20 yr old friend found a lump ????

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ealong1
ealong1 Member Posts: 7
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I have a 20-yr-old friend who recently found a lump. She went to the doctor who told her it is probably just a vitamin deficiency and to start taking some extra vitamin. Two weeks, no change. She has no family history.

I was misdiagnosed for a year and a half, told it was something to do with my milk production. I'm maybe paranoid, but what would you all tell her to do?

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  • bjmom1
    bjmom1 Member Posts: 152
    #2
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    Get another opinion
    Sorry to hear about your misdiagnosis. You should tell your friend to talk to hear doctor about giving her a mammogram so she would not have to worry about the lump. If he/she refused to give her a mammogram tell her to go get another opinion.

    Barb
  • greyhoundluvr
    greyhoundluvr Member Posts: 402
    #3
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    I agree...
    Although your friend is young, it is not unheard of to have BC at such a young age. I don't think the doctor is being unreasonable to wait a couple of weeks to see if the changes are fibrocystic related to her hormone levels (although I haven't heard of the vitamin thing before) but if the lump doesn't go away, I don't think it is unreasonable at all to ask for a mammogram....while it is probably nothing to worry about, I doubt there are too many women on this board that would want to take a chance.

    I am sorry to hear that you were misdiagnosed and can certainly understand your concern for your friend.

    Chris
  • survivorbc09
    survivorbc09 Member Posts: 4,374 Member
    #4
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    greyhoundluvr said:

    I agree...
    Although your friend is young, it is not unheard of to have BC at such a young age. I don't think the doctor is being unreasonable to wait a couple of weeks to see if the changes are fibrocystic related to her hormone levels (although I haven't heard of the vitamin thing before) but if the lump doesn't go away, I don't think it is unreasonable at all to ask for a mammogram....while it is probably nothing to worry about, I doubt there are too many women on this board that would want to take a chance.

    I am sorry to hear that you were misdiagnosed and can certainly understand your concern for your friend.

    Chris

    Your friend should talk to
    Your friend should talk to her doctor again. If it is still there after a few weeks, she needs to insist on at least a mammogram. Breast cancer knows no age. It can happen to anyone at any age.

    And, if her current doctor won't do it, she needs to get a 2nd opinion or go to a Cancer center.


    Hugs Jan
  • New Flower
    New Flower Member Posts: 4,294
    #5
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    survivorbc09 said:

    Your friend should talk to
    Your friend should talk to her doctor again. If it is still there after a few weeks, she needs to insist on at least a mammogram. Breast cancer knows no age. It can happen to anyone at any age.

    And, if her current doctor won't do it, she needs to get a 2nd opinion or go to a Cancer center.


    Hugs Jan

    Please tell her to see a breast surgeon for consultation
    even it is sounds scary , but breast specialist has better understanding than primary care physician. The perception for beast cancer is that is disease of menopausal women. Unfortunately breast cancer could happen at any age and gender.
    Best wishes to you and your friend
  • dyaneb123
    dyaneb123 Member Posts: 950
    #6
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    New Flower said:

    Please tell her to see a breast surgeon for consultation
    even it is sounds scary , but breast specialist has better understanding than primary care physician. The perception for beast cancer is that is disease of menopausal women. Unfortunately breast cancer could happen at any age and gender.
    Best wishes to you and your friend

    If it doable where you live,
    If it doable where you live, tell her to go to a breast cancer clinic for an opinion. They will be much more likely to give her an accurate dx. than a regular doc.
  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #7
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    dyaneb123 said:

    If it doable where you live,
    If it doable where you live, tell her to go to a breast cancer clinic for an opinion. They will be much more likely to give her an accurate dx. than a regular doc.

    You're not being paranoid!
    I am SO sick of hearing stories of young women whose doctors dismissed a breast lump because "you're too young to have breast cancer."

    Yes, it may turn out to be nothing, but I think it's reprehensible for a doctor to just decide that based on a patient's age without checking it out first, whether by mammogram or ultrasound.

    Please, PLEASE encourage your friend to get a 2nd opinion.

    Traci
  • Boppy_of_6
    Boppy_of_6 Member Posts: 1,138
    #8
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    TraciInLA said:

    You're not being paranoid!
    I am SO sick of hearing stories of young women whose doctors dismissed a breast lump because "you're too young to have breast cancer."

    Yes, it may turn out to be nothing, but I think it's reprehensible for a doctor to just decide that based on a patient's age without checking it out first, whether by mammogram or ultrasound.

    Please, PLEASE encourage your friend to get a 2nd opinion.

    Traci

    I agree she should get
    I agree she should get another opinion or a mammo. I have a young friend, 21 The Dr. found a lump told her she was to young and should not worry about it. I told her she needed another opinion or mammo, not to wait the 6 mos. the Dr. told her to wait. I found her a place with free mammo's, she has no ins. She will not go and get one. She is content to do what the Dr. says. I tried to get her to go and she will not do it. I wish she would but I can't force her
    God Bless
    (((Hugs))) Janice
  • faith_trust_and_a_little_bit_of_chemotherapy
    faith_trust_and_a_little_bit_of_chemotherapy Member Posts: 319 Member
    #9
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    Two breasts lumps before I was 25...
    and that was 29 years ago. Both lumps (one fibroid, one fluid filled) were removed surgically (2 different surgeries) and only the fluid filled one was suspicious. Our family doctor at the time told me I would need to keep up on this as I got older. He was correct.

