How do you stop PMS breast tenderness?
There are a number of diet and lifestyle options you can employ in order to help relieve breast tenderness. Applying warmth, keeping hydrated or adding in supplements such as omega-3 or Agnus castus (also known as chaste berry) can all help to relieve sore boobs caused by periods and monthly hormones.
Here I run through some of the underlying mechanisms which can give rise to breast tenderness, plus, what can be done to help.
What makes my boobs sore during PMS?
Breast pain coming each month is called cyclic or cyclical breast pain, and mastalgia is the official name for the breast pain. Then, when we say cyclic or cyclical, that means that you tend to get symptoms around the same time each month. So quite often this occurs, or the reason why we're getting this pain is due to changing hormones at certain times of the month.
In some cases, we can get breast pain around the time of ovulation. That's around the middle of our cycle as oestrogen rises, but more often than not, it's actually progesterone which we assume is actually driving this symptom.
See, in the second half of your cycle after ovulation, oestrogen levels go very low and progesterone levels are fairly high but certainly high relative to the oestrogen, and it's this high progesterone, which can potentially cause your milk glands to swell. These glands located in your breast tissue can swell slightly and that's what can give rise to this heaviness, the achiness, the pains, even sometimes sharp pains, and sometimes even just your breasts feeling a little bit lumpier than usual as well.
It's just important to note that these symptoms are often quite short-lived and then, especially when you get your period, your oestrogen levels start to rise and usually these symptoms will start to dissipate. (I discuss how you know when it's time to go to the doctor below).
Then, sometimes we can get pain near our lymph nodes as well. This discomfort tends to be felt more underneath your armpit. Again, these changes can be driven by hormonal changes, but again, it's important to note if this pain is cyclical, plus, quite short-lived as well.
High prolactin is another hormone that can potentially contribute to the breast pain. This quite often goes hand in hand with high oestrogen. So, when we talk about oestrogen dominance, if we are quite oestrogen dominant but then we might experience an even more pronounced fall off in oestrogen during the second half of our cycle, which could exacerbate symptoms further.
What can be done to help?
Here I'm going on to explore the different diet, lifestyle and supplement options that can hopefully help to relieve some of that pain and discomfort around the breast:
1. Keep hydrated
Sufficient water helps nearly every system of your body, but it's particularly important for helping to keep your individual cells and glands nicely hydrated, nicely moist, and also your hydration has a lot to do with your electrolyte balance in your body as well.
And so, this is where salt comes in too. If we have too much salt in our diet, this can potentially throw your potassium levels off and that can directly affect the hydration of every individual cell in your body. We really want that delicate balance to be maintained.
So, drinking enough water, not consuming too much salt, and also having enough potassium and magnesium in your diet can all help to help support your hydration status and your electrolyte balance. Potassium and magnesium are mainly found in fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, nuts, seeds and things. It's just all about that fresh, whole food diet.
2. Apply warmth
Your pain receptors fire off when we feel pain, but we can actually replace that with heat which is why applying some warmth can help with this symptom. This means you feel the heat rather than the pain. Some people prefer alternating between heat and cold or just the heat. My preference is the hot water bottle heat and just, obviously, making sure it's not too hot against your bare skin - just wrap a few layers around first just to make sure you're not burning the skin at all.
3. Comforting underwear
Your pain receptors fire off when we feel pain, but we can actually replace that with heat which is why applying some warmth can help with this symptom. This means you feel the heat rather than the pain. Some people prefer alternating between heat and cold or just the heat. My preference is the hot water bottle heat and just, obviously, making sure it's not too hot against your bare skin - just wrap a few layers around first just to make sure you're not burning the skin at all.
4. Limit caffeine
Next, I'm talking about caffeine and some other dietary elements that might be particularly relevant when it comes to breast pain. There has actually been research around caffeine, in particular. (1)
See, caffeine is quite pro-inflammatory in the body so it could potentially add to feelings of discomfort. When it comes to coffee, it can be debated – can it be good in any way? In terms of the caffeine content, because it's so high, that tends to outweigh any potential benefits and what I would say is, potentially, coffee can be good in terms of the antioxidant content, but we can get antioxidants elsewhere in our diet.
