Chest hurts - causes in women, symptoms, treatment. Breast pain in women: an alarm or a normal phenomenon

Few women know that if the chest hurts, then this can indicate serious illnesses. Depending on the nature of the sensations, their duration and accompanying symptoms, one can approximately draw up a picture of the disease. But this should not be a substitute for a full and qualified examination by a doctor. Consider the main causes and ways to eliminate them.

Before the onset of menstruation, a woman's breasts tend to swell and hurt. Many of the fair sex under the age of 40 are familiar with this. If the chest hurts just before the arrival of menstruation, and after they end, everything goes away, then there is no reason to worry. This is a normal process that does not require treatment.

Uncomfortable underwear

Too small a bra or underwear with underwire can lead to stagnation of blood in the lymph nodes located near the armpit. In addition to discomfort, red pressure marks and sometimes bruises can be found on the body. Wearing such underwear is strictly contraindicated, especially in cases where the chest hurts after it. Strong compression of the mammary glands is fraught with mastopathy and even oncology.

Hormonal disbalance

Responsible for the work of all female organs. And if an imbalance occurs in the body, then it can manifest itself. In addition, you can notice a violation of the menstruation cycle, overweight, lethargy and lack of libido. To eliminate the disease, you will have to undergo a course of drug therapy using hormonal drugs.

Violations in the functionality of the nervous system

Frequent stress, regular nervous experiences negatively affect the work of the whole organism. Including the chest suffers. become tense, rough and painful to the touch. Disorders of the nervous system must be treated, otherwise it will not be possible to avoid more serious complications.

Oncology

According to statistics, women from oncological diseases are most often diagnosed. There are many reasons for this: injuries, mastopathy, menopause and much more. If the chest constantly and severely hurts, and seals are felt during palpation, then a visit to the doctor is indispensable. Oncology is now treated in 90% of cases, but if you delay going to the hospital, this can lead not only to the loss of the mammary gland, but also to death.

Other causes of discomfort

If the chest hurts, then you need to check for pregnancy.

Pain during breastfeeding is the norm, if they are not accompanied by fever and redness of the breast.

Iodine deficiency. Another cause of pain, which recedes when the lack of an element in the body is replenished.

Excess weight. Too rapid growth of the mammary glands often manifests itself as unpleasant sensations.

Neuralgia. Pain in the right or left chest can talk about. It is necessary to pay attention to their nature and location.

Cyst. The pain is concentrated in a certain place where you can palpate a small swelling or induration. The cyst is detected exclusively on ultrasound. Proper care of the mammary glands will eliminate the cyst without medical intervention.

Pain in the mammary glands can be caused by many reasons. These can be hormonal changes, breastfeeding, muscle pain, infections, breast diseases (tumors), an incorrectly fitted bra, taking hormonal drugs, lack of sexual relations.

70% of women of childbearing age complain of chest pain. Unpleasant sensations during hand movements, pain when touching the mammary gland are signs of mastalgia. Mastalgia can appear during menstruation and go away after they end, such pains are called cyclic. Systematic cyclic pains cover both breasts, their upper and outer areas become the most sensitive. The woman feels the heaviness and fullness of the mammary glands, the breast is poured and swells. Rest on the stomach becomes impossible, your favorite bra presses. There are changes in the woman's behavior, she becomes irritable and unbalanced. Cyclical pain appears a week before the onset of menstruation, dulls after they begin.

The appearance of cyclic mastalgia can be explained by a hormonal disorder that occurs during menstruation. Pregnant women and women in menopause do not experience such discomfort; hormonal disruptions do not occur in their body. Cyclic pain can be triggered by the use of certain hormonal drugs used for contraceptives. The cyclic type is the most common type of pain in women under forty years of age. But even after forty, cyclic pains may not recede, the reason is the use of hormonal drugs or antidepressants.

Mastalgia tends to disturb a woman on other days, pains not associated with the menstrual cycle are called non-cyclic. Non-cyclic pain covers one breast, as a rule, its separate part. Often, mastalgia also captures the armpit area, limiting hand movements. Aching sensations with sudden movements and pressure develop into severe pain. The cause of non-cyclic pain is non-hormonal changes that occur in the chest. These are anatomical tissue changes. According to statistics, women over forty years of age suffer from non-cyclic mastalgia.

Irregular pain may be justified by other causes not related to the breast. For example, muscle pain can radiate to the chest.

A woman is distinguished by suspiciousness, having read about any disease, they begin to sound the alarm, some of the symptoms she observes in herself. Do not rush to panic, you can’t deal with the mass of diagnoses yourself. Even if you find yourself with a seal, do not fall into despair, be sure to go to an appointment with a gynecologist or mammologist.

