 |
Breast Tenderness and Estrogen Dominance
August 9, 2009 by Jenn
Filed under Estrogen Dominance Symptoms
Are you one of the millions of women who experience cyclical breast 
tenderness before or during your period? Breast tenderness, known in the medical world as mastalgia, can range from mild to severe. Your breasts may feel full and heavy, with a dull pain or sometimes your breasts are so sore and irritated that even the slightest touch makes them ache. It may be severe enough that you have trouble sleeping. So what causes this problem and is there anything you can do to help relieve it?
Breast Tenderness Causes
First, to ease your fears, understand that breast tenderness is not one of the normal signs of breast cancer. The usual cause for cyclical breast tenderness is a hormonal imbalance. During the second half of your cycle, the hormones estrogen and progesterone stimulate your breasts and they become swollen, more lumpy, and tender. Then you have your period, the uterine sloughs off its lining and the breasts return to normal. If, however, your hormones are unbalanced, your body gets confused and doesn’t always follow the original plan. The discomfort in your breasts is more intense and lasts longer.
How do your hormones get unbalanced, you ask? There are a variety of ways, including stress, poor diet, birth control pills or other medications and an array of other instigating factors.
No matter what caused the imbalance in the first place, however, the end result is usually estrogen dominance, a condition where there is much more estrogen in the system than there is progesterone. Ideally, the two hormones should be proportionate, but when the body overproduces estrogen and produces little or no progesterone, the scales are tipped.
Breast Tenderness Treatment
So what can you do to find relief from breast tenderness? Well, there are some steps you can take in the short term. One of them is to make sure your breasts have strong support. Wear a bra that fits right and is supportive, but is constructed so that it does not cause further irritation. Choose a seamless bra or one that has a soft lining in the cups covering up seams. Many women prefer a sports bra to a traditional bra when they are experiencing breast discomfort.
Avoid caffeine. Caffeine causes blood vessels to dilate and can exacerbate the pain.
Some women find it helpful to use a heating pad or warm compresses on sore breasts while others think it helps to cool down tender tissue with cold packs.
The most effective and lasting way to resolve the breast tenderness problem, however, is to learn how to control estrogen dominance. There are several healthy, natural steps you can take, including using progesterone creams, eating a diet designed to promote hormonal balance, regular exercise and other simple measures. If you take at least some of these steps, you will probably see that you have improved several aspects of your physical and mental health, not just reduced your bouts of breast tenderness.
Related posts:
