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Anyone have breast aching, stinging as only symptom of breast cancer?

Posted by joannemm34293 @joannemm30809, Aug 14, 2023

It seems I am a rarity regarding my Invasive Ductal Carcinoma and my only symptom has been my breast aching and stinging. I have had no other symptoms whatsoever and still can not even feel this lump.

I keep reading breast cancer, IDC, is painless YET that’s been my only symptom.

Anyone else only have breast aching or stinging?
I’m STILL waiting on my surgery date which is August 29. I’ve never ever seen soooo much waiting waiting waiting in between abnormal mammogram, then ultrasound, then MRI with contrast, the biopsy, then meet with breast surgeon to FINALLY get scheduled for surgery. Good grief.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Breast Cancer Support Group.

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sassygurl | @sassygurl | Sep 11, 2023
In reply to @kimduff1 "I am almost 16 years out since my mastectomy. 15 years since my tram flap. I..." + (show)
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I am almost 16 years out since my mastectomy. 15 years since my tram flap.
I am having breast surges, anywhere from 20-25 an hour. It feels like you are pushing fluid with a plunger through a pinhead. It is so painful.
I am experiencing lymphedema, after 16 years.
In my tram flap we found a new lump! Had an ultrasound it shows nothing.
However it does not explain why it is there.
I am going to ask my primary doctor for a referral to see Dr. Hiri Abidi.
I Have heard wonderful things about her.
I need some answers.

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I had a double mastectomy 20 years ago and was just diagnosed with IDC again in my Trans flap after finding a lump. I have a lumpectomy in 2 weeks. I don't have any answers just sending lots of good wishes.

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sirene | @sirene | Sep 11, 2023

I had gripping pains prior to being diagnosed as well as again prior to surgery. I had a second surgery due to unclear margins and had similar pains a cod months later. I had an ultrasound of my chest (I have a bilateral) and they didn’t see anything. My dr won’t do a pet scan because he says that they don’t do unnecessary scanning. I have had a second opinion and their stance was the same as far as scans. I would feel better having one. My dr does Signatera tests (liquid biopsy) on me though.

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lindajacey | @lindajacey | Jul 5 5:19pm
In reply to @joannemm30809 "I will. Yeah, several of my doctors when I told him my breast kept aching and..." + (show)
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I will. Yeah, several of my doctors when I told him my breast kept aching and I was worried about possible breast cancer. They all said to me. Oh well, it’s good that you have pain because that means that it’s most likely not cancer. And then, when I started speaking to cancer specialist doctors, they said that it’s not true whatsoever. But even when you read up on some of the symptoms of breast cancer, it never really mentions aching or stinging. It always mentions a lump or the texture of the skin changes or the nipple inverts but oh I’ve had to this day is a deep doll ache like a toothache and a little bee stings. My surgery is August 29 and I’m having a double mastectomy at my age of 63. These are ticking time bombs on me, and I’m ready to be done with them. Hopefully my insurance does not give me a hard time because I want a double mastectomy. And I’m not even gonna have reconstruction. I do not think. I had implants breast implants in when I was 25 years old, and within 10 years the left breast implant ruptured and leaked silicone all in my left chest wall and that’s the left breast that has the Cancer right now too. So I do not want implants and the more I look at that DIEP flap I’m not interested in that either. You can get herniations after that surgery and blood clots and infection and you can get necrosis where they go and transfer all that fat from your abdomen and move it up to form breast, and if the blood vessels do not connect with that fat it just dies and they have to remove it so I think I’m just gonna stay flat and wear a padded bra but I’m glad at least that I heard from someone like you that also has had just the stinging and the aching or pain as the only symptom.

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Good to know, thank you for sharing your experiences.

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Rubyslippers | @triciaot | Jul 5 11:03pm

@joannemm34293 @joannemm30809
Have you looked at PNI perineural invasion, now being studied with breast cancer? More studies have been done with PNI and pancreatic and prostate cancer. But PNI causes pain with cancer. Not sure if it applies with the pain you felt in your breast but maybe. Here’s just one article of many on PNI.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S259026282500036X
Also, you mentioned previously an issue with dysautonomy, here is an article linking it to cancer outcomes. Sorry it’s not better news.
“In humans, dysautonomy (increased sympathetic/parasympathetic balance) has been reported in prostate, colon and lung cancer patients, which has been correlated with worse prognosis and disease severity [3,4,11,13,16]. These findings drive the attention for the ANS influencing tumor microenvironment in a clinical setting. Based on these preclinical and clinical findings, tumor innervation has been recently proposed as a hallmark of cancer [6,7]. However, further investigation is needed to demonstrate that tumor innervation by ANS is also present in human solid tumors.”
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10794895/
I noticed these connections when I was searching for answers on pancreatic cancer, PNI, and the endocrine system - trying to figure out my own puzzle.

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dlardin | @dlardin | Jul 6 12:10pm
In reply to @lindajacey "Good to know, thank you for sharing your experiences." + (show)
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Good to know, thank you for sharing your experiences.

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The pain I had is the reason I went in for a mammogram. It was a sharp pain that happened twice that went from my arm pit to the point in my breast 10 o clock position, where my cancer was. I had a bilateral mastectomy. I am currently undergoing 16 rounds of radiation. I still get what they call "zingers". These are sharp quick pains. My doctors tell me it is the nerve endings coming back. I still have tissue expanders in, I think some of the pain might come from those.

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