hi ladies,

yes, i'm back again, oh boy, it seems this is the "season" of symptoms again.! Ok, I"ll make this brief,(I hope), last night, i was laying on my stomach, which i love to do, and it seem to help my intestinal woes. Now, i laid like that for a few hours i guess, but then, eventually laid on my left, then right side. I was on my right side when i woke up. Well, I got up, got my tea, and started the day. Then, I noticed, all of a sudden, that my left nipple felt sore, against my shirt. So, I gently touched it, and sure enough, it was tender and hurt. Then, i had to look at it in the mirror, and to ME, the left nipple (here I go again, with the left side crap!), was "different" from the right nipple, and to ME, the areola was a little deeper red than the right areola. I also SEEMED to notice, that the nipple itself, SEEMED "longer" (as in vertiacal) than the other nipple, which still seemed more round. Now, of course, panic rushed through my body, at which point, my left breast began to ache and hurt so badly, all the way up to my collar bone nearly. Wow, i was in panic! I calmed down, and asked my husband to look at both my breasts, lol....well, he didn't mind..lol...and to really take a good look, and tell me if he sees a difference. Now, to HIM, he doesn't. We've been married 31yrs. so I guess he'd be able to tell, but still, TO ME, it looks different. I asked him to look again. He did, and again, he insists he doesn't see anything different. But, I do. Then, i noticed, the left nipple (the problem one) seemed to sort of go back to "normal", so maybe it was a bit erect, like he had said, and maybe that could have made it look as though it was elongated, is that a possibility? Oh darn, i feel so darn stupid these days, with all these insane questions! But, it seems to all be happening at once! AT THIS MOMENT, both nipples sort of look the same again, but the left one looks slightly more red, not much, and the areola is basically the same color as the other, maybe a tinge more red.

I guess the question is......is any of this normal during peri, i just got my period too. I understand that i slept on my stomach, which could have caused the breast soreness, but what about the nipple and areola thing.?

also, i noticed, when i was laying on my stomach, i noticed that i felt a "sore spot" on the left breast (as it was being pressed down against the bed), and i freaked out about that too, thinking, maybe a tumor. But then, I remember having that happen to me before, for years actually. Does anyone else here have that if you lay on your stomach? My next GYN appt. is March 12th, which is a whole month away! Yeah, I'm trying not to panic, and I'll be ok, it's just that I need to have some other opinions, as usual!

thanks everyone! sincerely, mydarling

Hi MyDarling,
Oh yes, this has happened to me! Sometimes it's one side (the right is worse for me), sometimes it's both, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all. My breasts are definitely more sensitive now that I am in peri, and even the slightest touch can sometimes be painful. And yes, sometimes the nipple does look different, very "PMS-y" is how I think of it, darker in color and more "happy" as my DH likes to say! I know it is anxiety-provoking but I think it is just our fun hormones at play. I do like to sleep on my stomach sometimes, but lately I have had trouble doing it at certain times of the month due to the breast tenderness. It totally wigged me out the first time it happened to me (in fact, I posted about it here!) but now I am taking it in stride as just another aggravating peri symptom. Oh, this is weird, but I notice mine is worse when I eat a lot of dairy. I hope this helps a little!
Have a good weekend,
Emme

HI Emme,

thank you so much for responding! yeah, this is prob. all peri related, but holy cow, these changes come so fast and furious, you don't have a chance to get over one symptom or "scare" till the next one attacks! I think the diff. in nipples scared me more really. Then, when i really closely examined it, in front of the mirror, it did look diff., it almost looks more oval, whereas my right one looks round, and i never really noticed that before, which is why i became frightened. If i had always seen that, or even taken the time to have noticed that, i wouldn't be so darn nervous! lol
and you know, of course, that all sites on breast cancer, say , if you notice a change in the nipple, or the nipples shape or appearance, HAVE IT CHECKED OUT IMMEDIATLEY...in other words, it COULD be breast cancer! Oh boy, I'm a bundle of nerves, and my husb. is trying to tell me it's ok, i've made him look at them all day...lol...and there have been a few times he's said to me that the left one DOES look more oval, or pear shaped than the other, but he said, to him, hes always remembered them looking different. I dont know, see, I just wish I had remembered that!!!!

