Malika, I had my first mammo this year also. I was SCARED and had put it off for 2 yrs because I have heard horror stories from relatives esp one aunt of how 'awful' they are. Mine was not even uncomfortable as our hospital always has the very latest imaging tech and the best trained techs and dr's to read/perform the scans. I didn't have to contort to get to the position that they needed, I was NOT squished to discomfort or pain, and it was probably easier than any other test I have ever had!
Most people get more radiation from a flight on a plane than from a mammogram. I am sorry you don't feel good, but it may have been more the anxiety than any radiation unless the equipment was very old. Old xrays do far more damage. As far as what the internet says about mammograms, well, the internet also has tons of people who believe Elvis is alive and all sorts of other nonsense. I remember doing online research before my hysterectomy and being HORRIFIED by what people said about them and the dr's who did them. Mine improved my life enormously and solved a large number of health problems that nothing else would help. My dr was amazing and truly had what was in MY best interests in mind. He refused to do another procedure that MIGHT have put it off for a few years because he felt strongly that I would be back in a year or less for the surgery anyway. He also saved my mother's life by insisting she not put hers off and if she had? She would have bled to death internally in days - as it was she hemorraghed because a problem he suspected but could not prove any way but by doing surgery (it can only be shown that way due to the nature of the problem). He was amazing to her and my dad, and to me and husband during our surgeries.
If I had listened to the internet, I would have thought my doctor valued me as much as any female canine, and was treating me the same as a vet treats a canine (which is NOT the way local vets here treat canines!). I would have expected a huge increase in problems post surgery and instead I had hte total opposite result. So I hope and pray you can take some comfort from the idea that just because it is on the internet presented as 'science' well, it doesn't mean it is true or even close to true.
I hope you feel better tomorrow and that your results are as clean and clear as mine were!