Are you the type of person that experiences breast pain when menstruation comes close? Usually, the symptom happens and will gradually calmed down until the menstruation period. However, swollen breasts and breast pain could be a disease. So how do we distinguish between regular breast pain and irregular one? Let's find out.
Why There Are Breast Swelling and Pain Until Menstruation?
In a menstruation cycle, hormones inside the body are going to fluctuate. The increasing hormone level happens before and after the menstruation period. According to the National Institute of Health, most women experienced increasing progesterone and prolactin hormone production one or two weeks before menstruation. This causes the size increment of the breast.
Estrogen is a hormone that is responsible for breast enlargement before menstruation. At the same time, progesterone hormone also makes the mammary gland swole. Because of these two things, you will feel pain in your breasts. For women who have 28 days menstruation cycle, estrogen and progesterone hormone usually increase from the 14th day to the 28th day.
Prolactin hormone which stimulates breast milk production after a woman went into labor also plays a role in the size increment of the breast. A woman who hasn't been into labor could also be affected by this hormone. Breast pain also could happen during the ovulation period, where the ovarium releases the ovum for fertilization. This condition usually happens 12-14 days before menstruation.
This condition surely is unpleasant because during that time their breasts could be really sensitive when shaken or touched. However, not all women experienced breast pain before menstruation. Such as women who are coming into the menopause period where the changes in hormone levels before menstruation are decreasing.
Other factors that could also cause breast pain before menstruation is the activities of the cells inside the breast that could respond differently to the fluctuating hormone levels.
How To Determine Between Regular Breast Pain and Irregular One?
This breast pain could also be called mastalgia. There are two types of breast pain, which are pain that comes within the monthly cycle (cyclic) and pain that doesn't come within the monthly cycle (noncyclic). PMS (Pre-menstrual Syndrome) is considered cyclic, and the pain comes from both breasts and spread into the armpits and arms. This cyclic breast pain happens to younger women more commonly.
Whereas noncyclic breast pain often happens in 30 to 50 years old women. The pain happens only in one breast. Sometimes the pain is caused by fibroadenoma, a non-cancerous tumor that could be found in breasts -- and cysts.
If you are concerned about the changes in your breasts, it's best to visit a doctor. Pay attention to these symptoms before you consult with a doctor:
- A bump on the breasts
- Nipple discharge, especially if the fluid is brown or even bloody
- Excessive breast pain, such as pain that meddled with your daily activities and your sleep time
- A unilateral bump or a bump that exists only on one side of the breast