I've just spent the morning at the breast clinic and my head is up my nether regions.
To make a short story long, I was examined by my GP for swelling and pain in the tissue of my left breast. he ordered blood tests and one of the things he asked for tests for is a condition called Gynaecostia. the results for that came back negative, and he then referred me to the breast clinic.
After a (too long) wait my appointment was this morning. The doctor I saw more or less told me at the start of the consultation that I had this condition, after an ultrasound scan I was back in to see him and he confirmed his original diagnosis. I was at a bit of a loss when he carried on rather dismissively to tell me me he wouldn't do anything about it and leave it without treatment.
Now this is all very well, and obvious I was really hoping to hear something other than the dreaded C word. BUT, we have to be 100% certain as we all know.
How can the blood tests be negative for this same condition and his diagnosis be opposed to them? I asked him this and, quite frankly I wasn't impressed by his answers, which were somewhat at odds with what I had been told and also with the researching I have done myself.
What about the constant ache in my chest I asked him. He said that the prescribing of something to help that was down to my GP and that the main drug to treat it is Tamoxifan. He reckoned that the side effects of a man taking Tamoxifan were a lot worse than for a woman taking the same drug.
So on my walk back to the car park I had already made an appointment to see my GP for tomorrow morning. I don't really feel reassured by this morning's consultation. As much as I want to hear that it's not serious I have to be certain. I will be mulling over asking for a second opinion between and tomorrow morning.
More hospital this afternoon, this time as a visitor. I'm off to see a friend of mine who had a stroke last week. It's so easy to say to people I'll go and visit, but very demoralising for them if it's only words you don't mean.
FormerMember
Hi Bren, I would certainly ask for a second opinion if I was you, if only to set your mind at rest. There can be a lot of discrepancies between doctors opinions and you're quite right to question this. I hope it all turns out ok. Best wishes, Christine xx
To be frank I thought the man I saw, who was the associate assistant to the consultant was very dismissive of me. He made up his mind within the first minute I was in the consultation, and after that he more or less told me by his attitude he wasn't interested.. He must have thought I was wasting time worrying and didn't even discuss any pain relief. That was down to my own GP he said.
My GP is spot on, I've moved twice to a different town and won't change doctors, even though it's a pain to travel 10 miles to see him. Saw him this morning and he told me he's not comfortable prescribing some of the drugs listed for treating this condition. According to him they are way out of the range that are normally prescribed by GP and is referring me to someone specialising in this.
Turned out he was right with his original diagnosis anyway and the blood tests didn't show it so top marks to him.
