Mammogram emrarassement

[GizmoIsSoFluffy]

Turned 50 this week and wham, had my first mammogram. I was SO embarrassed by it all I cried the whole way through as I hated standing there with a naked top half. I've always hated my body and teenie boobage, but with breast cancer in my family I thought it best to get checked out.

Anything hapoened to anyone else during this procedure which can make me feel better about this...

☝️💯

I’ve had 4 or 5 mammograms. 34DD boobs.
In my experience, it’s down to the skill level of the radiographer.
The first two were fine - much quicker and much less painful than I’d expected.
The third one was horrendous - the radiographer kept telling me to stand with my bum sticking out - it felt like my lungs were being squashed, not my boobs. I had to keep stopping her since I couldn’t breathe. After a few tries she got her colleague to do it - we were done in 5 minutes with minimal
discomfort!
For my last 2, I think I had the same radiographer who gets the job quickly with no pain.
My sister has 34-AA boobs, and she seems to find it more painful.

Side note - ask if you have “dense breast tissue”. I read on MN that in the UK you’re not automatically told if you’ve dense tissue. If you do, you should get a breast ultrasound too, since it’s harder to detect dense tissue via the mammogram. I’m in Ireland where we get told if we’ve dense tissue.

I hate getting it done, I have big boobs and I don’t feel ok about stripping off and it’s a very uncomfortable procedure. You are not alone.

I had my first one recently, I found all the “positioning” to get my boob in the right place quite odd and awkward and at one point she was kind of saying “just angle your chin that way and drop your shoulder etc” so I joked that I never thought I’d be doing a topless photo shoot at my age!
(I know, I know not the funniest joke in the world but I was covering my awkwardness)
anyway, she gave me a look of undisguised horror and continued the procedure in complete silence…so now I will have to move countries to avoid having another one at that clinic!! 🤣🤣

Very well said. I have triple negative breast cancer and feel the same

I have a family history of breast cancer and have had annual mammograms for the past ten years. I have got so used to them now I don’t even worry about it - I have small boobs and it’s sometimes a bit awkward and it pinches a bit when they do the various poses but honestly, it’s really, really not that bad. Sorry if anyone else has had a bad experience.

What comments are they making? It's unprofessional for them to make comments about your scars. They should just get on with doing the mammogram.

I totally understand. I had my first last year and as I walked in, it hit me that I'd taken my Mum to that clinic so many times before she died from breast cancer. Didn't anticipate the huge emotional reaction as I'm usually quite stoic. Plus it was undignified and painful.

Essential though.

I was offered my first at 49.

I’ve not had one yet due to my age and in addition never finding anything I was concerned about.
Mine have no volume left now due in part to feeding 3 children and also losing weight, they are like flat floppy pancakes, any chance it might be pain free?!
Be glad you’ve gone, they have saved so many lives through early intervention 💐

I think you just have to grit your teeth and crack on. It's weird standing around with your norks out but the simple fact is that this procedure saves lives. Currently I know more than 6 women having treatment for breast cancer picked up by mammograms. Not one of them had felt a lump.
Massive hugs to everyone who finds it painful or embarrassing - it is worth it.

This is a very fair description!
I was dreading it. Medics were very calm and gave clear instructions. Not super painful. Uncomfortable yes but not as bad as I had expected. The lights were low in the room.

I think it depends on the manner and people skills of the person doing the scanning.

I have very small breasts. I thought they were going to say 'errr you appear to be an adolescent boy, there's the door', but no, they managed. The plates must have been a good 1mm apart once my ample bosom was in place. The painful part was that in order to get anything between the plates my body was pushed so close to the machine my ribs felt a bit crushed/bruised. I don't have much flesh on me.
My first mammogram was during lockdown so it was at least a little trip out.
Thankfully both have been clear.

I also managed to convince myself I had a breast lump, but it turned out to be my ribs. I did feel a bit foolish, but told myself the doc was probably relieved to have a very easy customer.

Don’t worry, they deal with boobs of all sizes. My mum was very flat chested and she said it was a bit uncomfortable but there’s a sort of tray that they adjust to the right height and you just lean forward a bit. She didn’t have many because she was referred in her 40s and diagnosed with breast cancer resulting in a double mastectomy, but one mammogram was enough to find tumours in both breasts that she hadn’t felt. I’ve been having them since I was 40 (grandmother as well as mum) and am a lot larger in chest size than she was. I’m fine with the boob check, it’s the tray in the armpit that I find most uncomfortable and even then, I wouldn’t describe it as painful.

