Ibc

I have had episodes in the winter months of incredibly itchy breast. I have talked to my PCP, gynecologist, and allergist about it. Based on my presentation none seemed overly concerned. The allergist basically blamed my mast cells.

One thing that seemed to exacerbate the itchiness was the fact that I was eating a lot more citrus fruits in the winter months. I have found clementines do not have the same effect so I eat those now instead of oranges.

So maybe rule out something more sinister with the gynecologist and then try seeing an allergist.

Have you had any bug bites near there recently? I had the same thing, turned out to be a staph infection from a mosquito bite I scratched. Antibiotic cream fixed it.

ETA: Not trying to scare you, but... know this:

"Inflammatory breast cancer progresses rapidly, often in a matter of weeks or months. Inflammatory breast cancer is either stage III or IV at diagnosis, depending on whether cancer cells have spread only to nearby lymph nodes or to other tissues as well.

Inflammatory breast cancer can be difficult to diagnose. Often, there is no lump that can be felt during a physical exam or seen in a screening mammogram. In addition, most women diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer have non-fatty (dense) breast tissue, which makes cancer detection in a screening mammogram more difficult. Also, because inflammatory breast cancer is so aggressive, it can arise between scheduled screening mammograms and progress quickly. The symptoms of inflammatory breast cancer may be mistaken for those of mastitis, which is an infection of the breast, or another form of locally advanced breast cancer."

If it's not IBC, great. But move heaven and earth to exclude this diagnosis, no matter what your previous testing at Christmas showed.

Original:
IBC DOES spread fast. It's the worst type of breast cancer.

Don't go to a dermatologist if changing your soap doesn't work. Go to a gyn. The dermatologist is only in charge of the outside of your skin. IBC originates in the inside of your breast. Dermatologists don't do the following:

**Imaging and staging tests should include the following:

A diagnostic mammogram and an ultrasound of the breast and regional (nearby) lymph nodes.
A PET scan or a CT scan and a bone scan to see if the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.
Proper diagnosis and staging of cancer helps doctors develop the best treatment plan and estimate the likely outcome of the disease, including the chances for recurrence and survival.

If the gyn clears you and says this is simply a dermatitis issue, THEN you go to the dermatologist...

I think it's urgent not to panic about things that scare the devil out of us!

If you want to change to a pure soap, fine. Don't go by cost alone (remember that most of the generic products are made in the same plant as the name brand products - whether it's soap or cereal or butter or mouthwash!). Go by the ingredient list - try something that has only those things you can pronounce. You're also in the middle of winter so a dry climate can cause problems. And your breast is confined within your clothing all the time, so any reaction to something like detergent can be exacerbated.

If cancer has you worried in general, there are so many exciting advances in cancer prevention with the first superfood proven to affect gene 'expression' which is the switching on and off of the genes in each cell. Complex switching is what enables cells to perform properly, and what distinguishes a nerve cell from a skin cell from a brain cell. They all have the same DNA, right? But they look and work differently - because different genes switch on an off. That switching is disrupted by disease, environmental factors, lifestyle choices, etc. With cancer being the ultimate "rogue" cell with misfiring genes, it stands to reason that this will respond - and clinical studies have already shown a reduction in cancer metastasis as well as a decrease in breast cancer recurrence in cancer patients (when there's a binding to the receptor cells in the breast, the cancer cells can't attach and gain a foothold, for example). So there's a lot you can do now using a natural peptide to get your body's cells on the right track, which can help everything from allergies to immunity to cancer prevention.

Put a dab on hydrocortisone on it. That should do the trick. And get some non drying soap.