Fibrocystic Breasts

Fibrocystic breasts, aka – extremely painful breasts during the premenstrual phase. In some ladies, it can last the whole 2 weeks after ovulation and only get better after menses has ended.

Some signs and symptoms you can look for are: pain with premenstrual aggravation, cyclic variation in breast size, multiple mobile tender nodules, swelling, and symmetry between both breasts. Since breast tissue is hormonally active – specifically in response to estrogen, if you have an excess of estrogen in your system, this may heighten or worsen fibrocystic breast changes. – refer to my post on estrogen dominance to learn some simple tips and tricks to reduce estrogen in your system.

But what about progesterone? Doesn’t that effect breast tissue? Yes. After ovulation, once progesterone enters our system in high concentrations it also stimulates breast tissue. However when progesterone stimulates breast tissue it tends to target the breast tissue that is closer to under the armpit as opposed to the front / bulk of the breast tissue (where estrogen will target). So next time you start to feel the pain that goes along with fibrocystic breast changes, give yourself a quick breast exam and try and pin point the location of the pain, if its normal breast changes due to progesterone in your system, or if it’s the entire breast indicating your estrogen may be in excess!

Another note – low iodine (that can go hand in hand with low thyroid function) can also contribute to fibrocystic breasts.  Fibrocystic breasts is a relatively simple fix once we look into and evaluate you hormones and get you on an appropriate treatment plan – don’t suffer through another cycle with painful breasts