Sore breasts?

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SarahBear

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Does anyone have extremely sore breasts and/or nipples, or know what might cause this?

I have no idea if it's related to Crohn's or not, but my entire abdomen is sore as well. It started with the nipples (and at times the skin would tear slightly), then progressed to the entire breast. It's both of them fairly equally, and it seems like the worse the stomach tenderness is, the worse this is.

I saw my GP about this today and he suggested that my GI test me for food allergies and Celiac's as well. I'm assuming that's based off the stomach tenderness and extreme fatigue; I don't know if this is related at all.

I'm not pregnant, by the way. :p This has been going on for too long to be caused by that, anyway.
 
The skin would tear? As in stretchmarks? Could be some fluid retention going on. Same thing happened to me last time I took Prednisone but I don't think you're on that anymore right SarahBear?
 
Not really stretch marks, just a small tear in the skin around the tip of the nipple. One time I had to cover it with a band-aid because every movement hurt. It would've been less awkward if I'd had anything other than Cars or Disney princess band-aids. :p

I'm not on Pred, nope. The only thing I'm taking right now is my birth control, but this has been going on longer than I've been taking it. It seems to be getting worse now, though so it may somehow have contributed.
 
Have you seen your GYN about it? They normally do breast exams as well. Its possible you may need your pituitary gland tested to see if its not enlarged or may have a tumor or anything like that. I know my doctor wanted to check it a while back but they wanted me to stop birth control for a month to have a test done yet I had a CT done of my head not long after because I was almost blacking out while driving but was then diagnosed with a panic disorder and they said my pituitary gland looked fine, no tumors etc. Just a thought to run by one of your doctors.
 
I haven't! I mentioned it to my GP, but he didn't have much to say. I'm going to call my GYN tomorrow and see about switching my birth control anyway, so I'll let them know about it and see if I can get an appointment. :)

Thanks for your help!
 
you might also have a clogged or infected milk duct, but i don't think that would cause abdominal tenderness, but the two might not be related. I am also not sure if your milk ducts can become clogged or infected if your not producing milk but its worth asking about
 
I'll ask about that, too!

I'd say it's possible. You don't necessarily have to be pregnant or breastfeeding to produce milk. Did you know men can do it? They just have to feel extremely "motherly" towards something. It probably doesn't happen to all of them, though. It's kind of funny. :p
 
I wonder if it's an issue with your hormones? I get tender breast during my menstrual cycle. Birth control pills affect your hormones so maybe that's why your condition is worsening? Just thinking out loud here... Hmmm.....

For your cracked nipples and breast, you can use breast cream like breastfeeding women do or you can take a vitamin E gel tab, roll it between your fingers to warm and thin the gel. Then take a needle that you wiped off with alcholol and poke a hole in the gel tab. Finally, squeeze the gel onto your cracked areas. This should help the healing to go quicker and reduce scarring.

My curiosity is up on this case. :) So do please keep us updated. You may help somone who is to shy to post on this subject.
 
Thanks, Naturelover! I'll definitely look for some cream of the gel tabs. :)

I also wondered about hormonal issues. My GYN suspected I might have endometriosis, and put me on the birth control to try to take care of that. Maybe there's a connection there?
 
The gyno thought my daughter had endometriosis as well. She did exploratory surgery and found that the colon was attached to the pelvic wall by an adhesion (at least I think that's what she called it.)

Hormones sound like a good place to start. Our bodies are so intricate. It's amazing! You start out on one path thinking it's one thing and then you end up on a totally different path that you never in your wildest dreams would have thought of. LOL!

The gyno was taken totally by surprise at finding my daughter's colon attached to her plevic wall. She said, "your daughter has this funky thing going on...". We have no idea if the adhesion will grow back or not.

Will you be seeing the gyno soon?
 
That sounds awful!!

I need to call and make an appointment. I can't take the birth control pills (they keep making me throw up) so I need to see if he can switch my prescription to the patches instead. I'm thinking that I might talk to my GI (I have an appointment with him Tuesday) and see what he says before making an appointment with the GYN. I did a google search and it seems like some women with Celiac's get sore breasts when exposed to gluten... The GI might know a little bit more about that than the GYN would.

He doesn't want to do the surgery to look for endo unless it's necessary, so if the birth control calms the symptoms, it probably won't be done. Would something like what your daughter was experiencing show up during a colonoscopy, ultrasound or CT scan? I had all of those and they showed nothing abnormal. The ultrasound was actually done because of this tenderness. It affects my ovaries and uterus as well, so my GYN had it done. The breast tenderness hadn't really kicked in enough yet for me to think to mention it then.

The fact that it affects my entire abdomen made me wonder about something like lupus, but my GP said he doesn't think so. *shrug*

Do you think I should go ahead and make an appointment with the GYN?
 
Yes, it was awful. The poor child got to where she was in so much pain she couldn't walk. She had been suffering since about 8 or 9 years old before it finally peaked at age 14. Guess the colon couldn't handle the growth spurt, while being attached to the pelvic wall, she had so it all finally came to a head. It was such a blessing to find a gyno willing to do exploratory surgery. My daughter was put on birth control pills at first because the docs thought it was endometriosis. When the birth control pills didn't work, the exploratory surgery was scheduled. So as you can see, my daughter had to suffer a few months while trying to see if birth control pills would work.

I would make an appt with the gyno, but that's just me. I prefer female gynos. It was the male who threw a pamphlet at me and told me to get a uterine ablation. That's a whole 'nother story. (I put my story in an answer to another post on anemia and endometriosis on this forum)

My daughters colon issue did not show up on the CT scan or ultrasound. She hasn't had a colonoscopy yet. She's supposed to get a motility study first but the doc hasn't called back to schedule it yet.

You said the birth control pills make you throw up. Is it possible that the birth control pills are causing intestinal inflammation? Intestinal inflammation can cause nausea and vomiting as well. ...then again, it could be the hormones....
 
I'm sorry she had to go through that. :(

My GYN is male. All my doctors are, actually. To be honest, I've had much better luck with male doctors. Most of the female doctors I've seen were kind of unsympathetic... and not very helpful.

I think the pills are making me throw up just because they're pills. I've always had problems taking pills. I started birth control when I was about fourteen (because apparently when you tell a doctor your stomach hurts, they automatically assume you can't tell the difference between stomach pain and cramps) and the same thing happened. I was fine for about a month, then I just couldn't get them / keep them down anymore, so I switched to the patches. No problems there.

It was suggested that they might be making my blood sugar drop. I doubt it's inflammation. It seems like it would have to cause a lot of inflammation to really cause any problems (my Crohn's is supposedly in remission; no inflammation showed up on my blood tests, colonoscopy, or pill cam). Anything is possible, though!
 
If you think it could be a blood sugar issue, try small frequent meals throughout the day and see if that helps any. If it does, then you know your on to something. Have you tried any of the glucose tablets when you get nauseous?

I'm glad you are having success with male docs. One would think a woman would be more sympathetic to another woman. Strange how that works....

I'm gonna sign off and get a bite to eat. I'll check in later...
 
You could easily have your blood sugar tested to see if that's it. I still think you should see your GYN. Even if you have to cancel the appointment if your GI has the answers than that's fine. Have your thyroid tested as well if you're going in for any blood work.
 
I'll run it by my GI on Tuesday, especially if he's already doing blood work (which I suspect he will be). My thyroid is good to go - GP checked it at my last appointment.

I'll call Monday and set up and appointment with the GYN. You're right Crabby - might as well, can always cancel it!

Thanks. :)
 

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