Breast Pain during Menopause

By Samantha S. | Updated: Jun 18, 2020

Many women experience breast pain as they go through menopause, and may become distressed by its symptoms. In order to better understand these breast pain symptoms, it is important to know their causes, as well as the possible remedies. Read on for more information about breast pain during menopause.

What Is Menopausal Breast Pain?

Breast pain in general can refer to any tenderness, soreness or discomfort in the breasts. In most cases, this is also includes swelling. While this typically occurs during menstrual periods and pregnancy, menopausal breast pain is temporary and returns to normal naturally.

Unfortunately, breast pain that occurs as a woman goes through menopause tends to be much more intense, and has a less predictable pattern.

What Causes Breast Pain in Menopause?

Menopause Symptoms

While these hormonal imbalances are not usually serious, there are some long-term health risks that can be avoided with treatment. Understand that missing a period is neither a disease nor a sure sign that you're pregnant. Sometimes missing a period is perfectly normal and doesn't mean anything is wrong.

Breast pain during menopause can be caused by a variety of factors, but is typically the result of unbalanced levels of estrogen and progesterone. When the body's estrogen levels are down and progesterone levels are up, you may develop breast pain. The constant fluctuations between these two hormones affect fluid retention in the body, in particular in the mammary glands, triggering breast pain and tenderness.

Is There Anything I Can Do about Breast Pain during Menopause?

Since the primary cause of breast pain during menopause is hormonal imbalance, the solution lies in restoring this balance. This can be achieved easily through simple changes in lifestyle habits.

No matter how severe or frequent your breast pain is, it is essential to provide the body with enough nutritional support, in order to maintain balanced hormonal levels. A good way to ease the symptoms associated with menopause is to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, along with soy products. In addition, the body usually responds favorably to regular exercise.

In addition to maintaining a healthy exercise routine and diet, there are alternative medicines that help to tackle hormonal imbalance more directly. Alternative medicines and vitamins are far more effective in combination with a healthy lifestyle. Finally, if the symptoms of menopause are really painful, a woman should seek the advice of a medical professional as soon as possible.

Explore the articles below for further information towards breast pain and how to treat it.

Breast Pain Treatments

Sources

BMJ Group. "Menopause: What is it?" Patient Leaflet 2007.
Hutchinson, Susan, M.D. "The Stages of a Woman's Life: Menstruation, Pregnancy, Nursing, Perimenopause, Menopause." November 2007.
Love, Susan. M.D. Menopause and Hormone Book. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2003.

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