Very painful breasts

by Cecilia
(London, England)

Five years ago I had a hormonal problem, very painful breasts especially the left side and I lost my appetite. Lost my energy, in my legs, etc.

But I took Depoprovera hormones. Well, then I felt better. When I got pregnant this disappeared, but has come back. Now my breast is very painful again. I feel dizzy and am losing my energy. So what do you think is the treatment to follow? Many thanks. My age is 39.

Comments for
Very painful breasts

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May 04, 2010

Fibrocystic Breast pain
by: Anonymous

I use to have very painful breasts before my periods and started using progestrone cream. I use 20mg in the am and 20 mg in the pm. I will warn you, at first, my breasts got even more painful as the progesterone "wakes up" the estrogen receptors. This lasted for about one month. After that I had incredible relief with no pain, which I had for years before. My doctor also suggested I take Iodine, which I take daily and my thermogram, 3 months after starting the Iodine, showed my fibrocystic breasts significantly improved. I am so grateful. You might want to find a Holistic Doc you can work with.

May 05, 2010

Very painful breasts
by: Wray

Hi Cecelia. You had mastodynia, possibly fibrocystic breasts where painful cysts form. These are benign, but often removed. Both are caused by excess oestrogen, occasionally excess prolactin and always low progesterone. Please see here. And here. And here.
And here. The reason they felt better when taking the provera is that all BC methods stop ovarian function. This means very little oestrogen was being made, so the breasts were not being stimulated. Oestrogen is an excitatory hormone, causing inflammation, water retention and being a mitogen, it stimulates cells to divide and grow. But stopping ovarian function also means you were not ovulating, and therefore not making any progesterone in your ovaries. Not a good thing. You might like to read what contraceptives do to us here. The reason they disappear whilst pregnant is the very large amount of progesterone women make then. To prevent them occurring again is to mimic pregnancy, in other words use supplemental progesterone. Progesterone not only suppresses excess oestrogen and prolactin, but it prevents cells dividing excessively, it's an excellent diuretic and anti inflammatory. The dizziness was probably the result of excess water in your ear, caused again by the oestrogen. Myopathy or muscle weakness is often a result of a lack of progesterone, please see here. And here. A study conducted in Austria found initially 400mg/day, followed a year later by 600mg/day, significantly improved the patients ability to walk. Her's was a very severe case though (Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand 2001; 80: 972?973 - Substantial relief of myopathic disability by progesterone therapy) If you decide to use progesterone please use between 100-200mg/day. Rubbing the cream on to the breasts helps greatly. Initially you will probably need to use the higher amount, reducing once the tenderness has gone. For more information
please see here. But before you do please see here. Take care, Wray

Jul 28, 2012

Painful Breasts
by: Betty

I am 65 years old, way past menopause since I had a complete hysterectomy at age 42. All of a sudden I am experiencing very painful and swollen breasts. My OB has put me on Progesterone cream and it has now been a week and she said my breasts should be better by now. They're NOT!

Any suggestions would be quite helpful, thanks!

Jul 30, 2012

Painful Breasts
by: Wray

Hi Betty We do have two pages on breasts you might care to look through, one on Breast Tenderness and the other on Breast Cysts. Often it's caused by excess oestrogen, it's an inflammatory hormone which also causes water retention. We make plenty in menopause as all our fat cells secrete it. It could be your prolactin has increased, this is also an inflammatory hormone. This increases under the influence of oestrogen and stress. Or it could be you are short of iodine. You don't say how much progesterone you're using but by the sounds of things far too little. Between 100-200mg/day is needed to have any effect, it's best to rub the cream directly on the breasts too. It usually takes far longer than a week before things right themselves too. Take care Wray

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