Hi everyone, I've only posted here a few times in the past and don't come on very often. I'm absolutely at my wits end with HA and just don't know what to do anymore.
The back story: I've suffered from anxiety in various forms for most of my life. My HA was triggered a few years ago after a series of traumatic events. I lost my baby in 2018 at 17 weeks, and the same year two of my close friends got diagnosed with breast cancer in their early thirties. One sadly passed away last year.
I now have an 11 month old son who I have breastfed all the way through (and still am). 6 days after I gave birth I found a lump on my breast. Completely freaked out worrying it was cancer. It turned out to be a blocked duct and went away. However, since then I have been convinced I have breast cancer and have had around 20 different "symptoms" all of which I have been convinced were cancer. None of them have amounted to anything, but each time I have been convinced they were signs of cancer. I have been to the doctors 8 times this past year, each time to do with apparent breast cancer symptoms. Each time I have been reassured that I am fine. I even got referred to the breast clinic in March after begging the doctor to refer me, and I was assured by the breast specialist that I had no symptoms that warranted investigation.
Now I'm at the point where I no longer know what are things I should go to the doctor about and what are things that I should not worry about. So the latest is to do with my nipple and worrying that I have pagets disease. Around 6 weeks ago I was feeding my son and he whipped his head around to be nosey and my nipple came out of his mouth. I noticed it was bleeding. I worried straight away, but it was seperate from my breast milk and caused by a cut in my nipple. It eventually scabbed over, but it hasn't healed since. It follows the same cycle where it scabs over for a few days and then whilst feeding my son the scab comes off and I'm back to square one again.
My OH doesn't think this is anything to worry about, but I'm really worried about pagets disease as I've read that can sometimes present as a cut that doesn't heal. My sensible head tells me that this is very unlikely given my age and it is far more likely that this is an injury caused by breastfeeding, but my worried head tells me that I need to go to the doctor and get this checked as it could be pagets.
What should I do?
The back story: I've suffered from anxiety in various forms for most of my life. My HA was triggered a few years ago after a series of traumatic events. I lost my baby in 2018 at 17 weeks, and the same year two of my close friends got diagnosed with breast cancer in their early thirties. One sadly passed away last year.
I now have an 11 month old son who I have breastfed all the way through (and still am). 6 days after I gave birth I found a lump on my breast. Completely freaked out worrying it was cancer. It turned out to be a blocked duct and went away. However, since then I have been convinced I have breast cancer and have had around 20 different "symptoms" all of which I have been convinced were cancer. None of them have amounted to anything, but each time I have been convinced they were signs of cancer. I have been to the doctors 8 times this past year, each time to do with apparent breast cancer symptoms. Each time I have been reassured that I am fine. I even got referred to the breast clinic in March after begging the doctor to refer me, and I was assured by the breast specialist that I had no symptoms that warranted investigation.
Now I'm at the point where I no longer know what are things I should go to the doctor about and what are things that I should not worry about. So the latest is to do with my nipple and worrying that I have pagets disease. Around 6 weeks ago I was feeding my son and he whipped his head around to be nosey and my nipple came out of his mouth. I noticed it was bleeding. I worried straight away, but it was seperate from my breast milk and caused by a cut in my nipple. It eventually scabbed over, but it hasn't healed since. It follows the same cycle where it scabs over for a few days and then whilst feeding my son the scab comes off and I'm back to square one again.
My OH doesn't think this is anything to worry about, but I'm really worried about pagets disease as I've read that can sometimes present as a cut that doesn't heal. My sensible head tells me that this is very unlikely given my age and it is far more likely that this is an injury caused by breastfeeding, but my worried head tells me that I need to go to the doctor and get this checked as it could be pagets.
What should I do?