When Your Breasts Hurt

We break down the types of pain and their causes.

Your breasts feel tender before your period.

It's the result of normal hormone changes that happen a week or two before your flow. Relieve it by cutting back on caffeine or taking an anti-inflammatory painkiller.

You have sharp pain in one breast only.

It may be a sign of a breast infection, which can happen if you've bumped it accidentally. See your gyno, who can give you antibiotics.

One or both breasts ache after sex.

The likely scenario: Your guy was rough with your rack without you realizing it in the moment.

Source: Jennifer Ashton, Ob-Gyn in Englewood, New Jersey, and CBS News Medical Correspondent

- from Cosmopolitan Magazine, July 2009

Bra Bummers

An ill-fitting bra can cause bodily harm. Here, signs you need better support.

Your back and shoulders ache.

The band size is probably too large for your body, causing you to tighten the shoulder straps to make up for the lack of support. To get the correct band size, measure your torso by putting a tape measure right under your breasts. When trying on bras, you'll know the band fits if it stays level just under your armpits and across your back.

Your boobs feel really tender whenever you move.

The cups may be too big or the elastic in the cup fabric may be worn out, leaving your girls free to bounce around. Also, the band size could be too large, allowing it to ride up your back and the cups to angle down loosely, like a seesaw.

You notice redness under your breasts.

Your bra may not have enough padding around the underwire or the cup size could be too large, causing it to fail to lift your breasts off your chest and resulting in chafing.

Source: Bra Expert Susan Nethero, founder of Intimacy Bra Shops

- from Cosmopolitan Magazine, July 2008

Eating Habits and Breast Health

Food you consume can affect your set in surprising ways.

Yo-yo dieting leaves them less firm.

Falling into a cycle of losing weight, gaining it back, and losing it again stretches the connective tissue in your pair, making them looser. (As little as 10 pounds can be enough for sag to set in).

Caffeine makes them ache.

Experts aren't exactly sure why, but caffeine-rich foods and beverages contribute to PMS-induced breast tenderness. Cutting back on chocolate, coffee, cola, and tea during your preperiod week will help ease the discomfort.

Two drinks a day raise your odds for breast cancer.

Two beers, glasses of wine, or shots daily make you one-and-a-half times more likely to develop the disease.

Fat intake is also a cancer factor.

Premenopausal women who consume animal fat, mainly from red meat and dairy products, have an increased risk of breast cancer.

Source: Los Angeles OB-GYN Eldridge Pearsall

- from Cosmopolitan Magazine, March 2008

Sex and Your Breasts

Three bedroom-related rack-health issues

My nipples aren’t very responsive. Is this normal?

Yes. Though a woman’s nipples are packed with nerve endings, not all chicks get aroused by having them played with.

My breasts hurt after I mess around with my guy. Why does this happen?

Breast tenderness after a bedroom session probably means your man was a bit too rough. Because breasts are sensitive, it may not take much to leave them tender or bruised. If the pain doesn’t go away in ten days, check in with your gyno to see if something else is to blame.

What does my man mean when he says my breasts feel lumpy?

Some women have lumpier breasts than others do, so it could just be the way your boobs are. But if he’s touching them the week before your period, the lumpiness is most likely a side effect of PMS, when hormone changes swell breasts.

Source: Katherine Lee, MD, Breast Specialist at the Cleveland Clinic Breast Center

- from Cosmopolitan Magazine, October 2007