Until it's resolved, i'd likely wear a sports bra to sleep in. I too am buxom and painful breasts during post partum was alleviated this way. I hope it all is resolved in a positive way! Do pain relievers help at all?

I think when our Ladies decide to take a nose dive south, it stretches the muscles and tendons too and sometimes we put ourselves into a position that causes it and perhaps even shift to the other side and do it again ...

I'm having the same issue. I had a mammogram last month and I was called back for more views. They sent me to have an ultrasound on my right breast, my left breast was negative on the mammo. They found nothing in my right breast, but it is still alarming to me in a sense. I have tried cutting down on caffeine, but that doesn't seem to help much, if at all. I will get a sleep bra to see if that helps...I am also a "D" cup. The pain seems to come and go, and I do have some pain in both my armpit areas, and some days I don't notice it at all. I just turned 62, so I know it's not menopause related!

I've had it on my left breast for years. I've always been told it's hormonal. Mine feels more like a skin rash pain and sometimes the rubber band snapping pain. My dr. always says it's "normal".

I am over due for my mammogram. Thanks for the reminder.

I was told my breast tenderness was caused by drinking too much whole milk, which is loaded with hormones. I now only drink 8 oz.of whole per day and the pain is gone. I buy Walmart 'Always Save' brand, which contains no growth hormones, as suggested by my doctor.

I get breast pain when my anxiety flares up. I think because I swallow air when i'm anxious and it compresses on some nerves.

thanks for the info about the milk..i don't drink much anymore...however since I'm on anti-hormone pills (after my lumpectomy) it might be a loosing battle to get them some other way....in fact think i'll mention it to my oncologist at my next appt...

Also don't wear an underwire bra. When I was having so much breast pain 2 years ago, tho different from yours, I was tol absolutely no caffeine in clouding chocolate and decaf coffee or tea, and NO underwires. They press against nerves causing nerve damage. I can't wear underwires anyway with the way I am built but still good info. My problem was extreme fluctuation in hormones. Hope you get good news.

Chi, I think it must have something to do with the bra you are wearing. It's unusual that anything internal would be happening bilaterally. It sounds like it might be related to the side support on the bra cups.

When was the last time you were fitted properly for a bra?

Thanks, KT friends! You are just the BEST!

Rose -- You are describing exactly what I feel. I'm a Senior -- with too many biopsy scars from false 'finds' over the years. I dread mammograms.

Tami -- Yes! I do believe this has something to do with my *underwire* bras -- although I have worn them all my life. (Could be trouble for me now that I am *old* and have less 'padding' -- 105 lbs. instead of 135 lbs.)

Tally -- Yes! You are right, too. I am wearing two terribly stretched out underwire bras. I bet the side supports are the cause of the trouble. Hope it isn't permanent nerve damage.

Rob -- Today I rummaged around and found an old 'sports bra' to wear. I *look* horrible -- like I have a single breast smack in the middle of my chest! I'll give this a try and hope the sore/bruise-y owies go away before my appointment next Wednesday. (Its not very painful, nor is it constant, just annoying.)

This could also be stress-related. We had a house guest for two nights, and I'm not an at-ease hostess. At least I haven't broken out with shingles as I did once after a house guest left! (Hadn't had the vaccination then.)

I feel pain in my left breast from time to time for the last 12 years or so....goes from armpit down the side toward nipples. It was more prominent the several times I had pneumonia. Had a mammo 2 years ago and they weren't sure about it. Went back a few months later and all is fine. They think it's just lymph nodes "acting up" so to speak. I can go months without it...then I will feel pain off and on for a few days..then it will disappear again for a while. And only in the left breast.

Hopefully yours will just be swollen lymph nodes or something benign like that. Do let us know what happens next week.

So if it's just stretching tissue/muscle/ligaments, support will help it. Especially, if you're never without support (which was the point of my "sleeping" comment. Oops! Left that out).

If it's an inflamed lymph node, you'd have get well from whatever would make it inflammed. Good point joanie. Any other symptoms you hadn't necessarily as being associated with this? For example, congestion, wheezing, sore back or painful breathing, might indicate pneumonia like joanie said.

Why I asked if any medications alleviate any of the problem? It's how I realize, what might be wrong. When I had a broken bone, nothing would make it stop hurting. Nothing. Not pain relievers, ice, heat. NOTHING! So off to a doctor I went. It wasn't one of those obvious, fall and it hurts. It was a hairline fracture in a non-weight bearing bone. So, really, I couldn't figure it out. Usually, whatever helps, or doesn't, clues me in to what direction I can go to feel better. Like, if I can take a handful of Advil and my back quits hurting, it wasn't nerve stuff.

Does anything put a dent in your pain level? I would think hormonal issues wouldn't be affected by pain relievers either.

Chisue, I too am wearing old underwire bras and I think I will go shopping for some new bras and see if it helps! I do need support so going without a bra is out of the question.

Joaniepoanie, your pain is similar to what I am feeling too.
I have considered swollen lymph nodes, but I don't feel any obvious swelling at all.

If I take any pain reliever it doesn't seem to affect my pain that I have noticed. It is as Chisue said, more annoying than painful!

I hope your mammogram goes well, Chisue.

Thank you all for your comments and input, it is appreciated - at least I know I'm not the only one with this issue.

So far, so good. This 'sports bra' is almost worthless for support, but it has no wires, and I think the problem is easing. I'm going to stick with my 'single central breast' look through the weekend and see what happens. (Fortunately I don't have to go anywhere important.)

I may be cancelling the 'diagnostic mammogram' and going for an ordinary one. I'm supposed to do that every two years, and it's been 27 months. All that's ever been found has been bits of calcium. Maybe the scans have improved to rule out all these false positives and I won't add another scar or 'surface of the moon' effect to either breast.

You are all such wonderful 'ears'. Thanks!

When my bras get older, the wire is often off-kilter and digs into the side, without my realizing it. That is, until the pain starts to bug me and makes me sit up and take notice. Caffeine definitely affects pain, but those pokey wires do the same--time to throw them away when that happens!

My husband works in Radiation Therapy. He always says if something is bilateral that is a good sign rather than on just one side, if that makes you feel better.

I had an ultrasound once because I was having this pain under my right arm, near where the fleshy part of the breast ends. The doctor thought it was muscular. I had a gift certificate for a deep tissue massage, (I have shoulder issues so I always save it for when I need it), the gal was working on the left shoulder blade area, near my spine and she found a knot. She massage the whole area and came back to the knot and worked it again. It released and instantly, I felt a tingling in the spot where the soreness was. After that, no pain! She said it must have been pulling from the left side all the way across to the front on the right side. Amazing how everything is tied together.