To facilitate the establishment of the correct diagnosis, think over the answers to some questions:

How long have you been in pain?
or both?
Does pain depend on the monthly cycle?
When did you notice the induration?
When was the last time you had an ultrasound or mammogram?
What medications do you use?
Have you observed discharge from the nipple?

Having received the necessary information, the doctor will make the necessary appointments. Be attentive to your own health, timely diagnosis and treatment can prevent serious consequences.

Almost every representative of the fair sex at least once faced with an unpleasant condition when the mammary glands hurt. Symptoms of the problem can range from mild discomfort to acute pain attacks that affect a woman's quality of life. For this reason, it is important to diagnose the pathology in time and treat it.

Causes of periodic and persistent pain

Among the main causes of the cyclic manifestation of pathology are:

failure of the hormonal background;
diseases of the reproductive system - polyps, polycystic ovaries,;
menopause;
long-term use of certain groups of medicines - oral contraceptives and drugs aimed at infertility therapy;
uncontrolled reception;
unstable emotional state - stress, chronic fatigue;
a sharp change in body weight;
improper balance of fatty acids in breast tissues.

If the mammary gland constantly hurts, then the reasons for this are related:

with inflammatory processes occurring in the tissues of the mammary glands;
from glandular structures;
with formations of benign and oncological nature;
with surgical interventions;
with chest injuries;
with abnormal development of milk lobules;
with large breasts;
with stagnation of milk during breastfeeding;
with wearing a low-quality or tight bra.

Due to hereditary anomalies in the structure of breast tissues, pinching of nerves and blood vessels occurs. As a result, inflamed areas appear, which, growing, form cysts, hematomas and adhesions.

What diseases are indicated by chest pain

In most cases, the doctor reveals the cause of the disease with the help of an ultrasound examination of the mammary glands. But sometimes, according to the clinical picture of the pathology, one or another disease can be suspected independently. This is especially true for symptoms that appear only in one of the breasts.

If the left breast hurts, then this indicates:

about problems in the work of the cardiovascular system;
about nodular, provoked by the formation of benign nodules;
about fibroadenoma, in which the mammary glands hurt in the middle

If the right breast constantly hurts, then the reason for this is:

breast-feeding;
cysts - benign formations filled with fluid;
infectious diseases;
rachiocampsis.

Pain in the mammary glands may occur before menstruation. Sometimes pains in the lower abdomen also occur in parallel, which indicates such serious pathologies as adenomyosis and.

Causes of pain in the mammary glands in nursing mothers

Often, when breastfeeding, women notice soreness in the mammary glands. This condition occurs:

at ;
with lactostasis;
with an abscess;
with lactocele.

The most common cause of pathology is lactostasis or milk stasis. The disease usually manifests itself in the first months after childbirth and is due to a violation of the feeding regimen, improper technique for attaching the baby to the breast, and the fact that the child is inactively sucking milk.

Lactostasis is the most common cause of pathology

Risk groups by disease

Breast problems are more common in women:

giving birth less than 2 times, or nulliparous;
children who refuse to breastfeed;
leading a promiscuous or irregular sex life;
having had an abortion more than once;
genetically predisposed to tumors of the mammary glands;
suffering;
subject to frequent emotional stress;
having excess weight;
living in ecologically unfavorable regions.

Breast pain can also be caused by bad habits(addiction to alcohol, smoking) and chronic pathologies of some internal organs - the liver, spleen or thyroid gland.

Dangerous symptoms

It is urgent to seek professional help if chest pain is accompanied by other symptoms:

there are seals in the mammary glands, palpable;
body temperature rises;
nipples hurt and mammary glands swell;
enlarged lymph nodes located near the chest;
rashes appear on the nipples;
mammary glands are deformed.

Sometimes women ask themselves: why do the mammary glands hurt, but there is no menstruation? In this case, you should visit a doctor, as the sign may indicate pregnancy. A pathology treatment regimen is prescribed by a mammologist, having previously identified the nature of the occurrence of pain in the mammary glands.

Ways to deal with pathology

If the uncomfortable condition is not associated with a violation of the function of the mammary gland, then the doctor prescribes symptomatic therapy, for example, with the help of drugs that lower the level of the hormone prolactin in the body.

The main disadvantage of hormonal treatment is the shift or failure of the menstrual cycle. Therefore, this method of dealing with the problem is used only in advanced cases.

Pathology in the early stages is eliminated with the help of:

dieting;
herbal medicine;
vitamin therapy.

