Are you in the United States? Male mammo techs in the US are very, very rare.
Gives new meaning to the term “heaving bosoms.”
It is weird that people aren’t offered antianxiety meds and, at least for folks who are likely to have a lot of pain, perhaps local anesthesia.
I had to get my first mammogram when I had an abscess that was excruciatingly painful to the lightest touch. I was terrified of the mammogram. It was excruciating, as one would expect.
The only reason I can think of for not offering local anesthesia in that circumstance is that they don’t have the medication or personnel there to do it. Which is unacceptable. People who know it will be torture should have an option of not being tortured while still getting the procedure.
But I can be under sedation for a colonoscopy…
You can get nitrous for a teeth cleaning…
It’s nothing new that women’s pain and suffering are discounted. Particularly when it involves body bits don’t have (or have only in vestigial form) and procedures men are seldom subjected to.
Yeah, personally, i avoid sedation and anesthesia when i can. But i was really surprised that it’s not even offered for getting an IUD, and it’s hard to avoid when getting a colonoscopy. Having done both unmedicated, the IUD was a lot more painful.
I’m glad that was not your experience. Maybe don’t discount the experience of others, and don’t insult our intelligence with your condescending “it’s not supposed to be comfortable.”
I have had three. The first one was super uncomfortable because the actual machine had all kinds of sharp edges. The squeeze itself was not bad. My second one was on a different machine and it was as comfortable as one could hope for. The last one, same machine, she grabbed my pectoral muscle, on both sides. I told her it was wrong, it hurt too much and she ignored me. I could barely raise my arms for almost a week, both of my pec muscles were deeply bruised.
I’m sorry, that was supposed to be
I hope that clears up any misunderstanding.
I didn’t mean to discount anyone’s experience. Don’t discount mine. I am well aware that mammograms are intensely painful for some women. They are not so for all women. I also noted that the experience varies and may be more painful one time than another.
Yes, that’s very true.
Until this thread, I hadn’t thought of the anesthesia part, even though I’d had that experience. It really is stark, though.
I’ve had one since, and got called back in for extra imaging, but luckily everything wound up being normal. They were terrible at communicating. I was scared about being called back in, but no one could explain what the issue was at first. I didn’t find out until I spoke to a patient-liaison person after the follow-up imaging. Now I’m due for another one and I can’t say I’m jumping at the chance. I will do it, though.
Nobody but your doctor is allowed to tell you anything.
Sedatives, yes, but would a local anesthetic work? This is just intuition, but it seems like anesthetics mask cutting and piercing pains pretty well, but not pressure. When I have dental work done, the Novocaine numbs me up enough that I can’t feel the drilling or cutting; but I can still feel my dentist packing the amalgam into the cavity. Maybe a local would dull the pain of the mammogram into the dull ache that @Broomstick described?
In any case, y’all all have my sympathy. The women in my life have told me how painful mammograms are. Breast cancer is worse, but still…
It wasn’t my doctor who eventually told me.
I wasn’t expecting the technicians to tell me. I just thought someone would, at some point in the process.
The patient liaison was able to give me the all clear after the new images. So, I don’t think this is a universally true rule. It was after she gave me the all clear that I said no one had explained what the issue was in the first place that required the additional imaging. She went and found out, and then communicated it to me.
I once had surgery on my face under local anesthetic. Didn’t feel any pain (… until the next day…) but I could still feel pressure and push/pull. Anesthetic has risks to go with its benefits, too, which is usually the justification for NOT giving it.
They typically don’t allow anyone but the doctor to tell you what’s wrong with you. But if the issue is that the image was fuzzy so they want to do it again, the technician can typically convey that.
Also, you can generally tell if the news is good or bad by what the technician says. When the guy who scanned my mother’s veins inquired as to exactly how soon we would see the doctor, and made sure we wouldn’t be leaving the hospital before we did so, I knew it was bad news. When they say, “you will hear the diagnosis in a week, and if you don’t, you can call to check” it’s generally fine.
The place where I get mammografied tells you immediately if you’re all clear. No going home and waiting for a call, email, or in the old days, a letter. Ugh.
And if you need a biopsy, the radiologist who read the pic will come in and tell you that immediately, too. (By immediately, I mean within the hour, before you leave… in fact, usually before they even let you get dressed). 
Yes and no. No one but the doctor can interpret the test. But they can say “we need additional views.”
I’m very willing to pile on with the complaints. I will say that having had bilateral mastectomy, I am living proof that yes, there are people who can’t get mammograms. I wish I could, because there is no way to check for recurrence except an annual manual exam.
For me, the issue was a perceived “pucker” in one image. Potentially bad news about me, not the image. But, with more images, there was no concern. Perhaps that’s why the liaison was able to tell me – at that point, it was an all clear.
Regardless, it’s not good that someone gets called back in and no one (who is allowed to) tells them why they need to have further images. It’s scary. It was bad practice not to have anyone tell me until it was done.
I’m one of those women with very large, dense breasts. And I tend to develop cysts. And my mother had two forms of breast cancer, one of which killed her. So it is at least an annual and sometimes horribly painful experience for me. However, I have passed menopause and my ladies are becoming less dense so mammos are becoming a bit easier. Thank goodness. With my history, I won’t skip a year unless, like last year, I am unemployed and uninsured. But damn, having a cyst deep in my breast at mammo time is terribly, terribly painful.