Pain in the breast is rarely a symptom of breast cancer. In fact, many healthy women find that their breasts feel lumpy and tender before a period. It is important to become familiar with how your breasts normally feel at different times of the month. Some types of benign breast lumps can be painful.

 In most women, breast cancer is first noticed as a painless lump in the breast. Other signs may include:

 1)  alteration  in the size or shape of a breast

 2)  thickening in the breast tissue

 3)   inverting of nipple.

 4)  a lump behind the nipple.

 5)  a rash affecting the nipple.

 6)  bloodstained discharge from the nipple.

 7)  swelling or lump in the armpit.

 How long does Breast Cancer last?
Doctors know that breast cancer develops in phases from early to advanced stages (when it has spread to other organs). The earliest stage may have taken only a few weeks to develop before it is detected. Early treatment, possibly involving surgery and radiation combined with drug treatment, is very important and will probably take several months. Hormone therapy may then be continued for a longer period. 

If a tumour is malignant this can form new tumours that doctors call a recurrence or metastases.

• The common places for breast cancer to spread are the bones (back or hips), the lungs, the liver and sometimes the brain
• Recurrences do not occur in every woman who has had breast cancer and they do not occur in all of the places mentioned, usually only one place is affected.

 

 Shankar Mahanti for http://www.yourfreehealthreport.com/

 Copyright 2006 yourfreehealthreport.com/symptoms