Think, lovely green teas if we're thinking about drinks and colourful foods.
Eating the colours of the rainbow is always good; lovely vibrant berries and green, leafy vegetables, and we can get antioxidants that way to help.
Vitamin E is another helpful antioxidant. It's a fat-soluble nutrient that is quite often thought to be beneficial for symptoms of pain and supporting nice skin or hair. Vitamin E is another one that we can get from healthy oils, and that's actually my next point as well on the subject of healthy fats or oils is to add in omega-3.
5. Omega-3 foods
Sources of omega-3 have also been associated with helping improve period pains or cramps themselves, but also breast pain. There has been research around this and there's been mention of flaxseed in particular. (2)
So, milled flaxseeds or flaxseed oil are a lovely source of omega-3.
Omega-3 is anti-inflammatory in the body and that can potentially help to relieve some of that discomfort. Also, we need to have enough omega-3 relative to omega-6, and especially in the Western society, we quite often have too much omega-6 and that comes in the form of low-quality, poor-quality fats and oils such as your mass-produced vegetable oils and things like that.
Then, there's quite often a suggestion, as well, that evening primrose oil could be beneficial. My personal opinion and suggested in some of the research on EPO, evening primrose oil, is a bit more debatable, and this could be linked to that ratio of omega-6 to omega-3. (3)
We generally have far too much omega-6, whether or not it's the better quality, evening primrose oil source. So, for me personally, I would just stick to your omega-3. The research is much more favourable and it makes sense that in most cases we need to up our omega-3 relative to that omega-6.
6. Up your magnesium
Magnesium is another nutrient that could be helpful when it comes to breast pain. Magnesium is very important for helping us to manage our pain, to reduce our sensitivity to pain, or increase our pain threshold.
Caffeine, stress, processed foods, and medications (like the pill, for example (4)), will all deplete your magnesium levels, and also when you're not eating enough fresh foods. So, definitely prioritise those food sources of magnesium, and then also you could add in an extra magnesium source such as with something like our Balance Mineral Drink and that's got your key nutrients in there, including options like vitamin D, magnesium, calcium, potassium, zinc, or you can just get a stand-alone magnesium supplement.
Actually, for most people, I would say they could benefit from extra magnesium whether or not it's particularly from breast pain, but that's certainly relevant right now, of course.
7. Supplement with Agnus castus
Agnus casus is licensed for symptoms of PMS, including breast tenderness. Now, what I would say with the Agnus castus is, first of all, you can't take it if you're on any hormonal medications, but I would also just say to consider your symptoms as a whole.
Generally, Agnus castus can help with the hormone imbalance that's associated with breast tenderness but what I would just say, is that we not need to take it for just that symptom alone.
Usually, if it's in combination with a number of other PMS symptoms including your painful periods, bloating, irritability, or mood swings; these are the symptoms that the Agnus castus is licensed for, but if you're ever in any doubt if this remedy is suitable, please always do get in touch.
Premenstrual Relief Agnus castus Oral Drops| Helps Relieve Pre-Menstrual Symptoms | Mood Swings, Menstrual Cramps, Bloating & Breast Tenderness
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When is it time to go to the doctor?
Of course, with breast pain, any breast changes, especially if they aren't that cyclical, so if they're lasting for longer than just that time of the month, if there are any severe, persistent, unusual symptoms, any changes to your nipples, any lumps that aren't going away, ever in any doubt when it comes to breasts, we would urge you to go and have that checked with your doctor, just in case.
Also, consider if you're already on any medications, including hormonal contraceptives. We know that breast pain is quite often related to hormones so if you're already on medication that's purposely influencing your hormones and you're getting symptoms that aren't working well for you, then it absolutely makes sense to be discussing this with your doctor, and they could perhaps change the dose or the type of medication that you're on.