    This was the same breast which I lost to cancer in February and the reason I have tried to be diligent regarding my mammograms. Let me tell you the technology has changed a lot over the years.

    I urge you to encourage your friend to get a second opinion.
  • Heatherbelle
    Heatherbelle Member Posts: 1,226 Member
    #10
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    PLEASE..
    Please tell her to get a second opinion. I'm 34, and went to my family Doctor when I found a lump in my breast. He felt it was fibrocystic, said I didn't need to be concerned, since it was round and smooth, and I'm only 34 and have no family history. He wanted me to come back 3 weeks later, to see if there were any changes to it throughout my menstrual cycle. I went back and he gave me the "all clear". 2 months later at my annual pap exam, I told my gyno about it & although he also thought I didnt need to be alarmed about it, he did order a mammogram for me, and a week later I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I think doctors should automatically look further into any cases where a female patient finds a lump, regardless of her age.
    Wishing the best for your friend,
    Heather
  • jnl
    jnl Member Posts: 3,869 Member
    #11
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    Heatherbelle said:

    PLEASE..
    Please tell her to get a second opinion. I'm 34, and went to my family Doctor when I found a lump in my breast. He felt it was fibrocystic, said I didn't need to be concerned, since it was round and smooth, and I'm only 34 and have no family history. He wanted me to come back 3 weeks later, to see if there were any changes to it throughout my menstrual cycle. I went back and he gave me the "all clear". 2 months later at my annual pap exam, I told my gyno about it & although he also thought I didnt need to be alarmed about it, he did order a mammogram for me, and a week later I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I think doctors should automatically look further into any cases where a female patient finds a lump, regardless of her age.
    Wishing the best for your friend,
    Heather

    I am with everyone else,
    I am with everyone else, please have her see a specialist, or, go to a cancer center and get a mammogram or MRI or whatever it takes to find out what is going on. It doesn't matter how young she is, women have bc younger than her. And, if it is, it could be caught early and she could get treatment. And, if it isn't, she has something to celebrate.


    Hugs, Leeza
  • PNinMN
    PNinMN Member Posts: 28
    #12
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    Here's my story.
    I'm 24 and found my lump for the first time around Thanksgiving last year. I went to my DR, she said it would be really rare for someone my age to have breast cancer and it was probably just a cyst that would go away on its own. She said to keep an eye on it and if it didn't go away in a few months to come back. Low and behold, I was dx with stage 3b breast cancer in April. I don't want this to scare her but I want her to know that she needs to not just put this on a shelf and not deal with it.

    If it has just been two weeks, I would say give it another two weeks to see if there are still no changes, sometimes it can take a little bit of time before her body can catch up with what she is taking. If nothing has changed by the end of the month, I agree with everyone else to go ahead and get a second opinion. Or at least insist on an ultrasound or mammogram. With her age, they will most likely refer her to get the ultrasound first. I know it's a scary thing to deal with at a young age but the best thing she can do is to get the courage to make sure that she gets an answer and to not just be brushed off by her doctors with her age.
  • DianeBC
    DianeBC Member Posts: 3,881 Member
    #13
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    PNinMN said:

    Here's my story.
    I'm 24 and found my lump for the first time around Thanksgiving last year. I went to my DR, she said it would be really rare for someone my age to have breast cancer and it was probably just a cyst that would go away on its own. She said to keep an eye on it and if it didn't go away in a few months to come back. Low and behold, I was dx with stage 3b breast cancer in April. I don't want this to scare her but I want her to know that she needs to not just put this on a shelf and not deal with it.

    If it has just been two weeks, I would say give it another two weeks to see if there are still no changes, sometimes it can take a little bit of time before her body can catch up with what she is taking. If nothing has changed by the end of the month, I agree with everyone else to go ahead and get a second opinion. Or at least insist on an ultrasound or mammogram. With her age, they will most likely refer her to get the ultrasound first. I know it's a scary thing to deal with at a young age but the best thing she can do is to get the courage to make sure that she gets an answer and to not just be brushed off by her doctors with her age.

    Please encourage your friend
    Please encourage your friend to get a second opinion. I am hoping that some doctor will have her have a mammogram. Good luck!

    Hugs, Diane
  • Megan M
    Megan M Member Posts: 3,000
    #14
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    Boppy_of_6 said:

    I agree she should get
    I agree she should get another opinion or a mammo. I have a young friend, 21 The Dr. found a lump told her she was to young and should not worry about it. I told her she needed another opinion or mammo, not to wait the 6 mos. the Dr. told her to wait. I found her a place with free mammo's, she has no ins. She will not go and get one. She is content to do what the Dr. says. I tried to get her to go and she will not do it. I wish she would but I can't force her
    God Bless
    (((Hugs))) Janice

    She should get another
    She should get another opinion and insist on a mammo. I would hate to think what could happen if she just lets this slip by. Praying that it is good news for her!

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