For anyone worrying, please try not to worry too much. You never know whether you’re going to find it painful, uncomfortable or completely fine; boob size doesn’t really reflect that, so don’t think that you’ll be in pain just because someone with similar sized boobs was. There’s normally one or two women in the room and in my hospital, they’re very good at putting you at ease. They normally ask me to take my top off while they’re checking my details, so the only thing they’re looking at is their screen. They move your feet to where they need them to be and they place your boob where they need it to be. You don’t see the screen with the scan on it, so you won’t be seeing things and worrying. I’m normally in and out in ten minutes max. And the feeling you get when you receive your letter telling you that you’re all clear is wonderful.

I would never judge anyone for not having one because I don’t have smear tests. But if you’re ok with the general concept of it, don’t automatically think that it’s going to hurt or that it will be embarrassing or degrading.

Gosh, that must have shaken your foundation to the very core. Thank goodness it was detected, long may you continue to be around and healthy.

Well done, you're braver than me OP. I've refused so far - it's bloody barbaric.

The techs are doing this all day every day. They have seen everything, every size, every age, sags, scars and mastectomies.

They could also be potentially saving lives every single day.

So go. Encourage your mum, sisters, daughters etc to go.

Tell them if you have pain, fear, bad memories. Anything like frozen shoulder, arthritis etc that could make the awkward stance difficult.

The good ones remember their 'everyday' is our very occasional, plus potentially embarrassing, scary and painful. It doesn't have to be - remind yourself this is normal for them, could save your life and give you years to come. An all clear is great peace of mind.

I take a couple of paracetamol an hour beforehand, same with smear tests or anything else intrusive.

Take a scrunchie if you have long hair.

I’m sorry you felt this way OP. To offer some reassurance, I’ve been a nurse for 15 years, I have seen more breasts, vulvas, penises, anuses than I could possible count in 10 lifetimes. It’s literally no different than looking at thumb. The HCP will have been looking for signs of health (colour/ texture/ discharge/ nipple shape etc) they won’t even have registered anything else such as size or droop. as long as there is no signs of illness or disease they won’t have noticed or cared about anything g else!

Don't worry, I am an A cup and they have always managed to squeeze mine into the right shape to do the job. Its an uncomfortable, slightly painful experience but very quick, I prefer it to getting a tooth filled and it could save your life.

This made me laugh. There was a time when we tried such things with photocopiers! 😆

Thank you, to most of you, for your kindness.
To add the lady doing it was lovely and kept checking that I was OK to continue and reassured me we could stop at any time.
And yes, it was 4 days after turning 50.
I also have HATED my body ever since I was a teenager, so felt very very uncomfortable exposing it. Added to that I'm autistic, so unknown social situations are hard anyway.
But this morning I feel proud that I made it through.
Oh, and it didn't hurt.

I’ve only had one - in my early 40s after checking my breasts and going to my GP. I seem to have quite fibrous breasts. Thankfully there was nothing of concern.

I found it quite painful but the technician tried to be kind in explaining how I needed to get all my breast tissue/arm pit kind of area too, I have ancillary breast tissue in my armpit area if that makes sense?

I got my results after an ultrasound there too, I was glad to be let ‘go’ as such. A lady behind me was not :( I wonder how she is as we spoke in the room before hand.

I've had a number of mammograms. I have areas of calcification in one breast in particular. The last check I ended up at the breast clinic and had ultrasound, physical check and multiple mammograms as well as a biopsy. None were painful as such, just very uncomfortable. I have never felt embarrassed as the technician each time were professional and kind. Having children could be classed as embarrassing too. Both are necessary for a good outcome

Agree on dense breast tissue. Mine is dense, and I always get sent straight into the ultrasound room immediately afterwards (I’m in France). The ultrasound is usually just a male, on his own, with no female chaperone! That took some getting used to, the first time.

Agree too that smaller boobs hurt more. I was much smaller before I had my DS, and the first time having a mammo after they found something, I fainted. Much easier now there’s more flesh to squash!

Mammos are life-saving. Mine this year showed a problem in the 2 year gap between mammos.

For balance, I am 60 and have G cup breasts.

I have never found the mammogram experience painful. Uncomfortable, yes.

I am just incredibly grateful to be able to be tested.