Chest Pain – Causes, Treatment & Prevention

Chest pain

Chest pain can be caused by a variety of reasons. Diseases of the lungs, the heart or the back are often behind it. However, hormonal reasons are often responsible for uncomfortable chest pain.

What is chest pain?

Chest pain is divided into cycle-dependent and cycle-independent symptoms. In medicine, cycle-dependent pain is also referred to as mastodynia and cycle-independent pain is referred to as mastalgia.

The female breast, also called ‘mamma’ in medical terms, is a gland. This comes from the sweat glands in the skin. The female breast consists of the mammary gland, the nipple and the areola. The mammary gland consists of about 15 to 20 individual glands, connective tissue and fatty tissue. During the menstrual cycle, during pregnancy and lactation as well as during the menopause, the mammary gland is always subject to different hormonal fluctuations.

causes

Chest pain can be attributed to a variety of reasons. We have summarized the most important causes in the following section.

Cycle-dependent breast pain often has hormonal causes and manifests itself as pain before or at the onset of menstruation. The symptoms can also be expressed by an uncomfortable feeling of tension in the breast. Benign changes in the mammary gland tissue can also occur.

With regard to the hormonal causes, the so-called corpus luteum insufficiency can also be considered. This is an increased release of the hormone prolactin in the brain, which is responsible for milk production in the breast.

Breast pain can also occur if the maturation of the egg cells in the ovaries is impaired and certain hormones cannot be produced or cannot be produced sufficiently. Cycle-dependent breast pain is not considered a disease and is not a risk factor for breast cancer. Normally, these symptoms no longer occur after the menopause.

Hormones can also be responsible for chest pain in men. These often occur due to a change in hormone levels during puberty or during the male menopause. Hormone treatments ( testosterone ) can also trigger chest pain as a result.

Menstrual cycle or hormone-independent chest pain can have many causes. These include, for example, changes in the spine, ribs, esophagus, lungs or heart disease. Breast cancer can also be a cause. Symptoms often include burning or tightness in the chest.

In addition to the causes mentioned above, there are two other causes of breast pain that are not cycle-related.

On the one hand, it can be the so-called Tietze syndrome , which causes painful and inflammatory thickening at the base of the breastbone. The second and third ribs are often affected and the pain radiates to the chest area.

On the other hand, the so-called Mondor syndrome can also be the cause of chest pain. This syndrome is inflammation of the superficial thoracic vein. The thrombotic occlusion of this vein can be easily felt as a thickening.

Thyroid diseases also often show the symptom of chest pain. Other possible causes of chest pain include:

When to the doctor?

As a rule, chest pain should be treated if it occurs over a longer period of time without a specific reason and with other symptoms (e.g. shortness of breath, fever, general feeling of illness).

In principle, caution should always be exercised in the event of sudden chest pain, since these symptoms can indicate, among other things, an acute myocardial infarction. Therefore, those affected should react very sensitively to unusual chest pains and, if in doubt, consult the doctor again.

If chest pain is accompanied by symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest tightness, nausea, pain radiating to the left side, fear, dizziness, blue discoloration of the lips or weakness, then the emergency doctor (emergency call: 112) must be called immediately!

The doctor should also be consulted if the chest pain becomes unusually severe and unbearable. You should also see a doctor after an accident or after being subjected to violence in order to detect damage at an early stage.

If irregular swelling, an ulcer or a lump is palpated during regular self-examination of the female breast, then a doctor should clarify the exact cause.

In general, early diagnosis and treatment of chest pain tends to have a positive effect on the further course of the disease and can prevent further complications.

Diseases

  • vertebral blockages

diagnosis and course

In order to be able to make a clear diagnosis of chest pain, imaging procedures such as an ultrasound examination or a mammography as well as special blood tests are often necessary. Some doctors also recommend those affected to keep a pain diary, because these records are often the only clue to the cause, because the cycle-independent chest pain is a functional complaint that usually has no organic cause. The therapy is therefore always based on the severity of the symptoms and the diagnosis.

The course of chest pain depends on the cause. The reasons range from harmless muscle tension to acute and life-threatening heart or lung diseases. If the pain is felt deep in the chest, the pain is unbearably severe, or if there are accompanying symptoms such as shortness of breath , circulatory problems, nausea , pallor , or sweating , then this can indicate a serious and life-threatening illness. In this case, an ambulance should be called immediately.

treatment and therapy

The treatment of chest pain depends primarily on the cause. Various medications, such as hormone preparations or anti-inflammatory drugs, are used to treat cycle-dependent chest pain. The focus is on a possible or confirmed progestin deficiency.

For example, gels containing progestin can be applied to the chest to relieve pain.

Therapy with progestogen-based ovulation inhibitors is also possible. Herbal products, such as the active ingredient from the chaste tree plant, can also help alleviate the pain.

Thus, these herbal medicines have far fewer unwanted side effects than the synthetic products. In many cases, however, no drug treatment is necessary.

A change in diet or a well-fitting bra can already help those affected. Especially after the menopause, those affected should eat a healthy, low-fat diet, as being overweight can promote breast pain.

Dorothy Farrar

Hello and welcome to my Health Guide & Encyclopedia! My name is Dorothy Farrar, and I'm the founder and main author of this platform.
My passion for health and wellness started at a young age when I became interested in the connection between the food we eat and the way we feel. This fascination led me to study nutrition and dietetics in college, where I learned about the importance of a balanced diet and the impact of various nutrients on the body.

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