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There are always a few days a month when your breasts are tender... Doctor: This situation cannot be delayed

Among the various signals before the menstrual period, "breast tenderness" is an experience that many women have experienced. Some people experience dull pain, while others experience pain even when touched lightly on the skin.

Is "chest pain" normal before menstruation?

There are always a few days a month when your breasts are tender... Doctor: This situation cannot be delayed

Experts interviewed

Liu Lifang, chief physician of the Department of Breast of the First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan University of Chinese Medicine

Li Fei, deputy director of the first breast ward of Shaanxi Provincial Cancer Hospital

Chen Hao, Deputy Chief Physician, Department of Breast, Longhua Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Is breast tenderness normal before menstrual period?

Before and after the menstrual period, due to the increase in estrogen levels in the female body, the breast will usually have a certain degree of swelling, and the swelling pain caused by it is often regular, and it can be naturally relieved after the menstrual period without being too nervous.

Because this symptom is common, many women tend to ignore the swelling pain caused by other reasons, and long-term neglect leads to aggravation of breast diseases.

For example, breast hyperplasia, a common physiological disease, can also cause breast pain, its pain is mostly related to the menstrual cycle, premenstrual obvious, postmenstrual reduction, severe pain will continue to attack, can be felt on the surface of the body cystic protrusion. Clinically, about 60%~70% of women have this benign disease.

If the breast pain and lump are persistent and do not fluctuate with the menstrual cycle, you will need to see a breast specialist.

Clinically, it is generally necessary to observe the 2~3 menstrual cycle to diagnose breast hyperplasia, it is not inflammation, nor is it a tumor, puberty to menopause may appear at any age, especially in people aged 25~45, the peak age is 35~45 years old.

There are always a few days a month when your breasts are tender... Doctor: This situation cannot be delayed

Regarding breast hyperplasia, many women have the following misunderstandings:

Myth 1

Breast hyperplasia can progress to breast cancer

In general, only pathologically diagnosed breast dysplasia and pre-breast cancer lesions are associated with breast cancer.

For the average breast hyperplasia person, there is no need to be overly anxious. If it is only periodic premenstrual breast tenderness and local glandular tissue thickening, the risk of cancer of this breast hyperplasia is not increased, as in normal people.

Myth 2

After having a baby/menopause, breast hyperplasia is fine

During pregnancy, the breast enlarges, hormone levels increase, breast hyperplasia worsens, and after weaning, the mammary glands undergo a process of drastic changes in hormone levels. This is a "significant" stimulus to the glandular tissue of the breast.

Therefore, it is wrong that after giving birth to a child, breast hyperplasia will heal itself.

Myth 3

Breast hyperplasia does not need to be treated and can heal itself

There is a process of transformation of normal breast epithelium into malignancy, that is, breast epithelial hyperplasia→ atypical hyperplasia (precancerous lesions) of the breast→ carcinoma in situ →invasive carcinoma.

In the hyperplasia stage, if no intervention is done, coupled with long-term mental stress, high-hormone diet, stress and other problems, benign diseases are also prone to malignant changes.

The risk of malignant transformation of the 3 breast diseases is low

Some women, after getting the physical examination report, often have fear of breast nodules, breast fibroids and other words, especially worried about cancer.

In fact, in addition to breast hyperplasia, the following clinically common breast diseases are benign lesions:

Fibroadenoma of the breast

Breast fibroma is a benign tumor composed of two components, glandular epithelium and fibrous tissue, more common in young women, and related to imbalance in the level of sex hormones in the body.

Clinically more common diameter of 1~3 cm, slow growth, pregnancy or lactation can increase sharply.

There are always a few days a month when your breasts are tender... Doctor: This situation cannot be delayed

Intraductal papilloma of the breast

The cause is unknown, but most scholars believe that it is related to increased or relatively high estrogen levels. Due to the overstimulation of estrogen, it causes the milk ducts to dilate, epithelial cells to proliferate, and the formation of papillary tumors in the milk ducts.

The clinical manifestations are nipple discharge or hemorrhage, and the cancer rate is about 6%~8%.

mastitis

Mastitis refers to inflammation of breast tissue with or without microbial infection, lactation mastitis often has an acute onset, mainly infectious inflammation, redness, swelling, heat, pain and other symptoms.

Non-lactating mastitis is chronic, with lumps, pain, and relapse.

Patients with benign breast disease should actively observe the changes in the disease, if there is a lump that increases rapidly in a short period of time, pain, skin depression, axillary lymphadenopathy, etc., it needs to be paid attention to and seek medical attention in time.

Spring is a great time to tone your mammary glands

From the perspective of Chinese medicine, spring is a good time to maintain the mammary glands, and it is recommended to nourish the mammary glands from 3 aspects:

1

Adjust the heart and nourish the liver

Breast diseases are closely related to emotions, and negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, and anger can often cause "liver qi stagnation", causing or aggravating breast diseases.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that in the four seasons of the year, spring should be in the liver, the liver belongs to wood, so spring should nourish the liver, flirting is one of the important means to nourish the liver and protect the liver, breast maintenance should also pay attention to nourishing the liver.

It is best to follow the characteristics of the season, learn to control emotions, and do not sulk and lose your temper; At the same time, we must also learn to vent bad emotions in appropriate ways, such as spring outings, meditation, heart talks, etc.

2

Lose weight and gain muscle

After calorie reserves throughout the winter and the Spring Festival holiday, some women may gain a lot of weight. Obesity not only affects a woman's body shape, but also increases the risk of breast disease.

Spring temperature rises, it is best to exercise outdoors, lose weight and gain muscle, the total exercise time per week is more than 150 minutes, and exercise 3~5 days a week.

3

Less acid and more sweetness

Spring vegetables and fruits supply is abundant, more should eat more high-vitamin, high-fiber seasonal vegetables and fruits, the first to promote green food, has the effect of clearing the liver and nourishing the liver.

There are always a few days a month when your breasts are tender... Doctor: This situation cannot be delayed

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the spring diet should be based on the principle of flat supplementation, and should "reduce acid and increase sweetness to nourish the temper".

If excessive sour taste is ingested in spring, it is easy to cause excessive liver qi and damage to the spleen, in order to prevent liver qi and spleen, you can eat more sweet foods, such as yam, millet, rice kernels, etc. ▲

Editor of this issue: Zhang Yu

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