This is probably the commonest reason for bringing a woman to the Mammography Department. As Churchill may have put it........it is an enigma wrapped up in mystery.
Just about every woman sometime in her lifetime will experience breast pain or discomfort and this is probably the commonest reason for a woman to come for a mammogram.
The bottom line is that it is very rare indeed that we can demonstrate a cause for breast pain. Basically it is simply that ‘bad things’ don’t cause pain and because there is no disease, there is no effective treatment other than simple pain killers. However, if the patient accepts that her breasts are normal, more than 50% will find that the pain disappears.
Do not believe the nonsense of Hormones, Evening Primrose oil, ‘mastitis, etc. etc. these do not work. However, in very severe cases, Tomoxifen has been shown to have some effectiveness but side effects can be a problem with this treatment.
Occasionally, there is a condition called lateral chest wall tenderness syndrome which is a rib condition which can present with breast pain and can be effectively treated.
