So the things that make things hurt are infections. Second of all, most breast cancers don't hurt most breast cancers are slow growing. Jones: It may not work that well at home but it sounds really great in the clinic. So if there was a bump it gets a chance to heal.ĭr. So mostly if we, if someone comes in and says, "I've had breast tenderness for a couple of weeks," then I examine both breasts, I'm feeling for masses, and then I'm trying to feel for anything around the area that's tender, and if I don't feel anything in a 24-year-old I usually schedule her to come back and see me in two weeks with hands off, everybody's hands off their breast. Jones: It's a bruise but it can be deep a bruise that you can't see.
Jones: And then it keeps hurting and so it's very difficult for someone with a tender area for them to keep their hands off it and not keep exacerbating. Interviewer: And then it hurts even more.ĭr. If they bump their breast and gets a little tender then they keep mashing on that part of the breast. Now the rule outs, the rule outs, are most women actually can't remember if they bumped their breast or not. It can be tenderness around the nipple or mostly it's about the rest of the breast tissue often in the upper outer quadrant of the breast. One may be more tender than the other, it's often both, but one may be much more tender. Most of the time we're not getting pregnant and so that's when the breast are tender. So many women have a period of time that is up to two weeks, a little more, a little less, when their breasts can be very tender before the period from ovulation until the period is a time when the breasts are remodeling themselves thinking that they might be ready to getting pregnant. So they don't have the rise and fall of hormones every month that make their breasts more swollen some times of the month than others. Jones: Well because breast tenderness in a 70-year-old, those women are not having any hormonal fluctuations. So new breast tenderness in a 70-year-old is more concerning than breast tenderness in a 24-year-old.ĭr. So first of all, when women complain of breast tenderness the first thing we're going to see if how old they are. Jones: Okay, so it turns out that breast tenderness is common and it's often concerning because people think, "Is it a hormonal disorder?" Or clearly there worried about whether it's cancer. Jones: All right and when was your last period?ĭr. Jones: You don't remember that you did?ĭr. Jones: Okay, but you think you didn't?ĭr.
Interviewer: Yeah the left sides kind of tender and I'm not really sure what's going on. Jones: Okay, and when you say your breasts, you put that as more than one breast, so both sides are normal? Jones: Okay you're 24 and are you having regular periods?ĭr. Interviewer: Okay let's just pretend I'm the patient. We're just going to pretend you're the patient. Jones: Okay that's a great question, but let's start with me asking you some questions. There's not really any lump on it that I can feel and I know there's not a history of breast cancer in my family is this a normal situation? Why Are My Breasts Sore?ĭr. They kind of hurt but they've been hurting from maybe two weeks now. Jones the situation is I'm not breastfeeding but my breasts are kind of tender. Interviewer: So your breasts are feeling kind of tender and they sort of hurt, is it a normal situation? We're going to talk about that next on The Scope.Īnnouncer: Questions every woman wonders about her health, body, and mind.