Advice! During the diet, it is necessary to exclude carbonated drinks, tea, coffee and chocolate products from the diet.

Medical therapy

A safe phenomenon is the periodic manifestation of chest pain before menstruation. However, if the mammary glands hurt and this is noted in the middle of the cycle, then it is necessary to be examined and treat the pathology.

First of all, the patient should undergo a consultation with a mammologist. The doctor conducts a preventive conversation with a woman or prescribes a number of diagnostic procedures for her.

Preventive measures include:

refusal to wear tight underwear;
weight loss;
adjustment of the diet;
taking oral contraceptives.

Medicines will allow you to stop ovulation for a while and prevent sharp jumps in hormones in the body. Usually, pain symptoms in the chest after taking oral contraceptives decrease or disappear completely.

Such drugs include:

non-steroidal drugs - Paracetamol or Ibuprofen;
steroid drugs - Tamoxifen.

The last group of medicines is used only for the treatment of mastopathy in an advanced stage, which occurs with severe pain.

Should know! It is impossible to cure mastopathy with the help of homeopathic medicines alone. The effectiveness of this group of drugs in relation to the fight against diseases of the mammary glands has not been proven.

Compresses

With swelling and soreness of the mammary glands, in combination with drug therapy, on the recommendation of a doctor, compresses can be used. Medicines are prepared from natural ingredients:

burdock: several leaves of the plant are crushed to a mushy state and mixed with 30 ml and 25 ml of olive oil. All components are mixed until a homogeneous consistency. The resulting paste is applied to gauze and applied to the affected area of the chest at night.
pumpkins. To prepare the medicine, choose 1 ripe vegetable. A small piece of the plant is ground with a meat grinder to a puree state. Puree spread on the fabric and tied to the painful area of the chest.

Advice! The pumpkin compress is covered with a towel or cling film on top.

cabbage: the leaves of the plant are crushed and mixed with 50 ml of sour milk. The resulting mixture is applied to the fabric and bandaged to the sore chest.

Lotions

Lotions prepared according to traditional medicine recipes allow you to get rid of severe pain. The basis of lotions is the juice of plants.

St. John's wort. To prepare the product, take 1 tbsp. plants and pour 300 ml of boiling water. The agent is infused for 45 minutes, and then the fabric soaked in it is applied to the problem area for several hours.
Clover. Clover tincture is prepared according to the following recipe: 1 handful of inflorescences is poured into 300 ml. vodka and infused for 2 weeks in a dark place. A cloth soaked in tincture is applied to the affected area.
Sagebrush: 2 bushes of the plant are poured with 200 ml of boiling water and simmered in an enameled container for another 3-4 minutes. The decoction is used warm so that its active ingredients penetrate into the lower layers of the skin.

The state of the mammary glands largely depends on the moral state of life. Statistics show that those women who are happily married and do not experience constant stress are less affected by the problem.

The female breast is a rather delicate and sensitive organ. Even women who have not given birth are familiar with pain in the breast.

It also manifests itself in adolescents during puberty during the formation of glandular tissue, and later on the eve of menstruation (and sometimes during them).

What processes cause pain and can it be a sign of pregnancy?

Pain at the beginning of pregnancy is experienced by about 80% of women. For some, the pain is sharp and excruciating, others notice it much later than the fact of pregnancy is confirmed, and some do not feel anything at all.

Can the presence or absence of pain say anything about the course of pregnancy? Probably not. All women have a different pain threshold, and a lot depends on the woman's complexion and her physical fitness.

Why do breasts usually hurt after conception?

It is known that by the end of pregnancy, the breast is ready for lactation and the production of colostrum begins.

But what can cause pain in the first weeks after conception, because the birth of the baby is still so far away?

This question is asked by many expectant mothers. For those who become pregnant for the first time, the appearance of pain is sometimes a surprise, a woman perceives this as an alarming symptom.

There may be several mechanisms for the occurrence of chest pain in early pregnancy, and therefore the sensations experienced by women are also different.

More often than not, there are several factors involved.

Firstly, under the influence of pregnancy hormones (and), the vessels expand, and with them the thoracic ducts.

A woman feels tingling, sometimes unpleasant cutting pains. In slender young girls, even at this stage, discharge from the nipples may already appear. This should not be frightened, and most importantly - you should not try to squeeze them out! Sterile absorbent bra pads will help to avoid irritation.

The second reason: the growth of glandular and adipose tissue of the breast is activated.

There are aching and arching pains. The skin sometimes does not keep up with this process, reddish stretch marks may form. The skin itself can become thinner and dryer, sometimes itching and flaking appear in addition to pain. Oil from stretch marks, a warm shower, a light moisturizer will help to avoid discomfort.

In thin women, the changes occurring in the breasts are especially noticeable.

During the first trimester, the mammary gland can increase by a couple of sizes. Accordingly, its weight also increases. The ligaments holding the chest are usually not ready for such a load, and this also causes pain.

The nature of the pain in this case is usually pulling and protracted, but the pain is not too strong. It is important to choose the right bra in accordance with the changed sizes. Underwear should be pitted and have wide padded shoulder straps. This will unload the ligamentous apparatus, alleviate the pain.

Pain in the chest can be aggravated by any touch. A woman cannot always wear her favorite clothes, the sensitive gland reacts sharply to any compression or tight seams.

Particularly painful are pains at night, a woman wakes up from a flash of pain when changing her body position in bed, she cannot sleep.

The emotional state of the expectant mother also affects the pain threshold.

You can treat yourself to a fashionable new thing with a looser fit. It is necessary to update the mattress or somehow modernize the sleeping place in order to get rid of negative emotions while waiting for the baby, to provide the mother with healthy sleep and good mood.

Is pain always associated with conception?

Many women feel changes in their breasts even before a delay in menstruation appears and is done. Sometimes this pain is confused with similar sensations of premenstrual syndrome, but ladies who are attentive to their health will note the atypical pulling and bursting nature of pain, increased sensitivity of the nipples and a change in the density of the mammary gland.

Women with repeated pregnancies already accurately determine the fact of conception by the changes taking place. They are confident in their pregnancy even before it is confirmed with a test.

However, it is important to remember that this sign is very subjective! To confirm pregnancy, you must conduct a test or.

Moreover, there are cases when women, in anticipation of pregnancy, felt pain and even noticed breast enlargement - but this turned out to be just a psychosomatic manifestation, there was no real pregnancy. Such phenomena can occur, for example, in women who have problems conceiving or in young women who have recently entered into marriage and dream of soon adding to their family.

Thus, chest pain is, but not at all mandatory and does not indicate 100% of its onset.

At what period of pregnancy does the chest begin and stop hurting: how many weeks from the moment of conception?

There is no definite answer to this question. Significant factors are the woman's age, her usual hormonal background, the presence (or absence) of vascular and endocrine diseases.

The pains associated with breast augmentation will appear earlier in slender young women, and fat women will notice them 1-2 weeks later. In general, we can say that most expectant mothers experience discomfort associated with changes in the mammary gland, starting from 4-5 weeks of pregnancy.

It is not necessary that the pain will accompany you throughout your pregnancy. Now let's figure out at what week of pregnancy the chest stops hurting?

By about 12 weeks, the body adapts to the ongoing hormonal changes, the breasts will no longer increase in size so rapidly, the pain will stop or become barely noticeable. Usually, by this time, toxicosis also passes.

Breast pain may return in the last month before childbirth, this will be due to the formation of colostrum. In this case, the nature of pain and the appearance of discharge from the nipples will be somewhat different.

Breast changes during the first trimester occur in all women. For some, this is due to pain, while others have only external manifestations - both are normal and do not indicate a problem during pregnancy. However, one cannot be sure of conception given only the appeared pain in the chest. It is necessary to do a home pregnancy test, it is also advisable to visit a gynecologist.

Breast pain is a common complaint in pre-menopausal women, but pain in the mammary gland is much less common in older women. When the chest hurts, there may be enough reasons, among which there are quite serious ones that threaten life and health.

Find out why the chest is sore and aching on the one hand, what treatment is most appropriate in one or the other case.

Basically, in medicine, 2 types of chest pain are distinguished:

Cyclic pain. When the mammary gland hurts cyclically, the causes of pain are most likely to prepare the body for the next cycle of menstruation. A woman has pain in such cases in both mammary glands at once.

This kind of pain is not pathological and on the eve of the onset of menstruation is observed in many women. It is not worth worrying about them every month and going to the doctor does not make sense.

Non-cyclical pain. When the chest hurts without periodicity, this indicates the presence of a non-cyclic nature of pain. In this case, it often hurts not in both glands at once, but only on one side. What are the causes of this syndrome.

Non-cyclic pains are usually aching in nature, may be aggravated by moving the hand, touching the chest.

Causes: why the chest hurts

Common

The reasons why one breast hurts are diverse:

Mastitis- the process of inflammation of the breast tissue. With the development in the postpartum period, the first signs of mastitis can be seen 3-4 days after birth. There is stagnation of milk in the breast, and this is the cause of mastitis in parturient women.

