Breast Pain

Breast pain

Breast pain is one of the most important complaints of patients and the most common reason for them to visit breast clinics. Breast pain occurs mostly in young women and around menopause. If breast pain is severe, it can affect a person's life and daily activities. But a mere breast pain indicating breast cancer is a rare event and only in less than 10% of women breast pain may be a sign of cancer. If you have unexplained pain that is disrupting your life or if you are worried about breast cancer for any reason, see your doctor to have your problem checked.

It is rare to see a woman who has not experienced breast pain in her life. Considering the very high prevalence of breast pain in women, the need for more awareness about this problem becomes clear. Breast pain may cause anxiety and reduce the quality of life of many people in society. This issue reduces the work efficiency of a significant percentage of women in the society. On the other hand, the presence of this pain causes many disorders in people's sexual issues. This issue, along with the increase in anxiety caused by the disease, creates a situation that directly or indirectly affects many people in the society.

Periodic breast pains

The most common cause of breast pain in pre-menopausal age is the reaction to hormonal changes. This condition causes periodical pains associated with menstruation. Menstrual disorders and irregularities may be seen along with these pains. Periodic pains often occur before the start of each menstrual cycle and are alleviated when bleeding begins or at the beginning of menstruation. These pains are usually mild and are felt as pain and sensitivity with heaviness of the breast, they often involve the outer half of the breasts, they are bilateral and improve with time. The intensity of this pain is not constant and varies in different periods and may even last for several years. Intense physical activity and stress can aggravate the pain.

Non-periodic pains

These pains are usually one-sided, and concentrated in one spot, although they can be diffuse. Usually, the nature of the pain is stabbing or burning. The cause of these pains can also be hormonal changes, but most of them have other origins, such as muscle-bone pains, arthritis, radiating pains from the spine and heart pain, trauma to the breast, breast cysts and benign masses or Breast cancer can cause non-periodic pain in the breast.

What are the stages of breast pain assessment?

Examination: Clinical examination is performed by a doctor. Breast tissue and lymph nodes are examined, and related areas such as the heart, lungs, chest, and abdomen are also examined. The history of diseases and the use of medicines are checked, and if necessary, more checks may be done.

Mammography: If a lump, cyst, suspicious or abnormal tissue is found in the breast tissue, your doctor may recommend a mammography. The doctor may also recommend a mammogram with a normal examination because there is a possibility that the abnormal tissue is small and cannot be identified during the examination. Although this method is usually recommended for people over 40 years old.

Sonography: the doctor uses additional tests according to the results of the examinations. Sonography of breast tissue is usually used for people under 40 who are not candidates for mammography and may also be requested to evaluate pain.

Biopsy: Suspicious lumps or abnormal tissues may require sampling. Usually, a small amount of tissue is needed for sampling, which is sent to pathology for diagnosis.

Treatment: due to the fact that breast pains are divided into periodic and non-periodic pains, its treatment can be somewhat different.

What is important about periodic breast pain is the regulation of menstrual periods and the hormonal status of the patient. If you are suffering from breast pain and your menstrual periods are normal and regular, if the pain is not severe, medicine is not prescribed, but if you are suffering from severe pain, drug treatments such as common painkillers, sedatives Vitamin E and hormonal drugs are recommended at the doctor's discretion. It is important to note that any treatment for breast pain must be done after making sure that there is no malignancy, so the prescription of any medicine should be at the doctor's discretion. The underlying cause must also be removed. Wearing appropriate underwear that does not put pressure on the tissues and provides sufficient support to the breast tissue, changing the contraceptive method, proper nutrition and healthy lifestyle are recommended.

In the case of non-periodic breast pain, although it is more important to ensure that the cause of the pain is not malignant, considering that this type of pain can be more associated with benign breast diseases, more diagnostic measures are recommended. In case a breast cyst or mass or diseases with an origin other than the breast have caused this pain, it is necessary to treat that disease specifically.

But in many cases, no specific cause for pain can be found, and therefore, if the patient is sure that he does not have cancer, in many cases, his pain will improve significantly. Because this type of pain occurs more than periodic pains due to anxiety and fear of cancer.

To get more information on nutrition, you can visit the Breast Diseases Clinic of Motamed Jihad Academic Research Institute or contact the numbers below.

Consultant contact number: 021-66404020 / 09124885127

Reference:

• Introducing breast diseases, Shahpar Haqiqat et. al.

Compiled, written and translated by:

Dr. Ahmad Fazilat

Faculty member, Dept of Genetics, Motamed Cancer Institute, ACECR