Many hospitals have pain teams with specialist doctors and nurses who are experts in pain control. Your GP or hospital doctor can refer you to a pain team if your pain is difficult to control. Psychological support

How people cope with the diagnosis and treatment varies from person to person. There are several forms of support available, if you need it. As the risk of breast cancer increases with age, all women who are 50 to 70 years old are invited for breast cancer screening every 3 years.

Secondary cancer, also called advanced or metastatic cancer, is not curable, so the aim of treatment is to relieve symptoms. In rare cases, men can also be diagnosed with breast cancer. Find out more about breast cancer in men. Symptoms of breast cancer Women over the age of 70 are also entitled to screening and can arrange an appointment through their GP or local screening unit. After examining your breasts, a GP may refer you to a specialist breast cancer clinic for further tests. This might include breast screening (mammography) or taking a small sample of breast tissue to be examined under a microscope (a biopsy).

Some types of drugs can change nerve impulses and help relieve nerve pain. Gabapentin (Neurontin ®) and pregabalin (Lyrica ®) are drugs that work in this way. They are also used to treat epilepsy. Other types of epilepsy drugs and anti-depressants are also used to treat nerve pain. Some people may worry that they are being given anti-depressants because the doctor thinks the pain is in their mind. But, anti-depressant drugs are given to people with peripheral neuropathy because of the way they act on nerves. Painkillers also sometimes help. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) invasive breast cancer – where the cancer cells have spread through the lining of the ducts into the surrounding breast tissue. This is the most common type of breast cancer.It's been suggested that regular exercise can reduce your risk of breast cancer by almost as much as a third. Regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle can also improve the outlook for people affected by breast cancer.

Mammographic screening, where X-ray images of the breast are taken, is the most commonly available way of finding a change in your breast tissue (lesion) at an early stage. Stopping treatment because of symptoms can be very difficult for some people to accept, especially if the treatment is working well. Your doctors will usually talk to you about whether another type of anti-cancer drug can be given instead. Or some other kind of treatment, such as radiotherapy, may be suggested. It is important not to stop treatment without talking to your cancer specialist first. Being diagnosed with breast cancer can affect daily life in many ways, depending on what stage it's at and the treatment you will have. In a small proportion of women, breast cancer is discovered after it's spread to other parts of the body (metastatic breast cancer).

Diagnosing breast cancer

Surgery is usually the first type of treatment you'll have, followed by chemotherapy or radiotherapy or, in some cases, hormone or targeted treatments.