My nipples are a little sore, what's going on?

The swelling and pain in the nipples may be due to physiological factors. The physiological factors are mainly during the menstrual period and ovulation period. During these two stages, the secretion of female hormones promotes breast development, so women may experience swelling and pain in the nipples. If your nipples are a little swollen and painful, it may be due to pathological factors. Pathological factors include breast nodules, mastitis, and breast cancer. You can learn about its causes.

Causes of Nipple Soreness

In daily life, many women suffer from breast pain, especially those who have entered or passed puberty. What is the reason for this? Generally speaking, there are several possible causes of breast pain:

1. Nipple pain caused by menstruation: This pain is obviously related to menstruation. It usually occurs two or three days before menstruation due to increased blood supply, causing breast swelling and pain, which gradually disappears after menstruation. Due to its obvious relationship with menstruation, it usually does not cause trouble to the person concerned.

2. Unsuitable bras cause nipple pain: An unsuitable bra can easily cause oppression. When women feel uncomfortable wearing it, their bodies will also react, which is nipple pain. However, this situation can be alleviated by changing the bra.

3. Nipple pain caused by large breasts in women: Excessive breast size causes drooping and causes discomfort.

4. Breast trauma leading to nipple pain: If women do not take good care of their breasts, it is easy to cause nipple pain when they are injured.

5. Nipple pain caused by breast inflammation in women: Redness, swelling, heat and pain caused by breast inflammation and infection. Mastitis is particularly prone to occur during lactation. Proper treatment (such as antibiotics and appropriate massage) can quickly relieve the symptoms.

6. Female breast cancer causes nipple pain: Generally speaking, breast cancer itself rarely causes pain to patients. However, if breast cancer worsens and invades adjacent tissues such as the skin or chest wall, it can also cause breast pain in women.

Warm reminder: If women experience nipple pain, they may try to find the cause themselves based on the above points. If there is no obvious cause and the pain persists, it is necessary to seek the help of a professional doctor immediately.

What to do if you have nipple pain

Nipple pain can cause great harm to women’s bodies and seriously affect their normal lives. So, what should women do if they have nipple pain?

1. Wear a secure bra. In addition to preventing breast sagging, the more important function of a bra is to prevent further compression of the already compressed breast nerves and eliminate discomfort. Careful sisters will find that those jogging athletes wear stable bras for this health reason.

2. Massage your breasts frequently. Gently massaging the breasts can help return excess body fluid to the lymphatic system. When massaging, first apply soapy liquid to the breast, and rotate your fingers along the surface of the breast in a circle about the size of a coin. Then use your hands to press the breasts in and bounce them up, which is extremely helpful in preventing breast discomfort.

3. Apply castor oil to your chest. Castor oil contains a substance that can enhance the function of T11 lymphocytes, which can accelerate the recovery of various infections and eliminate pain. The method is: drop castor oil on cotton cloth folded into four layers, let it be soaked with castor oil, but not too wet to avoid dripping everywhere. Apply the cloth to your breasts, cover with a layer of plastic wrap, and then place a hot compress bag on top. Adjust the heat pack to a temperature you can tolerate and leave it on for an hour.

4. Try hot compress. Hot compress is a traditional Chinese medical treatment that can relieve breast pain by using a hot pack, hot water bottle, or hot bath. If you use alternating cold and hot compresses, the effect of eliminating breast discomfort will be better.

5. Change your eating habits. Eat a low-fat, high-fiber diet, consuming fiber from whole grains (whole grains), vegetables, and legumes. Eat more foods rich in vitamin C, calcium, magnesium, and B vitamins. These vitamins help regulate the production of prostaglandin E. At the same time, you should try to eat less margarine.

6. Stay away from coffee. According to medical research, many women with breast pain and other benign symptoms have significant improvement in their symptoms after quitting caffeine. Therefore, if you want to avoid nipple pain, you need to completely quit coffee, and also completely give up soda, chocolate, ice cream, tea, and caffeinated painkillers.

7. Avoid taking medication blindly. Some people take anti-inflammatory or antibiotic drugs to stop nipple pain, which is wrong and dangerous because topical steroid anti-inflammatory drugs cannot treat these pains. In other words, avoid the abuse of antibiotics and hormone drugs.

8. Prevent obesity. For women who are overweight, losing weight can help relieve breast pain.