emme, thank you so much for replying! sincerely, mydarling

Hi, MyDarling- I'm fairly new here, but wanted to give you my opinion, for what it's worth! I'm sure that your breast is fine, there was probably just some temporary irritation from the position you had been sleeping in. I know mine get sore to the touch from time to time, and it always goes away. Also, our bodies are not perfectly symmetrical in the first place. One side does not look identical to the other; even the sides of our faces are slightly different, one eye may be shaped a little different than the other, etc. Try not to let your imagination make you worry. In all likelihood, you are just fine! Best wishes. Gardenbear

oh man girls, this is really something. I spent the whole night, laying on the couch, because I had to much anxiety to lay in my bedroom...i don't know, I can't figure that one out either....all i know, is that, I felt "safer" in the living room

anyway, i had such breast pain in my left breast, and the nipple is sore! My left breast felt anywhere from warm to HOT, and then back again. Now, that scared me, since i had read last night,that a HOT (with reddness) breast, can be a sign of a breast infection. They never said from what, (such as maybe a cat scratch or whatever), they just say breast infection, and apparently, you can just get this any old time, well, like ANY infection...they don't know why. So, last night, on the couch, TRYING TO SLEEP, my left breast was really hurting, and making me feel sick, nauseas, plus, it was hot! Now, you just know, how panic sets in, and i laid there, covers over me, air cond. full blast, and went in and out of crazy sleep and dreams. I was really worried this was some kind of breast infection. I had to keep reminding myself, that this didn't happen UNTIL AFTER i had laid on my stomach for a few hours, so that must have started this, but then, when my breast got HOT, i immediatley thought, ..infection. OH GEEZ! Im telling you, this is to much! (at least, for me).

Today, it's SLIGHTLY better, and it's the first FULL DAY of my period, i was spotting yesterday when this began. I was chatting with some ladies here last night, and they made me feel so much better, and thank you all who were on the chat last night!!!!! Boy, did i need that reassurance! But, naturally, once I was off the chat, and going to bed, and the pain and nausea started up again, i once again, became panicky. I was to sick, and exhausted, to get back up, and get back on the chat. WHAT A NIGHT! I do keep looking at my breasts..lol....well, i have to! Today, they look better, well, my left one anyway, the problem one. Today, the nipple looks a bit more "relaxed", not as erect, as yesterday, but that still comes and goes. I keep thinking that the areola is a diff. color than the right one, is that normal?


There have to be more ladies out there with this.....please post, so I don't freak out! Listen, i know this sounds insane, but would you ladies please tell me about the changes your breasts go through, or have gone through, during peri,.....how they look, feel, do the nipples ever change, itch, and how about a HOT breast with pain? i know, this is crazy....but i just need more info. so i don't get so darn nervous.

thank you girls.........SO MUCH! sincerely, mydarling

My darling,

I will tell you some of what I went through about 3 years ago.

For starters let me say that whenj I was pregnant my nipples would get very sore so sore it hurt to wear a bra, not saying you are preg,, but the fact that hormones are the culprit.

A few years ago my breast started to become cysty every mo. vefore a period...this went from a week before to 2 weeks before until in was constant all mo. with the exception of the 2 days of a period. This went on for about 2 to 3 years with the worst being a year say 2006-2007. At this time I had a mammo. to make sure all was ok and it was, I was only 38 so this mammo was a bit early since they don't start then until 40 which I cannot understand why.

Anyway my breasts were so enlarged during this year...well one more so than the other and so painful when I woke and got up they would throb when th blood went through them. I thurt to take my bra off. I was lopsided to say the least with my R. being lumpy and huge while the left was almost normal...then it would switch. As I started to get hotflshes a year or so ago suddenly my breasts weren't so swollen and painful, as of now they rarely hurt at all even before a period. It is said that once the you are in meno. that this breast thing subsides....I am not meno. yet, but I believe that my estrogen must be so low that it is not effecting my breast tissue anymore like it was.


SEcondly Mydarling while I know health anxiety cannot be avoided at this time....I mean who wouldn't worry some about all these changes, I beg you to get help with the anxiety part...I will sound like a broken record if I have to. Contrary to what some others have said about it being "normal" there is nothing normal about feeling "safer" in the living room and losing night after nights sleep searching and worrying. This is not rational. I say this because I have had thoughts like this. Mine was the shower...I felt unsafe inb the shower when my anxiety was very high...now I know it was because i thought escape was somehow difficult in that place...for you to say that the living room was "safer" meant something about the bedroom made you feel more anxious and I will assume it was because the living room was ither near the door or more open, in short you felt less trapped in the living room. I cannot respond without begging you to please do something before it gets so out of hand you aren't functioning well. Trust me it will get progressivly worse because believe it or not you are learning behavoirs that are going to be hard to break the more they take root. BIG HUGS TO YOU mikki

and yes my breast were very warm during this time

Mydarling,

I have had something like that happen to I sleep on my stomach and have woken feeling as if my nipple was some how kinked while I was lying on it (if that makes sense),

nancy

My breasts have been very sore on and off since I started peri; I've noticed the nipples stand out more too. I'm now on bcp and even though I've lost weight my bras often seem too small. For me there is a cyclical element to it - can go like 10 days with the discomfort then it disappears. I've found this a lot with peri though in virtually all symptoms, which is where a symptoms journal can be so helpful with giving perspective when you're having a terrible day with half a dozen symptoms - you can look back and see that you've had similar days before when you were convinced your number was up, then things quietened down a bit. Don't mean to sound at all patronising by this - it's just a coping strategy that works for me. Hope you're feeling better today!

Hugs