If you have any of the symptoms of IBC and have not been diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer …
See your doctor immediately. Remember inflammatory breast cancer is often mistaken for an infection and antibiotics are prescribed. Ask for a mammogram and then request a copy of the radiologist’s report. If there is any skin discoloration, ask for a skin biopsy and request a copy of the pathologist’s report. If the mammogram and the skin biopsy are each negative, ask for an ultrasound.
If symptoms persist without a diagnosis of their cause, seek a second opinion or a third opinion, continue until a doctor has determined the cause of your symptoms.
Use of Antibiotics: An Infection or IBC?
Some symptoms of IBC are often thought to be those of mastitis, an infection, resulting in treatment with antibiotics, and sometimes, but not always, the antibiotic treatment changes the appearance of clinical symptoms. The reason for an apparent response to antibiotics when IBC is present is not known and may delay the diagnosis of IBC.
One lady eventually diagnosed with IBC has written the following about her own experience with antibiotics.
A partial response to antibiotics is “what delayed the diagnosis of my IBC. First my GP thought my breast was hard and sore because of my period so wanted me to wait one month. When I went back, he put me on antibiotics because my breast was very red, hot to the touch, rock hard and painful. After 3 weeks of the antibiotics, my breast was no longer hot to the touch and not as painful. He kept me on antibiotics for 2 months, constantly trying different ones until the diagnostic radiologist requested a biopsy after my yearly mammogram. The surgeon almost didn’t do the biopsy because he couldn’t find a lump to biopsy but the diagnostic radiologist insisted. The surgeon finally just made a small incision and did several punch biopsies. I don’t know how much longer it would have been if the diagnostic radiologist had not been alert and made that request or if it had been longer before I was due for my yearly mammogram. We all learned something that day.“
