What is breast pain?
Breast pain, also called mastalgia, is one of the most common reasons for consulting a gynecologist, especially in young women. There are two basic types of breast pain:
- Cyclic breast pain: it appears a few days before menstruation and usually bilateral, ie it affects both breasts.
- Breast pain that is not related to the menstrual cycle : usually affects only one breast and even a very delimited of this area.
Breast pain that occurs before the period, also called premenstrual breast tenderness is very common; in fact affects more or less half of women of childbearing age.
It is characterized because it appears between 5 and 7 days before menstruation and with it the pain diminishes or disappears. Sore breasts for this cause is repeated cyclically with each menstrual period. It is a pain of varying intensity, which can range from mild discomfort or feeling of "tension" to severe pain. It usually affects both breasts, although it may be more intense in one than in another; often they hurt more the upper and outer zones of the breasts, even to the underarm area.
Sometimes the pain is accompanied by pain in the lower abdomen, headaches
, feeling of increased volume and even body weight gain due to fluid
retention and changes in the nature of women, such as irritability,
nervousness, tearfulness, etc. This whole set of symptoms is called premenstrual syndrome .
This type of breast pain is not a result of any injury or disease of
the breast but seems to be related to changes that occur in the breast
by the action of female sex hormones (estrogen and progesterone).
Typically, to diagnose breast tenderness syndrome, it is usually sufficient that the gynecologist make a physical examination of the breasts .
In this examination the gynecologist will encounter a tense and
sensitive to pressure, especially in the premenstrual mammary gland. One will be held mammography only if the woman's age or physical examination findings so warrant.
Many women with this type of breast pain does not require any treatment because it is not a disease. However, a number of measures that can help alleviate or improve this pain, including:
Some doctors recommend the use of dietary supplementation with evening primrose oil or evening primrose.
If the pain is important you can resort to drug treatments, which must be prescribed by your gynecologist.
- Use fasteners without hoops.
- During the breast tenderness, a diet low in salt and fat and eating no food or beverages such as coffee, tea, cola drinks and chocolate.
It is a breast pain that is not related to the menstrual cycle and can
be continuous or intermittent and appear randomly throughout the cycle.
There are many benign processes that can cause breast pain:
- A big breasts may, under its own weight, causing pain, sometimes radiating to the shoulders and back.
- Called fibrocystic breast disease is the most common benign breast and alteration consists of a series of benign changes occurring in breast tissue. It is accompanied by pain and induration or nodules in the breast examination.
- Called fibroadenoma is a benign tumor of the breast more often. Although by itself does not cause pain, it may be accompanied by changes from the previous fibrocystic disease.
- The trauma can also cause breast pain.
- The mastitis , or inflammation of the breast causes pain, redness and warmth in the affected breast area.
Types of breast pain
Breast cancer requires special consideration. Only between 10% and 30% of all breast cancers present with pain, which most often is mild.
Finally, we must not forget that other parts of the body that are near
the breasts can cause pain and it can be confused with breast pain. The pain in the chest muscles or ribs or cervical or thoracic spine can be reflected in the breasts. In these cases it is advisable to see a doctor.
Dra. Ana Palacios Marqués , a specialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology
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