Alright, I am not aware if anyone has created a post like this before - but I have talked to a few of my women friends and they have discussed their experiences with various levels of breast sensitivity. I have one friend who for the past two months claims that her breasts often hurt to be touched. I have had experience with irritated nipples, but I do also experience a sensitivity to my breasts and a kind of swelling that occurs (it's not painful at all) when my progestogen levels are at their peek (pre-menstruation). I have heard that men experience irritated nipples when their deodorant gets onto them or things like that - but I'm wondering if anyone has some insight into this phenomenon. What is actually happening? What happens (or has happened) to you? Thank you.
The week right before my cycle, I can't even touch my breasts...it definitely has to do with hormones.
I agree with the hormones thing...my breasts get very tender before my period, but they are sensitive pretty much anytime.
My ex had a problem just like you're describing-her breasts hurt, sometimes quite a bit, just to be touched (guess who liked touching them!)-we read somewhere about a study that was done in Israel on this, they gave a name to the condition that slips my mind-anyway, they found that VIT. E rectified that problem, 800 IU per day-she started taking it and within a short time her breasts were back to normal-when she stopped taking it once they went back to being sore again-it made a dramatic difference. I think it's really worth giving a try.
I have Raynaud's. As long as I don't get too cold, or let my nipples get hard, it's manageable. But if I do get cold, it really really hurts, especially my toes and nipples. Nursing my first child was excruciatingly painful for me, especially when I was fighting supply problems. is related to having astronomically high estrogen levels.
DQ Veg, I believe you are talking about fibrocystic breast condition. (They used to call it a "disease" but as more than 65% of womyn have it, it is just a normal condition.) Fibrocystic breast (which is just lumpy glands in the breast, which sometimes get swollen and uncomfortable) is one reason for breast tenderness, and sometimes responds to treatment (some feel taking caffeine out of the diet helps, too) and often doesn't. But it doesn't encompass nipple tenderness and other types of breast tenderness. But, for many womyn who have fibrocystic breasts, some can get help with vitmins and other things. Just be careful of too much Vit E, it can be toxic to the circulatory system. The breast is a complicated organ.
since we're talking about breasts....i've got a question. my breasts have always been somewhat lumpy, though not necessarily unusually tender. i asked my mom about it a couple of years ago, and she said it was normal, and that my grandmother had the same thing. would this be fibrocystic breast? and if so, what vitamins would help with this?
Well, I'm pretty sure fibrocystic breast disorder was what my GF had, what we were talking about a few posts up, and she took 800 IU of Vit.E a day, which helped remarkably. That dose of Vit. E can't do anything but help you, and is not toxic at all at that level.
Thank you very much Maggie Sugar. I've been asking my med school friends about fibrocystic breast condition symptoms for a long time now, but none of them could give me a name for the condition. You've all been extremely helpful. I really appreciate the time.
"Fibrocyctic breast disease was a term coined by doctors to use on insurance forms. some docs define it a lumpy breasts, while some say it is dense breast tissue. In 1982 a surgeon published an article in the New England Journal of Medicine shooting down this term as a diagnosis. She proved that fibrocystic breast disease was actually a normal condition of the breat and there was no evidence that woman who have lumpy breasts were at a higher risk of cancer. It is no longer an accepted term although many doctors use the term fibrocystic condition" Our bodies, Ourselves page 606. My gyno says nearly all women under 30 have some degree of lumpiness that fluctuates with their cycle. Most breast tenderness is hormonal. Fair haird women tend to have more sensitive nipples. I have one breast that is "lumpier" than the other.
I would just like to add that with fibrocystic breasts, breast cancer is often misdiagnosed, or missed all together. The women in my family all have fibro. breasts (very dense, very lumpy.. and also very large) and it is because of this that my mother's breast cancer was diagnosed rather late. The regular mamagrams can't always penatrate deep enough into the breast tissue to get an acurate read of breast health. The good news is that they have developed new scanning equiptment! It's like an MRI for your tits! You lay face down, and your breasts go into these indents, and off you go. It isn't as painful as a regular mamagram, and it scans deeper, clearer and faster.... so do your monthy self-checks, even if you feel it's useless with all the lumps and bumps aready there. and talk to your doctor the SECOND anything feels different!
the only time mine were sensitive was when i was pregnant, and they were in PAIN. but that's about it. they're just big ol' bags of milk and fat hanging off the front of me, not really anything impressive, sexually speaking. mainly my husband just enjoys the hell out of them. but i have to be on the verge of ovulation for them to be sensitive at all. always been that way. most large breasts are.
Wow, I've literally never "met" anyone else who had Raynaud's - besides me and my mother. (Can we count this as meeting?) Oh, yeah - only my nipples are sensitive, but in a good way. Is this a small-titty vs. big-titty thing? I'm as flat as a pancake. . .
yeah, i think so. large breasts and small breasts have the same number of nerve endings. but in large breasts they're more spread out.
Letting males massage your breasts, particularly during the act of sex will greatly increase pleasure and reduce soreness in the breasts.