Breast pain

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Breast pain

Female breast

Pain - breast; Mastalgia; Mastodynia; Breast tenderness

There are many possible causes for breast pain. For example, hormonal fluctuations related to menstruation or pregnancy are often responsible for breast tenderness. Some degree of swelling and tenderness just before your period is normal. The question is how tolerable (or intolerable) the discomfort is to you.

Although many women with pain in one or both breasts understandably fear breast cancer, breast pain is NOT a common symptom of cancer.

Boys and men have breast tissue. If a male has breast tissue that is visible, this is called gynecomastia. As a normal part of development, adolescent boys can have some breast swelling and tenderness. Like breast tenderness in women, this is due to hormonal changes.

Some degree of breast tenderness is normal, caused by hormonal fluctuations from:

• Menstruation
• Pregnancy -- tends to be more common during the first trimester and pregnancy at a young age
• Puberty -- in both girls and boys
• Breast feeding
• Approach of menopause (once your menstrual periods have stopped completely, breast tenderness often goes away unless you are taking hormone replacement therapy)

Soon after childbirth, your breasts may become engorged with milk. This can be very painful and is usually accompanied by swelling. If you also have an area of redness, call your health care provider.

Other common causes of breast pain include:

• Fibrocystic breast changes
• Mastitis -- a blocked and infected milk duct that may have some redness, usually associated with breastfeeding
• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
• Alcoholism with liver damage
• Injury

Fibrocystic breast tissue is a common condition. It involves breast lumps and bumps throughout the breast tissue that tend to be more tender just before your menstrual period.

Certain medications may also cause breast pain, including digitalis preparations, aldomet, aldactone and other potassium-sparing diuretics, anadrol, and chlorpromazine.

Shingles can lead to pain felt in the breast if the painful blistering rash appears on the skin over one of your breasts.

Review Date: 05/23/2005
Reviewed By: Sharon Roseanne Thompson, M.D., M.P.H., Clinical Fellow, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.