Feeling Pain in Breasts? What’s Going On?

Many women consider breast pain (mastalgia) as a sign of breast cancer, but in fact, this pain is not necessarily linked to a cancerous disease. It is important to know what breast pain is and how it can be eradicated so you can improve your breast awareness. As you know, your breasts go through numerous changes over time so its pain can be part of these changes. It is important to know which change is normal for you as it helps in detection of any possible anomalies. Breast pain can be felt due to following reasons:

• Hormonal changes during your menstrual cycle.
• During you period if you experience water retention
• An injury area
• During pregnancy: The increase in number of milk-producing cells can enlarge the size resulting in breast pain.
• Puberty
• In some cases breast-feeding can cause pain
• An infected area

There can be many other factors as well that can cause pain. Fibrocystic changes can cause lumpiness and pain, but these changes do not increase breast cancer risk. There are certain medications that can cause pain as well. A chicken pox virus or a similar ailment can cause severe painful rash in various parts of your breast. It is important to consult your GP if you feel a persistent pain in your breasts.

How to Eradicate Breast Pain?

To eradicate breast pain it is vital to reduce your caffeine and salt intake. You can also take about two teaspoons full of flax seed oil on daily basis to relieve pain. Remember not to heat or cook this seed oil. Massage is another helpful way to get rid of pain. You can carry out massage while in the shower by soaping the breasts and gently massaging them. This way the flow of blood will get improved and pain will disappear. Pain can also get relieved if you use a bag of ice cubes wrapped with a towel and applying it on your breasts for at least 10 minutes.

Eating soy foods can help you relieve breast pain because they contain phytoestrogens that are hormone-like compounds. These compounds can help balance hormonal fluctuations linked with menopause and menstrual cycles.

Apart from relieving breast pain, it is equally important to examine breasts for any unusual changes that might be breast cancer symptoms. You can carry out self examination on regular basis to detect unusual changes.