. The tumor is attached to the chest wall. Several lymph nodes are affected, and the oncologist has assigned me to stage IIIb.
The first biopsy was just one core sample. It hurt like hell.
The second was a few core samples, and the placement of clips in the tumor and the lymph node. For this biopsy, I felt the pinch of the needle administering the lidocaine, but the actual procedure was not painful.
The third biopsy involved about 6 core samples (I have enrolled in a clinical trial that requires fresh samples and a mammaprint). One of the injections of the numbing agent stung quite a bit. And then the biopsy needle--my god. I think I might have scared the radiology team with my response-- gasping and crying! Eek! And yet--the last two core samples were just fine--some pressure, but very little pain.
Now, I do not want to alarm anyone who is heading into a biopsy procedure--I think the vast majority of patients have very little pain--just like my second treatment and some of my third! But I see that there are just a few people who report a more difficult biopsy.
If you had a painful biopsy, did you ever figure out what was going on?
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I have had a biopsy in mammogram which was painful but mostly just uncomfortable. The worst was the biopsy in MRI. I had 2 biopsies at the same time ( 2 different locations). Over 1 hour in the MRI without moving. By far the worst so far. Hope to never do that again.
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1 ReactionI had one breast biopsy and swore to never go through that again. Extremely painful. Since then my mother and my sister have had them and report that it was painful and traumatic and will never do it again. My sister passed out from the pain. I can't believe the thinking is that women can endure it. It deters women from getting checked. When will it change?
I feel horrible for all of you because I’ve had excruciatingly painful procedures in other body parts but my multiple breast and chest wall biopsies (3 different radiologists) were not painful. I had dense breasts and a deep tumor. I think it’s a matter of the doctor’s skill in numbing the right area. I only found sounds and pressure a little unnerving. Anticipation is never fun. Definitely don’t use the same provider that caused pain last time. If possible, talk to the radiologist before scheduling to ask how much pain their patients usually feel and find one who says none. It’s not right to torture people.
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2 ReactionsI have had 3 biopsy's and they all hurt. I asked my surgeon why did they hurt so much? He stated the size of the needle ( 9 ga ) may be a factor. Also, the sedative is on the surface. I didn't get a real answer. I did tell him " you would think that there would be one smart doctor in the world that could come up with a solution so that woman would not have to go thru this." Most of the surgeries, that I read about either started out with some sort of lung cancer. What is up here? Is lung cancer treatment causing breast cancer or vis versa. I started out with lung cancer went thru the chemo and radiation. Now I just had surgery to remove Pathology result: Grade 2 invasive ductal carcinoma. Malignant and concordant. I read that radiation could also be a cause for my breast cancer. I don't know but I do know that when I go see my oncologist I am going to ask a lot of questions and do more research before doing anymore treatments. Thanks to everyone's comments I am learning more about this subject and look forward to your comments. Thanks
I don’t believe my rare neuroendocrine lung cancer and breast cancer are related. I did not have any other treatment before my breast cancer. I also have the BRCA2 and CHEK2 mutations for breast cancer. I was told between the two I had an 80% chance of getting breast cancer. I do know radiation can cause other cancer in the future but I don’t think I’m there yet. Lots of different kinds of cancer in my family. I’m betting my family has a lot of unidentified genetic mutations.
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1 ReactionI had three biopsies and two months later the area is still painful. I had no pain at all prior to biopsies. I also feel “lumpier” since the biopsy.