This tenderness occurs because of the natural cycles of the reproductive hormones, estrogen and progesterone. These hormones trigger cell growth in the milk-producing glands, which requires nourishment from blood and other fluids that fill the surrounding areas. These fluid-logged tissues can stretch nerve fibers, causing pain and tenderness. Another cause of breast pain is fibrocystic changes, which include lumps and cysts. These changes usually affect the nonworking areas of your breasts: the fat cells, fibrous tissues, and other parts not involved in the making or transporting of milk. In either case, the following strategies provide relief from breast tenderness and promote healing from pain, discomfort, and tenderness.
Switch Your Diet
“Eat a diet high in whole grains, vegetables, and beans, and low in animal fat, especially a week to 10 days before your period,” says Carolyn Dean, MD, ND. Such a diet can help ease breast tenderness, she says. A study at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston found that women who maintained this kind of diet metabolized estrogen differently. The increase in fiber helps your body excrete estrogen, Dean says. MORE: 4 Things Your Period Says About You
Stay Slim
Keep your weight within the proper range for your height. For seriously overweight women, losing weight can help relieve breast pain and lumpiness. “Estrogen dominance can stimulate fibrocystic breasts, and overweight women have too much estrogen,” says Dean. (Try these strategies to get started when you have 50+ pounds to lose.)
Ease The Pain With Iodine
“Breast pain and tenderness are sometimes caused by an iodine deficiency,” says Jacob Teitelbaum, MD, “so taking iodine tabs (follow label directions) or eating kelp (seaweed is very high in iodine) over a 6-week period can help,” he says.
Get Your Vitamins
Be sure to eat plenty of foods rich in vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, and B vitamins, says Christiane Northrup, MD. These vitamins and minerals help regulate the production of prostaglandin E, which in turn reins in prolactin, a hormone that activates breast tissue. In addition, Dean recommends taking 400 IUs of vitamin E as mixed tocopherols and tocotrienols a day to prevent breast tenderness. MORE: 5 Anti-Aging Supplements That Work
Pass On The Margarine And Other Hydrogenated Fats
Hydrogenated fats interfere with your body’s ability to convert essential fatty acids from the diet into gamma linoleic acid, says Northrup. This acid contributes to the production of prostaglandin E, which is essential to help keep prolactin, a breast tissue activator, in line.
Keep Calm
Epinephrine, a substance produced by the adrenal glands during stress, also interferes with gamma linoleic acid conversion, says Northrup. (Check out 5 ways to calm down fast.)
Cut Out All Caffeine
Caffeine’s role in contributing to breast discomfort is not proven. Some studies say it does; other studies are inconclusive. Some experts think that caffeine triggers an adrenal immune response that causes your lymphatic glands not to work as well. As a result, the lymphatic tissue doesn’t drain properly and the breasts then become engorged. But no matter the exact link, Teitelbaum strongly recommends cutting out caffeine. (Here’s 8 things that happen when quit caffeine.) And just cutting the java isn’t enough. You really have to cut out all caffeine. This means forgoing soft drinks, chocolate, ice cream products, tea, and over-the-counter pain relievers that contain caffeine, such as diet aids and Excedrin. MORE: 4 Ways To Break Your Soda Addiction In A Week
Skip The Pepperoni Pizza
Highly salted foods bloat you, says Yvonne S. Thornton, MD. Restrict your salt for 7 to 10 days before your menstrual period, before the monthly hormonal changes occur. (Try one of these 5 delicious low-salt recipes.)
Stay Away From Diuretics
It’s true that diuretics can help flush fluid from your system. And that can help reduce the swelling in your breasts. But the immediate relief will cost you, says Thornton. Overuse of diuretics can cause an imbalance in your electrolyte system and lead to dehydration and muscle weakness.
Take The Primrose Path
Evening primrose oil acts as an anti-inflammatory that can soothe pain and shrink lumps. Take one or two 500-milligram capsules of evening primrose oil with food 2-3 times a day for several months. MORE: 8 Anti-Aging Face Oils For Every Budget
Find A Good Bra
A sturdy sports bra can help support nerve fibers in the breast already stretched by engorged tissue. Some women find that wearing the bra to bed helps, says Gregory J. Radio, MD, FACOG. When you shop for a new bra, try it on to see if it gives enough lift without pinching, and toss old bras that are misshapen or stretched out.
Cool Them Down
When your breasts feel swollen and painful, wrap a towel around a bag of ice or a bag of frozen vegetables and put it on each breast for 10 minutes or so for quick relief.
