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April 2012 Moms
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Let me tell you about my boobs.

MamasaurusMamasaurus member
in April 2012 Moms

When I was 23, I started noticing lumps in my breasts. They'd usually go away on their own after my monthly visitor, but then one time, the lump stayed. And stayed. Then it got bigger. I went to have it checked out, and because I had extremely dense breast tissue, they needed to mammogram AND ultrasound me. The verdict: just a cyst. It did eventually go away on its own.

Then, I had another that wouldn't go away, and another, and another. Sometimes they would fill with fluid and burst, and I'd have stuff leaking out of my nipples. Also, this HURT! Once, I got mastitis this way, because fluid from the cyst got stuck in a duct and became infected. I learned to hand-express the fluid so it wouldn't happen again. I ended up just going for routine mammograms and u/s every 3-6 months for a couple of years to make sure cysts weren't growing into tumors. There is conflicting research on whether fibrocystic breast syndrome (the official name for it) increases your risk of cancer or not, but for those couple of years, I walked around feeling like I had two time bombs strapped to my chest. If insurance would have covered it, I would have just had my breasts removed and reconstructed.

Eventually the cysts started to slow down, and by the time we were TTC, I was only getting one or two a year, and they'd go away at the end of my cycles like they originally did. While I was pregnant, I had zero cysts, and I haven't had any yet PP, either. So, that's one benefit of PP hormones! I spent years and years hating my breasts, though, and I thought they would never be worth the trouble they gave me. I thought my ducts would be too damaged to BF, that I would get mastitis constantly, and there would be all kinds of other problems. I am so pleasantly surprised at how easy BFing has been for me! In fact, BFing has been like the reward for keeping these things. Also, it will lower my risk of getting cancer in the future, which I hope will balance out the risk possibly created by having so many damaged, abnormal cells from burst cysts hanging out in there.

I thought I'd share in case there are other people here who've had fibrocystic breasts, or if people wondered why I keep saying how much I love BFing when so many of us hate/hated it. For me, it's the first time in a long time I liked anything about my breasts, or they were anything to me other than a nuisance and a danger. Plus, my baby loves the milk so much! I never imagined that my twin enemies could do something so wonderful.

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Re: Let me tell you about my boobs.

  • starbound6starbound6
    Oh wow, this is an amazing story - that turned out in the end!  Glad to hear that BFing is working out so well:)  I also have fibrocystic breasts, found out at my first pap smear at 19y/o.  I haven't had any leaking or rupturing, luckily.  Now I have BFed 2 kids and if anything, I've always had oversupply.  Do you know if that's linked?  I kept meaning to ask my OB but forgot.
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  • eav2ceav2c member
    Thank you for sharing. I will have to share this story with a friend of mine who gets them. I am glad that BFing has worked out so well for you and that you are doing well and cystless! You rock :
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  • in my lifein my life member

    Oh wow...that sounds awful. So glad that BFing has gone well for you. Ive always been told I have "lumpy" breasts but never been given that dx so I'm not sure it applies. I haven't had issues with ruptures, but definitely noticed cysts form and dissipate at times during my cycle, but not every cycle. Come to think of it, after BFing DD1 I don't remember having any issues with cysts. 

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  • jkfranklinjkfranklin member
    I love your breasts too!
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  • BelleWithABladeBelleWithABlade member
    I'm so glad you find comfort in BFing!  I'm sure you know this, but I can't help myself (sorry).  There are some treatments for FCBD.  I do a lot of breast surgery and the current literature is quite clear that it does not increase  your risk of breast cancer.  It does however make it more difficult to detect cancers so women are often caught with larger tumors.    It is sometimes difficult to get covered, but you could inquire about MRI when the time comes to start yearly mammography as it is more sensitive (some think too sensitive) in the detection of cancers.  Many years ago, the standard treatment used to be mastectomy, but now it is considered taboo.  I'm so sorry you are dealing with this, it really tortures a lot of women.  
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  • MamasaurusMamasaurus member

    imagestarbound6:
    Oh wow, this is an amazing story - that turned out in the end!  Glad to hear that BFing is working out so well:)  I also have fibrocystic breasts, found out at my first pap smear at 19y/o.  I haven't had any leaking or rupturing, luckily.  Now I have BFed 2 kids and if anything, I've always had oversupply.  Do you know if that's linked?  I kept meaning to ask my OB but forgot.

    I have no idea, but if I went back to pumping 3x/day I could probably feed 2 kids with these things!

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