Breast pain before the period even looks enlarged or swollen is a common thing that happens to women. In addition, women also experience several symptoms, such as mood swings easily. Some women also experience an increased appetite.
That is commonly known as premenstrual syndrome or PMS. Enlarged breasts and pain due to PMS will usually return to normal when you enter your menstrual period.
However, you must be careful because sometimes swelling and pain in the breast before the period is a feature of fibrocystic breast disease, a lump in the noncancerous breast during menstruation.
Causes of sore and enlarged breasts before period
Women have several important hormones for their reproductive system, including estrogen and progesterone. Menstruation occurs because there is no egg fertilization, so the lining of the uterus eventually sheds.
During the menstrual cycle, the hormones in your body will fluctuate. Increased hormone levels occur before and after the menstrual period. Estrogen has an important role in this case, causing the breast ducts to enlarge.
In addition, the production of progesterone also makes the mammary glands swell. Because of these two things, eventually, you experience breast pain.
Estrogen and progesterone usually increase from day 14 to 28 – if your cycle is 28 days long. Estrogen will increase in the middle of the cycle, while progesterone increases during the week before the menstrual period.
Swelling and pain in the breasts are the main symptoms of premenstrual. That’s why you often feel pain in your breasts before your period.
This pain is indeed uncomfortable; you will also feel the breast tissue becoming dense and rough. However, not all women experience breast pain before their period. For example, changes in hormone levels before menstruation will decrease in women approaching menopause.
Type of breast pain other than before the period
There are two types of pain in the breast: pain that occurs with monthly cycles and that is not followed by a monthly cycle pattern (noncyclic). PMS symptoms are cyclic; usually, pain is experienced in both breasts and spreads to the armpits and arms. This cyclic breast pain is more common in younger women.
Meanwhile, noncyclic pain is experienced by women aged 30 to 50 years. The pain is only experienced by one part of the breast. Sometimes the pain is caused by fibroadenomas – noncancerous tumors found in the breast – and cysts.
how to deal with breast pain?
Several ways can reduce sore breasts before the period, such as:
- Wearing a suitable support bra can reduce your breast tissue jiggling during your menstrual period.
- Providing hot or cold compresses can also help, but don’t apply them directly to the skin of your breasts. The compress can be wrapped again with a soft towel or cloth. We recommend that you only do compresses for about 20 minutes.
- Pain relievers such as ibuprofen or aspirin you can take when pain occurs; it doesn’t contain caffeine.
- Drink lots of water and avoid caffeinated drinks. Caffeine will increase the hormone cortisol, disrupting other hormones that are increasing. Try to reduce salt consumption, too, because salt will trigger water retention.
- Eat healthy foods such as those high in fiber and low in fat found in fruits and nuts. You should start reducing meat consumption because eating less meat is also good for heart health, bones, helps weight loss, and breast health.
- Reducing stress also helps maintain hormone balance because stress increases cortisol production. You can reduce stress by diligently exercising or trying light meditation. Even aromatherapy herbs are also believed to relieve stress. Reducing stress also prevents excessive soreness in your breasts.
