When Chrisie Canny, 53, was diagnosed with stage I breast cancer in 2021, her gut told her to get a double mastectomy.
The surgeon, who wanted to do a lumpectomy followed by radiation, tried to talk her out of it.
“She said to me, ‘You’re being very bold. This isn’t necessary,’” Canny says. “But I just had a very strong feeling.”
The Staten Island, New York resident's intuition was correct. Past scans had missed advanced cancer hidden in her dense breasts.
What Trusting Your Gut Means
You’ve probably heard phrases such as “gut instinct,” “listen to your intuition,” or “follow your gut.” What do these mean, exactly?
“Intuition signals a thinking process that is more automatic,” says Andrea Bradford, PhD, an associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. There are two systems of thinking:
Automatic thinking. “This is thinking that happens almost outside of conscious awareness,” Bradford says. “It often leads us to have reactions that may be at odds with how information is presented to us or how we consciously think about a situation.”
Slow problem thinking. This is how your brain operates when you consciously use information to make a decision or reach a conclusion.
Deana Jean, 44, was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer in 2015 while pregnant.
“I found a lump in the shower, but it took five visits with my gynecologist before he agreed to send me for an ultrasound,” says Jean, who also lives on Staten Island. “I’m so glad I listened to that inner voice that told me to keep pushing for something more.”
Along with pushing for an ultrasound, that inner voice told Jean she should get treatment outside of Staten Island. After a bit of digging, she learned that none of the doctors nearby had treated pregnant breast cancer patients before. Eventually, she was able to find an oncologist in New York City who specializes in cancer during pregnancy.
“I leaned on my intuition to help me make these hard decisions,” Jean says. “But when I finally did meet my cancer team, I had confidence that it was the right one.”
Sheri Prentiss, MD, an occupational and environmental physician in Chicago, says she always tells her patients to follow their gut. The stage II breast cancer survivor understands how high the stakes are.
“You know your body better than anyone. As a physician, when a patient tells me something doesn’t seem right, I know that we need to find out why,” Prentiss says.
How to Manage Gut Instinct
It’s sometimes difficult to figure out if what you’re feeling is intuition, anxiety, or both. Try to follow tips:
Slow down. “I tell my patients that if they feel a ‘gut twinge,’ it’s a sign that they need to pause and think things through carefully,” says Monique James, MD, a psychiatrist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.
Sit with yourself. Try to identify what you feel. Is it fear? Doubt? Sadness? Anger? “Pay attention to what emotions and thoughts are bubbling up,” James says. “Then ask yourself, ‘Are the emotions I’m having now causing this reaction, or do I still think it’s a gut instinct?’” You may not be able to answer this right away.
Talk to someone you trust. Consider looping in a partner, close family member or friend, or a licensed mental health professional to help you sort through your thoughts. “It should be someone you are very comfortable with who won’t dismiss your reactions but rather help you make sense of them,” Bradford says.
Once you’ve had time to collect your thoughts, circle back with your medical team.
“You want a clear explanation of why they want to pursue a specific course of action. For example, a certain treatment,” Bradford says.
If you have other concerns, bring those up, too. That way, you’ll be able to pair gut instincts with medical information to help you make a decision.
“That doesn’t mean that your intuition is right all the time, but it is another important source of information that you shouldn’t ignore or sweep away,” Bradford says.
How to Bring Up Gut Instinct With Your Doctor
When Prentiss was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, her intuition said it was more invasive than the medical team thought.
She was right. The tumor was larger than expected and needed a partial mastectomy, along with the removal of 15 lymph nodes.
“My surgeon told me that if I hadn’t detected my breast lump when I did, I wouldn’t have lived to see the following summer,” Prentiss says.
As a physician, Prentiss was more comfortable than most sharing her concerns with her medical team. Still, she recommends that you be straightforward.
“If something doesn’t seem right, tell them,” Prentiss says. “They should be willing to work with you, to take steps so that you feel more comfortable.”
Use “I” statements to focus on your experience. You could say something like, “I have some concerns about my treatment plan, but it’s hard for me to discuss.” Or ask about alternatives, approaching it from a teammate perspective. “If we try this treatment and it doesn’t work, can we move forward with XYZ?”
When to Get a Second Opinion
Hearing another doctor’s thoughts can help put your mind at ease, particularly when you feel like your gut is telling you something isn’t right.
Instances in which you may want to consider a second opinion include:
Your doctor refuses to run a specific imaging test. If you’re worried about breast cancer, often the solution is as simple as getting a mammogram. If your doctor won’t refer you for one, ask another doctor.
“A mammogram is a noninvasive test, so if it makes a patient feel better to get one, there’s no reason not to order it,” says Guy Montgomery, PhD, director of the Center for Behavioral Oncology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Your doctor gets defensive. Chicago resident Daphne Ortiz, 53, was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in one breast in 2016 and the other in 2023. She opted for a mastectomy the second time around, but disagreed with her doctor about chemotherapy.
“She recommended a type of chemotherapy, doxorubicin, that’s called the ‘red devil,’ which I felt was harsher than I needed,” Ortiz says.
Ortiz says her doctor became defensive when she pushed back. After a second opinion, she decided to move forward with a mastectomy, followed by radiation and a course of endocrine therapy.
You don’t feel like you click with your cancer team. “When you choose a care team for your breast cancer, it’s a commitment to a long-term relationship,” Montgomery says. “You don’t just need to be comfortable with the treatment plan, you need to be comfortable with the people who give it to you, too.”
In all these situations, it often helps to bring someone else with you to your appointments. They can be an extra set of eyes and ears, serving as a sounding board if something doesn’t feel right.
How to Manage Anxiety
It’s sometimes hard to distinguish between anxiety and gut instinct.
“They’re not independent, and it’s normal to have both together,” Montgomery says.
Gut instincts, or intuition, tend to be more of a knee-jerk response you don’t have to think about, Bradford says. Anxiety, on the other hand, has more to do with overthinking.
Use these tips to ease your mind so you can rely more on intuition without fear getting in the way:
Ask questions. Ideally, the more you know, the less anxious you’ll feel.
Practice deep breathing. This will calm down your nervous system so you can better manage your anxiety.
Use a journal. Writing your thoughts down can help you process.
Join a support group. It helps to talk to others who’ve gone through the same experiences.
“I have met a lot of other breast cancer patients whose doctors ignored them when their instincts were right all along,” Canny says. “It always helps to listen to your intuition. It could save your life.”
