Mammary glands before your period

It is worth reminding women that the mammary glands undergo certain changes before menstruation, related to the physiological characteristics of the menstrual cycle. And all the unpleasant sensations during this period, in particular pain and engorgement, are normal, not a disease.

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Causes breast pain before your period

The main reason why the mammary glands behave differently than usual before menstruation is the cyclical increase and decrease in the level of estrogen, progesterone and other steroid hormones that “control” the female reproductive system, of which the mammary glands (glandula mammaria) are a part.

In schematic form, this process looks something like this. Every month, under the influence of the follitropin hormone produced by the pituitary gland, follicles bearing eggs mature in the ovaries (this phase of the cycle is called follicular). Then, during ovulation, the follicle ruptures, releasing an egg ready for fertilization. At the same time, the female body - with the help of a complex neurohormonal mechanism inherent in nature - prepares for the fact that pregnancy may occur as a result of fertilization of the egg. And preparation for a hypothetical pregnancy (luteal phase) occurs not only in the uterus, where structural changes in the endometrium (the mucous membrane of the uterine cavity) occur, but also in the mammary glands.

What happens to the mammary glands before menstruation? Let's break this question down into two parts and find out: first, why most women feel swelling of the mammary glands before menstruation. And, second, what explains more or less pronounced pain in the mammary glands before menstruation.

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Symptoms breast pain before your period

Breast engorgement before menstruation is normal

Breast engorgement before menstruation is a clear sign of PMS and develops as a result of the fact that more estradiol, estrogen, progesterone and prolactin are produced before menstruation.

Estrogen and its variant estradiol (synthesized by the ovaries and adrenal cortex) promote the development of stroma (connective tissue) and proliferation of alveolar duct epithelium in the parenchyma of the mammary glands.

The task of progesterone (the hormone of the corpus luteum of the ovaries) is to prepare for breastfeeding by increasing the volume of glandular tissue, expanding the milk alveolar ducts embedded in it, and forming acini (alveoli), which are concentrated in individual lobes of the mammary layer of the parenchyma.

And the hormone prolactin, the synthesis of which in the pituitary gland shortly before ovulation increases significantly (under the influence of the same estrogen), works to increase the number of lobules and ducts in the glands. And here it is necessary to emphasize another important factor. The fact is that the lactotrophic cells of the pituitary gland that produce prolactin can simultaneously synthesize the growth hormone somatotropin and the hormone proliferin, which are related to it in structure and some functions, which controls the proliferation of connective tissue cells. So they can also influence the described processes.

Although, as mammologists note, the enlargement or swelling of the mammary glands before menstruation is the result of their expansion due to an increase in the volume of glandular cells and swelling of the alveolar ducts and alveoli.

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Breast pain before menstruation: is there a reason to worry?

Pain in the mammary glands before menstruation or mastalgia bothers many women.

The innervation of the mammary glands is very developed and is provided by the cervical and brachial plexuses of the supraclavicular nerve and several branches of the intercostal nerves, from which the lateral branches of the cutaneous nerves associated with receptors diverge. Therefore, the mammary glands are very sensitive to pain.

All processes occurring in the tissues of individual structures of the mammary glands cause an increase in intracellular pressure and lead to edema, stagnation of blood in the veins and lymph in the capillary lymphatic network. Nerve receptors immediately react to this, and, as a result, increased pain in the chest is felt.

Gynecologists and mammologists warn that, against the background of physiological changes in the mammary glands before menstruation, women often do not notice or, even worse, do not pay attention to the symptoms of possible pathologies in the form of diffuse mastopathy or fibrous formations.

Therefore, if the pain in the mammary glands before menstruation is much more intense and lasts longer than expected, and when a woman feels pain not only in the chest, but also in the armpit, shoulder and even shoulder blade, you should not put off a visit to the doctor for a long time.