Painful, tender or sore breasts/ nipples- causes, risk factors and solutions

April 23, 2009 by Ada · 49 Comments
Filed under: Menopause Solutions, Menopause symptoms, PMS, Progesterone 

Painful or tender breasts will occur in many women at some point in their lives – up to 70%. Sore breasts are a common problem if you suffer from PMS but you may also suffer from breast pain and swollen, lumpy breasts from other causes.

Causes of breast pain and swollen nipples

Ultimately, what actually makes the breasts tender and swollen is too much water in the breast tissue. This causes the pressure and stretching of the breast tissue which causes pain. This accumulation of water, also known as water retention, also causes the bloating you may feel when you have painful swollen breasts. The root cause of this water retention is usually your hormones.

Situations that may lead to sore breasts

  • Pregnancy – during pregnancy you have a very high level of the hormones estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen increases the amount of breast tissue while progesterone helps to make the glands in the breast mature with some accumulation of water. This prepares the breast to manufacture food for the newborn baby. In this case, the swelling of the breasts, although it’s uncomfortable, is a good thing.
  • PMS – in PMS the swelling and water retention are mostly due to hormonal imbalance – estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance is a situation in which the levels of estrogen and progesterone are out of balance – the progesterone in your body is not enough to balance the levels of estrogen.
  • Premenopause and menopause – before menopause, up to 15% of cycles may be anovulatory (ie no egg is released) even in women with regular cycles. As you get older, production of estrogen and progesterone in your body gradually begin to wind down and you will tend to have even more anovulatory cycles until you get to menopause. Most of the progesterone in your body is produced in the ovaries after ovulation. No ovulation means almost no progesterone. Even though you’re producing less estrogen as you go through menopause, these levels are still out of balance with the very low levels of progesterone. So you can still have estrogen dominance even if you have low estrogen levels. This leads to sore and tender breasts.

  • Imbalance in fat levels – an imbalance in the fats in your cells may make your breast tissue more sensitive to circulating hormones in the body causing breast pain.
  • Medication – drugs like oral contraceptives, drugs used for Hormone Replacement Therapy and even some antidepressants like Prozac and Zoloft.
  • Pain in the heart and chest may also be felt in the breast.
  • Very large breasts may also cause pain because of their weight. You may also feel pain in the neck and shoulders as well.
  • Breast cancer – breast pain can also be a sign of breast cancer but it is usually a late sign in advanced cases.

How can I relieve breast pain

  • If you’re pregnant, wear a good bra that gives your breasts plenty of support and eat a healthy, balanced diet.
  • If you have PMS, are premenopausal or menopausal:
    • use natural progesterone cream – natural (bioidentical) progesterone cream balances the estrogen effects in the body and so helps to reduce water retention and bloating as well as sore breasts. However, using too much can cause the very symptoms you’re trying to relieve.
    • use evening primrose oil or borage oil – these help to normalize the fat levels in your tissues making them less sensitive to circulating hormones
    • take a good multivitamin supplement that contains B complex vitamins, zinc, Vitamin E, magnesium and Vitamin C
    • use a women’s herbal formula that contains some or all of the following: vitex, blue cohosh and dong quai
    • use a detoxifying formula that contains some or all of the following: milk thistle, barberry or goldenseal, burdock root, yellow dock, dandelion root

    Avoid:

    • caffeine – whether in coffee or other food and drinks
    • using estrogen without balancing with progesterone
    • dairy products as much as possible
    • meat and poultry that has been exposed to drugs and hormones, try and eat free range/ organic meat and chicken
  • Practice some relaxation techniques – stress and anxiety may worsen breast pain

If your breast pain becomes really unbearable and none of these measures work for you, a trip to your doctor may be good idea.

Tags: estrogen-dominance, hormone-replacement-therapy, Menopause symptoms, natural-progesterone-cream, ovulation, perimenopause, sore_breasts

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