Pain in left breast - when to go to doctor

[panicQ]

I have had pain in my left breast for several weeks now. Some of the time it is a dull ache and sometimes it sends shooting pains down my armpit and left breast.
It is probably perimenopause, though I had a hysterectomy several years ago so I have no way of telling.
I am much more afraid of being examined than worried about a diagnosis. I don't want to go to the doctor and be examined just to be told to come back in a couple of weeks and have to do it all over again.
How long should I monitor it before finding the courage to go to the GP.
Please don't tell me that they have seen it all before - there is a reason for my fear and the fear cripples me.

Have you tried phoning 111 for advice by the way?

I thought about ringing 111 but they just tell you to ring the doctor in the morning.

Please go and see your GP urgently. You owe it to yourself and your family to do the right thing. 💐

The pros of phoning 111 - a) if they tell you to it will make mind up that phoning GP the right thing to do b) you can tell the receptionist that 111 told you to make an appointment

But maybe you feel ringing 111 too stressful?

what if you just needed some treatment eg antibiotics and you suffered all weekend unnecessarily?

Its only Wednesday, if you need antibiotics by Friday you will be beyond caring about anxiety if the pain continues to increase.

Hope you are ok and manage to get some sleep. Is it a sharp pain or does it feel muscular?

You are not silly or pathetic.
You are anxious but you are going to put that to one side and do this one thing anyway.
Definitely phone gp in the morning to see if you can get an appointment. Fingers crossed you do. Let us all know how you get on. I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be thinking of you. Hope you get a good night sleep tonight.

You are being so brave. Anxiety is indeed crippling. Health anxiety is hideous. I have it too. You really are doing the right thing in pushing for an appointment. It may well be an infection that’s just going to increase in intensity if left til Monday.
We are all thinking of you. Let us know how you get on. Remember one step at a time..the first is to get an appointment asap

Practice manager called this morning with a cancellation at the one time today that I can't go so had to say no.
I made it through the night, my friends paracetamol will keep me this morning.
Don't know whether to be fed up or relieved!
Part of me feels that I am on a roll and can do the dr appointment but not sure that courage will last long. Really need to go today

Would it help to talk about why you are so anxious?

I think people worry about things that have already happened. What happened?

Oh what a shame you couldn't get in today. So can you ring tomoro or wait till Monday?

The anxiety is because of childhood experiences.

I met a friend who is a GP today and she insisted on checking me out. She couldn't feel any lumps so was happy for me to wait to see the GP on Monday.
Makes for a very anxious weekend but she has advised on painkillers and told me to rest. No chance of lots of that but have a couple of hours now.

Would this friend accompany you to breast clinic?

I see GP on Monday. I doubt I’ll have to go to breast clinic.
Having both pain killers at once made me sleep and I now feel v weird and dizzy. Looks like I will have to put up with the pain.
I guess there is no point trying to get an appointment tomorrow instead of Monday if they are just going to suggest pain killers. If there is nothing they can do then I don’t need to go through the trauma of being examined again

What a lovely friend you have and great that you asked her. Hopefully somewhere in the anxiety her advise has put you a little at ease.
It's sad to hear you have had bad experiences. Maybe try to act out a positive scenario in your mind for Monday. You will go in, be very 'in charge' of the whole experience, find out what the next step or meds are and leave. Then it will be done and you can be pleased with yourself and get rid of the pain. Treat it in your mind as though you are taking your child in. You know exactly what is wrong with them and the expected treatment of them and possible outcomes. (It's just you are your own child in this instance !)

I had just asked my friend to pray for an appointment today but she was cross that I had waited so long and really wanted to make sure that it wasn’t urgent! She didn’t give me much choice which I was grateful for. I would have said no otherwise! I just kept my eyes shut and pretended it wasn’t happening!!
Taking my inner child is a good idea though I don’t see that the dr will say anything different and therefore I wonder if I need to go

What do you think the GP will do?

Do you still think he will refer me to the breast clinic?

How you feeling now?
I think you should keep your appointment and see how you feel over the weekend. If it's still bad by Monday then maybe the doctor can give you something different to help.
Also by Monday it would have been hurting for a lot longer so you may need a referral?
Hopefully you have a lovely (but relaxing) weekend planned to keep your mind off it

Still very shaky after this morning. I can't believe I let anyone look at me and touch me.
Pain still there. I won't cancel the appointment but assume I will be able to cancel it on Monday morning. That way the anxiety might be manageable till then.
Apparently if rest and pain killers don't work between now and Monday the GP will probably want to refer me. With that thought in mind, pain has to have gone by then!
I can't believe how much I panicked this morning. I can't face doing it again, and again!

You did well today . Hope you get better over the weekend

Sitting shaking at the open access clinic at the dr! Hope wait isn’t too long.

Best wishes x

In the rokm you are in, if you try to spot 5 green things, then 5 yellow things, the 5 blue things, this can be really distracting in a high stress situation.

Saw the nurse practitioner who was lovely. She saw how much I was shaking and talked me through.
She said normally they would ask me to come back again in a couple of weeks, examine me again and then refer if necessary. However, she decided that the level of my anxiety was so great she would refer me straight away to cut out a examination. She did threaten mammogram though!! She did say she would put my anxiety on the referral.