I know everyone’s experience is going to be different, but after hearing so many negative stories, it really gave me a false sense of what it would be like. I’m a 34B and I’d heard that in order to get a decent image, they really had to smoosh the hell out of your breasts when they’re on the small side.
To prepare myself before my appointment yesterday, I actually found an old post here asking about the mammogram experience for smaller-breasted women and the comments were overwhelmingly negative. To make things worse, my appointment happened to line up with my period, so my breasts were also really sensitive.
It turned out to be totally painless. In fact, it wasn’t even uncomfortable. The tech also said repeatedly that it shouldn’t hurt, so if I felt any discomfort, I should let her know and she’d adjust it.
Now I’m mad at myself for procrastinating.
I just wanted to mention this in case anyone here has been putting it off.
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I was younger than most at my first mammogram due to family history. The lovely volunteer greeted me and told me “who know what horror stories you’ve heard about mammograms but every time someone comes in for their first one they come up to me after and tell me it wasn’t so bad” and you know what? She was right.
Was it comfortable? Not really. Was there a complete absence of pain? No. But was it manageable? Absolutely. And can I stand a temporary moment of discomfort for the trade off of catching breast cancer early? Yes, of course I can.
I agree with you that we have to be careful about reporting our medical experiences. Everyone’s experience is valid but it’s also important to put pain and discomfort in context. A colposcopy sucks. A mammogram isn’t all that pleasant. But the alternative could be much much worse and we shouldn’t be scaring people away from accessing these important procedures
Mine are small-ish, and I had to get one at a younger age because of a lump. I was also afraid because of the horror stories of pain.
Well, I ended up having to stifle laughter the whole time because it actually tickled (I’m immensely ticklish).
So yeah, it’s definitely different for everyone!
I’m plus size, the pain I had was from my skin being stretched down from my neck to ensure all tissue was examined. Beyond that, it didn’t hurt.
My first one was a breeze, my second was excruciating. I think it depends on the technician you get. The second lady kept cranking down like there wasn’t a person in there
I’ve only ever had (and will ever have) one at age 36. The one I had to stage the cancer I found myself. It wasn’t that bad at all. Thank you for getting yourself checked! Keep it up!
I have big sensitive boobs and have been getting regular scans forever and once or twice I was kinda like …ok ok pushing a little uncomfortable but the other 99% of times are completely fine no issue.
My first one was so uncomfortable. She kept making me stand and lean and twist my body around and my back and thighs hurt so bad.
Then I was told I needed an ultrasound and another mammo because the results were weird.
After more than 6 months of trying to schedule the followup, I found out every scan taken at that facility was done wrong, my mammo retake took less then 5 minutes and was completely comfortable.
And I was told I have the easiest to read boobs she’s ever seen… lol.
Haven’t had a mammogram but I felt the same way about getting an iud. (Not totally painless but not the torture I was led to believe on Reddit)
It’s surprising how not awful mammos are, given how worried the typical woman going in for her first one is. Like anything else, if you get a bad tech you can end up with one heckuva horror story. But that’s true for literally anything.