MammoOUCH!!!

[ellenkushner]

Got my annual mammogram yesterday - and this year it really lived up to our nickname of "tit-squish" - yeowch! It really hurt! I would keep this info to myself, but 24 hours later I'm still quite sore ETA on both sides - feels like a bad bruise - no visible marks, but tender to the touch.  I am, ah, not a large woman.  But I've had a quite a few of these over the years, and oh my darling it's never felt like this.

Did they do something wrong?  Did I? Is there something I can do next time to prevent this?

Full disclosure:  For years, it never hurt at all, and I couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about.  In the last few years (when I have gained more body fat - more for them to seize hold of? or am I still so small that they need to get a good handful of muscle as well into the machine?) it's been kinda unpleasant, but not hurt afterwards.... What gives?

And let me just sternly add that if you have not had yours yet this year, don't use this as an excuse to avoid it!  Because (a) It probably won't hurt at all, and (b) even if it does, you just have to be brave for, like, 11 seconds.  And you can do that.

Just make someone take you for ice cream, after.  You can do that if you're brave.

Comments

[jennyblackford.livejournal.com]

I'm very much not a large woman, but my breast tissue is dense and lumpy, and we have a proper health system here, so I've had more mammograms than the average American woman my age, with different techs at different places with different equipment every time. It has always hurt quite a lot - less than a filling at the dentist, much less than a root canal, but about the same as a leg wax during the ripping-off phase. The most painful thing has been the manoevring of my not-a-lot into place on the metal thingy, and holding it forcibly in place while the other metal thingy comes down to scrunch it (as you've expressed in a more delicate manner).
I've never thought of having ice cream afterwards, dammit, but I will from now on. I've never been in pain the next day. If it settles down, it's probably worth asking your doctor (or any of your medical friends with actual expertise) for a proper medical explanation, and possibly even complaining to the place you had it done. If it's still sore tomorrow, it's probably worth ringing up the place and asking why. If they have a really clumsy tech, they need to know.

[ellen-kushner.livejournal.com]

Definitely have your ice cream next time, with my compliments! This has been quite a revealing conversation - I thought most US women just took annual mammograms as a matter of course, since if you have health insurance (big IF, these days!) it is covered - but apparently not; maybe this discussion will help some get up their nerve to undergo what is essentially less than :60 of discomfort to guard against some very nasty alternatives. A friend just had surgery for a cancer discovered very early by mammogram; I shudder to think what would have happened otherwise.

Thanks for the vote to follow up on the bruising; I wasn't posting to bitch about the mammogram, but rather to inquire whether the soreness after was at all usual, and clearly it's not.

[jennyblackford.livejournal.com]

Don't worry: it was quite clear that you were curious/worried about the aftermath, not bitching about the process. I hope it's settled down now. And, yes, I suspect that it's important for people to make things officially known if there's a problem; it's possible that all the tech's colleagues know that he/she is rough, or that the machine is bad, but can't say anything.