This pathology is also found in healthy women, not only in those who have recently given birth and are breastfeeding. When immunity is weakened, and chronic disease processes begin in the body, for example, with sinusitis, bronchitis, and the like, pathogenic microorganisms can enter the mammary gland, causing inflammation in it.

Mastopathy- another reason why one breast can get sick. The disease is characterized by the formation of benign neoplasms, represented by the growth of ducts inside the lobules, vesicles of the gland and connective tissue.

Therefore, part of the structures in the chest shrinks, the other expands, and this leads to a feeling of soreness, which can radiate to the armpit and even limit the movement of the arm.

This pathology is formed against the background of strong hormonal disorders, mastopathy is dangerous because benign neoplasms can degenerate into malignant ones.

Fibroadenoma- the cause of pain in the breast on the one hand. Here, a small benign tumor is formed from connective and glandular tissues.

It is directly related to the work of the hormonal glands. If the examination is carried out on the eve of or during the menstrual cycle, the tumor is noticeably reduced in size.

Crayfish- an insidious disease. Moreover, in the mammary gland at an early stage, it practically does not give itself out as pain.

As the tumor grows, it affects the nerve endings, pain in the mammary gland begins. The nature of pain is individual, largely depends on the location of the neoplasm.

Not completely cured mastopathy, late childbirth contribute to the development of cancerous tumors in the mammary glands.

Rare Causes

Fat necrosis. Common causes are injuries in the area of the mammary glands. Pathology is often confused with cancer.

Cyst- a cavity of connective tissue filled with fluid. If there is pain in one breast, the development of a cyst is explained by several assumptions, although it is not completely known why it occurs. A cyst in the mammary gland is dangerous in that with any injury there is a risk of damage to the walls and the contents of the cyst can pour out into the surrounding tissues.

Pain with cysts is usually severe, it is impossible to ignore them.

Tight clothing. A bra that is incorrectly sized or made of synthetics can be the reason why the mammary gland often hurts.

Due to too tight tissue in the gland, stagnant processes begin, blocking proper blood circulation. If the harmful effects are not stopped in time, the mammary gland can become a site for the formation of malignant neoplasms.

When to see a doctor?

If you are concerned about non-cyclic pain in one gland, this is an undoubted reason for contacting a surgeon or mammologist. Pay particular attention to the following:

The mammary gland has noticeably changed in size and shape, you can see the asymmetry of the bust.
The nipple has been changed: it can be drawn into the gland, or it can respond with the release of fluid to pressure.
When probing, it is possible to detect a seal in or around the gland.
There is pain when pressed.
The skin of the breast or around it has undergone any noticeable changes: coarsened, redness, peeling appeared.

It is necessary to carefully assess the condition of the bust and, if suspicious symptoms appear, do not postpone the visit to a specialist so that the situation does not worsen.

The chest is sick: diagnosis and definition of the disease

Pain in one gland is not a symptom of any specific disease, which is why it is necessary to consult a specialist to understand what is the cause of the disease. The doctor, after listening to complaints, evaluates:

The duration of the pain.
Dependence of sensations on the menstrual cycle.
Localization of pain.
Are there seals and where are they located relative to the place of pain.
Are there any changes in the nipple.
Whether change of glands with reception of hormonal preparations can be connected.

After assessing the general condition of the patient and examining the breast, the doctor will have a rough idea of what tests and diagnostic methods are best prescribed to confirm the proposed diagnosis. Also, after receiving the results of the examination, it will be possible to choose the tactics of treatment.

Most often, women complaining of pain in one breast are prescribed:

General blood analysis.
Blood chemistry.
Chest X-ray.
mammography.

In some cases, when the diagnosis is difficult, they resort to repeating studies using contrast agents.

Sore chest: treatment

The choice of treatment for pain that occurs in one breast depends on what kind of disease caused them.

Unsystematic treatment, based on a single symptom and not taking into account the diagnosis as a whole, can not only not relieve a woman of pain, but also aggravate the situation.

You can start treatment only when an accurate diagnosis is established and the doctor has chosen a therapy regimen. In some cases, therapy includes only taking medications to achieve a particular result, and sometimes you have to resort to surgery to eliminate the pathology.

If a woman notices chest pain, any changes in her shape and structure, then this is a reason to consult a mammologist, and not self-medicate at home. Examination and proper therapy will help get rid of pain and avoid more serious consequences.

Chest ached: what to do - video

On Karolina Streltsova's video channel. Mammologist-oncologist, doctor of the highest category Tatyana Chernova answers questions.

How to do breast self-examination?

On the video channel "Union of Pediatricians of Russia". Mammologist M. L. Travina tells how to do self-examination of the mammary glands.