Reasons Behind Pain In The Breast

Pain in the breast is one of the most common problems faced by women these days. It can be caused because of a variety of reasons such as hormonal changes, breast injuries, continuous use of oral contraceptives, cancer, sudden weight gain, or therapies related to hormone replacement. It has been found that in the near future almost 70 % of the women in this world will be suffering from breast pain. The common nature of pain in the breast should not cause the delusion of thinking that it is not dangerous.

Among all the different reasons behind pain in the breast, the most common reason behind Brest pain is hormonal changes. The hormone levels going up and down at very frequent intervals can many times cause soreness, irritation, and pain in the breast. Hormonal upheavals happen in a female’s life thrice in her lifetime: once during the commencement of the menstrual cycle (as it is then that the secondary sexual organs development starts); the second time is during pregnancy and the third during menopause (which indicates the end of a women’s reproductive life). Although the reasons behind pain in the breast are many these three reasons are normal and natural in any female’s life and go away with time without medication in most cases. But because of the increasing number of health problems, stress, early puberty, hereditary problem, or lack of proper care and attention at the time of puberty, pregnancy, and menopause, a large fraction ( above 50% ) of women these days complain of breast pain. There are many other reasons behind pain in the breast which are untimely hormonal up and downs, some interior problems, or even self-generated reasons like a wrong fitting bra or lack of care during the menstrual cycle.

The cause of cyclical pains in women is hormonal upheavals, especially changes in the level of progesterone and estrogen. The level of the female hormones progesterone and estrogen usually occur during the menstrual cycle and contributes towards reasons behind pain in the breast. This pain can also be a pre menstrual symptom. In this case the reason behind the pain is swelling or lumpiness of the breast because of thickening of the breast tissues which is many a times accompanied by formation of cysts and thickening. These changes in the breast because of changes in the progesterone and estrogen level are known as fibrocystic changes .This pain usually lasts as long as the menstrual cycle continues and usually  is not  dangerous and doesn’t require any special medical attention. This pain usually lasts as long as a female’s reproductive cycle and ends at menopause. Cyclical pains constitute 66% of the reasons behind pain in the breast. Many women who take hormone therapy to extend there menopause timings have to bear up with cyclical pains even longer. But the main point to note regarding cyclical pains is the fact that it is usually not dangerous and goes away with time. Many factors such as stress and strain , too much  of heavy work like lifting heavy items which puts pressure on ones upper arms  and improper care during monthly cycle can further worsen cyclical pains and increase the reasons behind pain in the breast.

Apart from cyclical pains which constitute a huge portion of the reasons behind pain in the breast, noncyclical pains are also responsible for the remaining 30 % of the reasons behind pain in the breast. Some of the reasons leading to noncyclical pains are injury to the breast tissue, biopsy of the breast, cancer( presence of malignant tissues inside the breast that divides without any stop signal), excessive use of oral contraceptives ( as oral contraceptives interfere with a women’s hormonal cycle and up and down in the hormonal cycle causes breast pain as it leads to swelling, thickening, lumping of cyst formation in the breast tissues ), wearing a wrong sized bra ( a bra which doesn’t fit perfectly and is either too tight or loose can damage the breast tissue or cause it to go limp leading towards reasons behind pain in the breast ), tumors, weight gain ( sudden increase in weight many times causes hormonal imbalance or rapid breast tissue development or increase and thus cause breast pain).