Itchy nipples with discharge

If you feel itchy nipples accompanied by discharge, you cannot ignore it, because breast diseases are very critical for female friends. If you don't pay attention to this disease, it will be very difficult to cure it, and it may even endanger your life. A small number of female friends may experience this symptom due to thyroid disease.

The thyroid gland and mammary gland, one in the neck and the other in the chest, seem to be two unrelated organs, but in fact, the endocrine relationship between the two is very close. When the thyroid gland is hypothyroid, the information about insufficient thyroid secretion is transmitted to the hypothalamus through feedback, causing the hypothalamus to produce a large amount of thyrotropin-releasing factor. This factor, while stimulating the pituitary gland to secrete thyroid-stimulating hormone, can also stimulate the excessive secretion of pituitary prolactin and cause galactorrhea.

Diseases of the hypothalamus and adjacent areas, such as encephalitis, craniopharyngeal tumor, pineal tumor, partial hypothalamic infarction, pseudotumor cerebri, pituitary stalk transection, etc., can cause a decrease in prolactin-inhibiting factor produced by the hypothalamus, or an increase in prolactin-releasing factor and thyrotropin-releasing factor. The former can cause prolactin to lose inhibition and be produced blindly, while the latter two directly promote the increase of prolactin production.

Among hypothalamic disorders, there is a relatively common "postpartum galactorrhea-amenorrhea syndrome", which is characterized by persistent galactorrhea after stopping breastfeeding for more than half a year, and is often accompanied by amenorrhea and uterine and ovarian atrophy. People with this disease often experience delayed development of secondary sexual characteristics and irregular menstruation during puberty.

Irritation of certain parts of the skin, especially the chest, including severe pain caused by peripheral nerve damage, can be transmitted to the hypothalamus through nerves and cause an increase in prolactin. Such as chest surgery, burns, shingles on the chest and back, etc. In addition, frequent stimulation of the breasts, such as chronic breast abscesses and cystic breast tumors, especially those that allow children to suck nipples frequently, can also cause endocrine control disorders due to long-term nerve stimulation, leading to galactorrhea. This symptom may also occur in people with spinal cord diseases and hysterectomies.

There are many other factors. For example, patients with adrenal tumors, adrenal adenomas, and bronchial lung cancer may produce non-pituitary prolactin at the lesion site; severe mental trauma and obvious changes in lifestyle habits can also cause temporary galactorrhea. However, about 30-40% of patients with galactorrhea cannot find out the cause, which can only be collectively referred to as "unexplained galactorrhea."