To think if men had to have mammograms...

@WhereAreWeNow for a breast MRI you have to lie face down and go in head first. I think mine was about 45 minutes

What better way do you think there is?

I’m not the best person to ask. The beauty of sedation is I have no firm recollection. You are face down though. Checking with DH, he could only quantify it as not that long. I’m not claustrophobic though.

That's really interesting. How long does the MRI take and are you in it head first? I'm claustrophobic and feel panicky just thinking about going in head first.

I agree mammograms are quicker, and thus more tolerable, but unfortunately they are sometimes not the best tool for the risk profile.

I believe that my risk profile (young/dense breasts/strong family history/no lifestyle risks/no BRCA) are being let down by a screening program designed for a different patient.

I was shocked to learn that ultrasounds are a lot less effective than I thought at detecting cancer that mammography cannot. Mammos miss about 20% of all cancers. Ultrasounds are estimated to catch only an extra 1-2% of those.

MRI’s do have a false negative rate, estimated to be between 4-7 %, so nothing is perfect, but it’s not in the double digits.

I definitely did have a false sense of security around the effectiveness of relying on the mammo/ultrasound combo for my risk profile. And of course, my cancer (IDC, so nothing special) was not picked up by mammo. I was extremely lucky to be in the 1-2% group, but they couldn’t reliably find it with an ultrasound every time, so hence I’m a fan of MRIs and now qualify for annual mri screening. I also have to have mammos and ultrasounds anyway in order to qualify for the mri, which is a bit of a bore.

If you struggle with any procedure, personally I have found oral sedation to be very effective. I have a severe phobia of most medical situations so I’m not able to “relax”. Even with properly diagnosed medical ptsd it was quite a task to get my request for proper sedation and pain management taken seriously by the cancer team, but now that I seem to have that in hand, things are much easier to manage.

I’ve had an mri with one and the comment made by the care team after was that they wished more patients would be sedated as it was much easier and quicker for them, and the resulting image quality was excellent.

If you have to be in the mri machine for such a long time, I’d highly recommend exploring sedation to see if it would help you.

Just sharing the knowledge I’ve picked up on the way.

Strength to you on your journey x

I agree. I've never had a problem, it's just a very brief few seconds of slight discomfort. I always get ridiculously anxious awaiting the results, but the actual procedure I couldn't care less about.

Surely they should be able to adjust the machine height or give you something to stand on?

You clearly haven't managed to understand my point at all. I didn't realise it was so complicated, apologies. I personally think sitting around crying that men haven't made us a better mammogram yet - and that they would if it were own comfort they were worried about - is particularly enlightened. My opinion. Now, if you want to wring your hands and weep like a damsel in distress as you plead with men to build you a more comfortable medical device as they can hardly expect a helpless female to do it, feel free - but I'm going to think you're a misogynist and I'm also going to think you're making life worse for women. Don't forget to bat your lashes, little lady.

Thank you. I wish you well with too. I was high risk - mum was from a big family and she, my gran and two of mums’ sisters had breast cancer so I’ve had more regular screening too. In my case it paid off. Onwards and upwards !

I always found them incredibly uncomfortable until my last which was a couple of years ago and a vast improvement. I’m actually not dreading the next one now.

I’m in a wheelchair and they did mine sitting down. Limited movement in your shoulders could be difficult because you have to lean right over the machine for some of the scans, but it might be easier for you sitting.

Sorry for your loss@StopGo . How long ago was this? My DH had his mastectomy in 2020 and had annual mammograms thereafter until he died this summer (secondary breast cancer).

I have a question for @Eggseggslegs , if you don't mind....how do women with breast implants fare at mammograms? Is it easier or more painful for them? Do you find it more challenging to read their x-rays? Sorry, that's two questions 😁

my experience of mamogram has always been good, handled with care and discretion although yes there are moments of pressure. I have a frozen shoulder and my radiographer worked with me throughout testing to make sure I was comfy as possible.

all through my cancer treatment I have been treated gently and with compassion. I have been appropriately dosed with anaesthesia etc for every procedure- even biopsy was painless. Obviously it’s not easy but without the screening I’d have been facing even more surgery and a worse outlook.

just my view and I wish the same decent experience to all having to go through this.

