Aibu to say don’t be scared of a mammogram?

[alpenguin]

I was dreading it, I’d heard all these horror stories and it was absolutely nothing.
the pressure on the breast was way less than me leaning on it cos my boobs sag on the bed.

The radiographer said so many women don’t turn up for their mammograms because they’ve heard the horror stories. I get sore breasts due to hormones and honestly the mammogram wasn’t a patch on that monthly ouch. The worst bit was my lummoxy body trying to get into position but Evan that wasn’t as bad as a beginners yoga class.

Please don’t be scared of a mammogram - it’s honestly nothing.

One thing I'll say is I think it might be worse if you've got really small dense boobs. But even then it's just a bit uncomfortable and you just feel like you have to move your body in a bizarre way, as you say! It's worth it either way!

Isn't it more the fear of finding cancer than the pinched boob?

I have to go on Friday after finding a lump

I think it’s more the potential results that are the scary part tbh

I've never had a mammogram so I've got a relatively open mind about that but it gives me the rage when some women say confidently that smear tests don't hurt. I want to reply, perhaps not for you, but for some of us they are excruciating and very distressing.

Logically, I would assume the same might apply to mammograms. It didn't hurt for you, op.

I'd treat it the same way as a smear, bit uncomfortable for what 5 minutes, to save me leaving my kids early like Jade Goody!

Pretty much every smear ive had, there is some sort of calamity with skin being caught in the twirly-whirly bit of the thingamajig that's caused pain and unnecessary bleeding but I still go because I always think of jade and her children.

Not my experience unfortunately. I had my first one recently and the pain went right through me for hours afterwards. It was really grim. I expect I will go again but it was a shock. I didn’t know the pain could last so long. Not trying to scare people but there’s no point telling women it’s not that bad when it might be.

I didn’t even find it uncomfortable but I do have large boobs.
Ive never had a smear test though as too terrified

Yes some women find them fine, others find them excruciating. Sometimes the same person can find them awful and the next time be fine. My first couple were fine. My last one was quite sore. I had one once where I nearly passed out. I don’t know why but I do know now I take a paracetamol before and hope it’s one of the better experiences.

Well thats shut me up a bit but I've still think these things need to be done!

My silly old, rather loveable uncle ignored the very simple poo test by post for a few years then was diagnosed with colon cancer just before covid and his appointments were repeatedly delayed because of covid. Had he had just done the bloody thing when first asked, he may still be with us.

Jade Goody's and my uncle's fate will always prompt me to do the most uncomfortable tests if it means a bad diagnosis can be made early enough to treat, sort/survive.

It’s different for everyone.
I had one at 41 due to a lump and I was nervous about the outcome but not in the least worried about the procedure. My mum died from breast cancer at 41 and so I’d never avoid a mammogram for any reason.

it didn’t hurt me at all, but I know it can be very painful for others.

same goes for smears - I’ve had many over the last 28 years and sometimes they’ve been fine, sometimes uncomfortable and sometimes painful. Several times I’ve got an infection immediately after. But I’ll never avoid them as it’s worth any level of pain to me.

I've had some that have been fine, and some that were so painful that I was worried I would faint and be left dangling by a tit in the machine.

(Small boobs here also.)

A mammogram is NOTHING compared to dealing with cancer, nothing. I can’t even imagine what horror stories could be told with having a mammogram. If you have found a lump and have a mammogram as part of the investigation, waiting for the results will be hard, I get that. But a routine mammogram, how bad can it be? It’s nothing compared to being diagnosed with incurable cancer.

I had those sort of boob's, the pain is very short lived, only got one left now!
I got my BC diagnosed on my very first screening at 50. As it was caught early, due to the screening I was very lucky.

I'm so glad you caught it early. I'm quite glad I've had one now in my 40s as I know what to expect!

I've had a few. Some techs squeezed me pretty hard. Some didn't.

Better to do one even if the result isn't what you were hoping for all the same.

You can take an otc pain reliever afterwards if you're really hurting.

I didn’t find it painful at all, I was so worried!! The most uncomfortable part of trying to twist my body into the position I needed to be in, like doing yoga.

Believe it or not, it is actually possible for different people to experience things in different ways

Having been diagnosed with BC this year, I’ve been through multiple mammograms, MRIs, CTs, biopsies and a double mastectomy. Genuinely, the one out of all of them that I wouldn’t want to repeat would be the mammograms. Personally, I found them excruciatingly painful. Thankfully, I now won’t have to.

Have a look at the Swedish model. They have stopped doing them with very good reason.

I was once at an appointment with a woman who passed out while having a mammogram.

It's not the discomfort that I'm concerned about...

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4582264/

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-44016206

https://kresserinstitute.com/the-downside-of-mammograms/

https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/breast-cancer/screening-tests-and-early-detection/mammograms/limitations-of-mammograms.html

https://www.amymyersmd.com/blogs/articles/alternatives-to-mammograms

My mammogram last year saved my life as it found breast cancer which hadn’t yet escaped into the nodes. If I had left it until it became a palpable lump I would have been in a much more serious position. I’ve had a mastectomy and chemo and am currently cancer free.

Go to your mammograms. I’m here longer for my kids because I went to mine.

You are being unreasonable to extrapolate that because the discomfort was barely anything for you, that it's the same for all women, or to suggest that for some reason others have falsely made out that it's painful.
I was found to have BC after a routine screening in 2021 and since treatment I have annual mammograms. I would consider myself pretty good with pain, but always find them pretty uncomfortable; last time I think I winced, or took a sharp intake of breath and she asked me if it was hurting - I said it was quite uncomfortable and she just said OK and carried on! I just accept it as a few minutes of discomfort that I have to put up with, but I would never tell anyone they don't hurt much.

I've had at least 23 mammograms, possibly 24 or 25 as I've lost count. I've had them at various points in my menstrual cycle, I've had them done on different machines and by different radiographers. I've had them yearly since I was 34 and I'm now 58, so I've had a lot of experience of them.

They can be uncomfortable but I've never had one that's been painful. However, I appreciate that's just my experience.

Even if they were painful, I'd put up with that in order to pick up an early stage cancer.

I have mine done but I find them excruciatingly painful. Likewise smears for me are very painful due to lesions and scar tissue. I’m glad yours wasn’t painful though.
they do just need to be done. I don’t want to put people off but I don’t think going in assuming that there will be no pain is necessarily helpful - and the pain only lasts a fairly short while.

I absolutely hated mine, and I’m someone that never finds any procedure a bother. I found it painful, undignified and really awkward.