Ow.
Am I right, ladies?
Hello everyone!
Welcome to another episode of DNews.
Amy here with you guys and gals today, and you gals specifically might have experienced
sore breasts in the days leading up to your period.
Premenstrual breast tenderness, properly called "cyclical mastalgia," or "cyclical mastodynia,”
is extremely common with severity varying between women.
Some might feel a dull ache while others may experience stabbing or shooting pains.
It all comes down to fluctuating hormones.
Estrogen levels begin to rise in the first half of a menstrual cycle, causing the breast
ducts to enlarge.
Once an egg is released from the ovary, the body produces progesterone to help thicken
the uterine lining in anticipation of that egg being fertilized and implanted — pregnancy.
Progesterone also causes the milk glands in the breasts to swell.
It’s the rising level of those two hormones that lead to breast soreness.
But sore breasts could also be an indicator of fibrocystic breast disease, a condition
that leads to large, noncancerous lumps appearing in the breast tissue before menstruation.
They move when pushed but typically disappear once menstruation begins.
The exact timing of the hormone levels changing varies for each woman as do specific symptoms,
though in most cases symptoms typically peak just before menstruation.
And it’s more than just tenderness and soreness.
Breast tissue at this point in a woman’s cycle may become denser and have a bumpy,
cobblestone-like feeling, especially in the outer areas of the breast.
There may be a general lingering dull pain and an overall sense of fullness leaving the
breasts feeling heavy.
Premenstrual breast soreness could be worse if you’ve just started taking hormonal birth
control, like the pill.
Breast soreness and enlargement is itself a side effect of the pill along with weight
gain.
And of course, sore breasts is just one of a wide array of premenstrual symptoms women
are all too familiar with.
Emotional symptoms like mood changes, physical symptoms like abdominal or even full body
bloating, and cognitive symptoms like exhaustion.
Premenstrual breast soreness affects roughly 70% of women during their lifetime with up
to about a third of women experiencing moderate to severe pain.
And it’s most common for women between the ages of 30 and 50.
And unfortunately, there’s not much to do about it besides wait.
But luckily, breast soreness typically goes away as soon as your period starts, or at
least within a couple of days.
So, ladies, any tips and tricks to share on dealing with premenstrual breast pain?
Let us know in the comments below or you can catch me on Twitter as @astVintageSpace.
And don’t forget to subscribe for more DNews every day of the week.