Mine told me to put my shoulder where I could and she'd work around it - and she was super fast so I didn't have to hold it there for more than a couple of seconds for her to run behind the screen and take the shot.

Generally just uncomfortable but I had one where the radiographer manhandled me so aggressively that I ended up with an injury and time off work.

Got my first one next week. Absolutely dreading it after reading this.

Had my smear recently and it was excruciating for the first time ever.

Menopause has made me physically ill since December. It

What a fun year this is turning out to be.

Thank you for sharing that, I don’t think you were harsh. That makes a lot of sense in the difference. Mine are just precautionary for high risk at the moment whereas I can see yours are far more specific. I really hope the reduction continues and you get good news for your October scan 🤞🏻 I will be thinking of you.

I'm expecting to be invited to attend mammogram screening soon, but have very limited movement in my shoulders. Is this going to cause me problems?

I've said what @YourSpleenIsDamp said for years. I have a deep crease type thing in one breast (I had a lumpectomy but then the scar adhered to my chest wall, so although the scar is small less than an inch, the crease in my breast is about three inches) so they have to pull my breast apart, slam it quickly between the plates, before it springs back, before they can do my mammogram.

It hurts. I always tell them that I know it's going to hurt, so don't get freaked out about that, just get it done.

The bit that always makes me smile is when you've got your boob squashed between these plates and your stood in the most uncomfortable position and they say "relax you shoulders". Relax??? Ok😂

No, I’m suggesting that when people make little digs at women for ‘not inventing things’, they acknowledge the whole context. We have no idea if a woman was involved in the invention of the first machine, nor do we know (although could possibly find out) how many have been involved in making improvements.

And no, it would not be particularly sexist when you look at the funding and research that has been put into mens health over the years, compared to womens health. There have been many studies into womens pain being ignored and minimised.

I think it depends on the type of cancer. Mine is lobular and doesn’t present as a lump - the tumour is flat and just under the skin. The scary part was that I wouldn’t have known it was there without the mammogram and very lucky it was picked up at all because a lot of lobular cancers don’t show up until they’re very large and more difficult to treat. Mine was estimated between 8-10 centimetres at diagnosis with mammogram but needed MRI to confirm because it was too diffuse in the tissues to image any other way.

The whole scan took about an hour and a half and confirmed the size and shape. I’ve been on Letrozole since April and am going for another MRI on 1st October because at the last exam a week ago, the surgeon was fairly sure there has been significant reduction due to the drug, so wants another dreaded MRI to confirm. Hopefully this will mean that after another couple of months on the drug, the tumour will have shrunk enough to have a lumpectomy instead of the radical mastectomy I’m facing at the moment.

My original post may have seemed harsh, but as your’e clearly in a similar situation you’ll appreciate why. I simply don’t understand why some women don’t realise that the few minutes discomfort of a mammogram could potentially save their lives. But I guess that feeling of ‘it’ll never happen to me’ prevails. Until it doesn’t.

I find smears incredibly painful. Mammogram zero discomfort.

@Growlybear83 Breast cancer treatment truly is a postcode lottery, I remember at the time the contrast between my treatment and those at big city hospitals. I will pursue it next year though probably have to travel some distance.

Mammogram v MRI. Give me a mammogram any day. The MRI is face down in a machine for what felt like hours. Very unpleasant.

@Rosscameasdoody similar to you with the MRI. Yes, mammograms are uncomfortable, but they are quick and you do not need to tape cod liver oil tablets to your nipples and suspected tumour site, then lay with boobs dangling underneath the table while two radiographers furtle around to get the best position. I looked around for candid camera, while waving goodbye to any dignity I had left. Still, probably saved my life (the first time). If anyone's wondering about the tablets, it's to make nipples more obvious on the scan. I did ask if someone looking at my scan couldn't find my nipples, perhaps someone else could review the scan while reviewer #1 had some further training...

It's rare you hear the 'it was fine, didn't feel anything, the weirdest bit was having somebody else lift and shift my breasts around' because people don't really feel like starting discussions about stuff that didn't really bother them.

If I were to say that, just as with any thread about smear tests, coil insertion or hysteroscopy that starts from the position of it being intolerable, the response of those for whom it was not simple, painless or just momentarily uncomfortable would drown out my 'it's fine, just a bit weird'. I don't think they intend to put others off from having tests, but their experiences significantly differ.