What Are the Symptoms of Breast Cancer

Every woman should do a monthly self exam of her breasts. Her doctor can show her how this is done. Women over forty should have regular mammograms done. The best way to save your life is to catch breast cancer in its early stages.

When you do regular examinations of your breasts, you become accustomed to how they feel. A different feel might be a lump or an area that just feels harder than the rest of your breast. You may be experiencing symptoms, such as discharge from one of your nipples or a change in how your nipple appears. If you find your breast has changed, you should see your doctor immediately.

It cannot be stressed enough: Early detection is a vital part of surviving breast cancer. If your doctor finds a lump, he or she will order more testing to be done. A biopsy may be done to see if the tumor is benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancer).

Once the doctor has diagnosed breast cancer, the next step is to remove the entire lump and see how far the cancer has spread. Many women have a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and recover well. For others, the cancer has spread. The entire breast has to be removed (mastectomy) and possibly the lymph nodes in the axillary area. Chemotherapy follows. As with other cancers, there is a chance that the cancer will return.

A decade or so ago, the common belief was that breast cancer “runs in families”. It can be genetic, but research shows that 90 percent of breast cancer diagnoses have nothing to do with a family gene. Breast cancer does not discriminate according to DNA.

Because of better education regarding breast exams and early diagnosis, more women are surviving breast cancer. Ask your doctor how to do a self breast examination if you are not already doing them. He or she will show you how and will tell you about all the symptoms for which you should be looking.

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