Went for my yearly mamorgram today. I know it's a great test
to check for Breast Cancer but, I wish they would invent something
that wouldn't feel like they were squeezing the life out of you.

Having the Fibro it just makes the pain worse. I am so sore now.
It will take me a couple of days for the pain to ease. I am always in pain and
this did not help.

I also about 15 yrs ago had surgery on the left breast. Since then
the breast has always been so much sorer then the right one. My milk
ducts were clogged. They were not sure what it was until they went in.

Does anyone else have a problem when they go for this test?


Jappy

I've never had one. I've had the usual exams by the Doc, but no machine clamping down on my breast.

I have read, that the MRI is a better indicator than the clamp??

Feel Better, Joyce..

I feel for you!

I have my own ordeal booked for the end of this month, but it won't be anywhere as bad as the time I was in the squasher for several hours while they tried unsucessfully to biopsy a breast lump that they'd found.

The lump was way back towards the chest wall, hence the trouble they had getting to it. I ended up having to go to hospital to have it removed. The lump was benign, but being where it was in the breast, had it been malignant I probably would not have felt it until it was a well advanced cancer.

With that in mind, I feel it's worth the discomfort to know there are no more lumps hiding in there.

Yeah, I pretty much hate them. My feeling is that the test was designed by a woman hating male. Rationale: no man would allow a portion of HIS anatomy to be squashed to 1/4" thickness between two plates of glass.

UN-COM-FORT-ABLE!!!

We have Digital mammograms in some places now (don't know how old the technology is though), and although they still squish too hard, they are at least WAY quicker.

I haven't had a mammogram in 6 yrs now as I have one very sensitive breast due to fibroids or something. I'm always checked by my doc, but he respects my decision (so far) to not have recent testing. I think I might this year though.

Cherie

Here is one link to MRI imaging for breast cancer I was referring to...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/08/09...eut/index.html

LOL Jappy..I read the title of your post and my first thought was "Oh..Mammogram" ..I went in for my annual check-up a couple months ago, and got them to hold off on that till Spring. Always interesting to see what new torture devises the medical community comes up with for women, but I had my fill of it that day...

Due to my usual procrastination, I missed mine last year. But after my sister had such a horrible breast cancer this year, I will 'gladly' have mine yearly now. Hers is a fast growing aggressive cell and the doctor said that even if she had one every 6 months it wouldn't have caught it in time. My maternal Grandmother also had breast cancer so I guess I'm locked into having one now for the rest of my life. My Mother has it in her living will that she does not want anymore surgeries for anything, except emergency like broken hip, she will no longer have a mamogram. But she is 83.

My last mammogram there was "something. They had stay, wait a little then used an ultreasound as I lay on my back on a table, had a doctor look at results and I was released cleared of any problems. I haven't gone for 2 years, can't stand (I'm in a chair) to get smushed so imagine they'd ultrasound again??

Boy can I relate! I've had fibrocystic breasts since my early 20s. They even called it Fibrocycstic disease, then. I've had probably more mammos than a cancer patient. I think I've gotten one at least every two years since age 24, and I'm almost 48!

One thing you need to keep in mind, those cysts fill up and swell with your cycle and, of course you know they can hurt like the dickens even when they're not squashed! I found it very beneficial to schedule my mammos right after my period. It was far less painful, and the cysts could still be seen.

A bit of good news...those evil beasts do improve! Through my 40s they have dissipated and all but disappeared as my cycle winds down to menopause. So you've got that to look forward to.

Either way, I'd rather be in pain, even for a few days (and like you, I would be believe me), than face surgery and/or chemotherapy. Still something less destructive feeling would certainly seem like a better option. I've had ultrasound done on my breasts too, easy, painless, and apparently, gives the doc a good picture. Why they don't do more of that, I don't know? Maybe because they already invested all that money in these great big squashing machines with no other purpose?