Consider Reconsidering The Pill
“Women on a birth control pill can be affected by the daily estrogen stimulation,” says Dean. If you’re on the Pill and suffer from breast discomfort, consider another form of birth control, she says. (Here are 9 things that happen to your body when you go off the Pill.)
Cover It With Cabbage
To temporarily relieve breast tenderness and discomfort, place a cold cabbage leaf against your breast in your bra, suggests Ralph Boling, DO. MORE: Genius Natural Cures From The Kitchen
Create A Compress
Kamhi suggests a breast compress, made by mixing nettles (3 tablespoons of the dried leaf or 30 drops of tincture), ginger (1 tablespoon of grated root), lavender (2 tablespoons of flower tops or 5 drops of essential oil), and fenugreek (1 teaspoon of ground seeds) in 1 quart of water. “Heat the water just below a full boil,” she says. Allow the water to cool until comfortable to the touch. “Soak a clean washcloth in the solution and cover your breast with the cloth, focusing on the affected area,” Kamhi says. Repeat several times until you feel some relief.
Try Self-Massage
Georgianna Donadio, PhD, says a gentle breast self-massage helps move built-up breast fluid into the lymph passageways, providing pain relief. “Massage your breasts in a clockwise motion,” she says. “It’s best to do this around the time of ovulation, when breasts are least sore,” she says. “It’s great for breast discomfort and overall breast health.” MORE: 20 Super-Healthy Smoothie Recipes
Discover The Emotional And Physical Tie
“This is absolutely the first thing I consider,” says Northrup. “When I ask my patients ‘what’s going on in your life around the issue of nurturing or being nurtured?’ I often see tears.”“Breasts as the symbol of nurturance are highly charged for women,” she adds. “You know that tingling feeling that accompanies the letdown of milk? Some women who have gone through menopause still feel that when they hear a baby cry. That’s how closely linked breasts are to the emotions.”
Pine Relief
Native Americans used poultices made with pine to relieve pain and inflammation. If you wish to try a modern version of this time-honored remedy, wash your breasts with pine tar soap, suggests Kamhi. You can buy pine tar soap at some drugstores or your local health food store. (Here are 12 more surprising pain relief tricks that actually work.)
Cures From The Kitchen
To get relief from breast inflammation, try this castor oil compress recommended by Kamhi. She says it helps heal minor breast infections, too. You’ll need cold-pressed castor oil, a wool flannel cloth, a piece of plastic, and a heating pad. Fold the cloth into a square and saturate it with the oil, but make sure it’s not so wet that it will drip on the breast. Put the cloth on the breast, cover with plastic, and then apply the heating pad. Turn the setting on the pad up to moderate heat, then to hot if you can stand it, says Kamhi. Leave it on for an hour. MORE: 10 Things Your Breasts Say About Your Health Cold-pressed castor oil contains a substance that increases lymphocyte function, she says. Lymphocytes are white blood cells that help speed healing of infection. You may need to use the compress for 3 to 7 days to really be able to see results. “This can often be extremely beneficial for taking away pain,” she says.
When To Call A Doctor
Whenever you find a lump, consult your physician—whether or not a previous lump was diagnosed as benign. (Is it true that you should skip your monthly breast self-exam?) Your doctor may order a biopsy of the lump or use a needle to aspirate a fluid-filled cyst.
Panel Of Advisors
Ralph Boling, DO, is an American Osteopathic Association board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist. Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, is medical director of Vidacosta Spa El Puente, a medical spa in Costa Rica. She is author of The Magnesium Miracle. Georgianna Donadio, PhD, is director of the National Institute of Whole Health, a holistic certification program for medical professionals. Ellen Kamhi, PhD, RN, is the natural nurse, clinical instructor in the department of family medicine at Stony Brook University in New York, and author of The Natural Medicine Chest, Arthritis: the Alternative Medicine Definitive Guide, and Cycles of Life: Herbs for Women. Christiane Northrup, MD, is former clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Vermont College of Medicine in Burlington and author of The Secret Pleasures of Menopause, The Wisdom of Menopause, and other best-selling books on women’s health. Gregory J. Radio, MD, FACOG, is chair of primary care in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at M.S. Hershey Medical School of Pennsylvania State University. Jacod Teitelbaum, MD, is a board-certified internist and medical director of the Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers, with locations throughout the country. Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, is a maternal fetal medicine specialist and a perinatal consultant, and a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at New York Medical College in Valhalla.
