Premenopause:
Treating Breast Pain Naturally
One of the most common premenopause symptoms is tender and swollen breasts. These natural remedies have helped many women through this intense and uncomfortable pain.
Vitamins & Herbal Remedies
- Vitamin D: Getting vitamin D in your life is a good thing. You can do this by getting moderate sunlight exposure (10 minutes a day), or by taking 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day.
- Vitamin E: Taking 400-800 IU daily of vitamin E for the 2 weeks leading up to your period has also been shown to help women through breast tenderness.
- Omega-3s: Another way to boost your Omega-3s other than eating salmon and sardines is to take 100-400 mg per day of DHA or 1,000-5,000 mg per day of fish oil or eating flax seeds.
- Chasteberry: This herb has been used for centuries to treat irregular periods and PMS symptoms such as painful breasts. Take a 150 mg capsule per day.
- Licorice Root: Women take this herb to help balance their estrogen and progesterone levels and help their PMS related breast pain.
- Progesterone Cream: Rubbing 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of progesterone cream into your hands, stomach, neck, face, or breasts can help alleviate not only breast pain, but also hot flashes and vaginal dryness.
Your Diet
- Avoid These: Eliminating caffeine and cutting back on refined carbohydrates can help heal breast tenderness.
- Eat These: Start including soy, flax, and omega 3 fats in your diet (salmon, sardines). Eating fruits and vegetables, and high fiber foods will also help.
Lifestyle
- Exercise: As you might have guessed, getting your daily exercise can help. Just be sure to wear a bra that provides your breasts with lost of support when working out.
- Sleep: I know it can be hard to do, but getting sleep can help your breast pain.
- Cool Down: Cooling your breasts is another way to treat your pain. Cover ice packs in a towel and place on your chest for 5-10 minutes.
Causes of Tender Breasts
Breast tenderness and pain usually occurs just before your period. This is probably nothing new for you, but during premenopause, your breasts often feel even more tender and swollen than before.
Our breasts go through cycles as the hormones in our bodies change each month during our menstrual cycle.
Just before you get your period, your estrogen and progesterone levels rise. These rising levels signal the breasts to prepare for breast feeding, which makes our breasts fill with fluid and become more full, and also, more tender.
During premenopause, our bodies begin to skip ovulations, which makes our breast pain hard to predict.
What's Up, Doc?
It is always good practice to see your doctor to be sure that your breast pain is just a premenopausal symptom. Your doctor can test your hormone levels and screen you for breast cancer.
Mental
Take the time to be honest to yourself and others about your feelings. Holding pent-up feelings does nothing to help your physical or emotional state. Some women find that by taking more time for themselves and focusing on their dreams, they can alleviate some of the physical pain in their bodies.
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