What Could be Causing Breast Pain?

What Causes Breast Pain?

Breast pain can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'life-threatening' to 'generally fatal'. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.

Diagnose your symptoms now!

check your overall health status
understand what's happening to your body
have a doctor review your case (optional)

Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose breast pain, we could:

Research the topic
Find a doctor with the time
Use a diagnostic computer system.

The process is the same, whichever method is used.

Step 1: List all Possible Causes

We begin by identifying the disease conditions which have "breast pain" as a symptom. Here are two possibilities:

Ectopic Pregnancy
Breast Cancer

Step 2: Build a Symptom Checklist

We then identify all possible symptoms and risk factors of each possible cause, and check the ones that apply:

bloodstained nipple discharge

occasional unexplained vomiting

breast cancer

history of breast cancer

late birth of first child

acute abdominal pain

unexplained missed periods

breast cancer in family members

very early puberty onset

long-term low-carb dieting

discharge from one nipple only

single-pore nipple discharge

... and more than 20 others

Step 3: Rule Out or Confirm each Possible Cause

A differential diagnosis of your symptoms and risk factors finds the likely cause of breast pain:

Cause	Probability	Status
Ectopic Pregnancy	91%	Confirm
Breast Cancer	61%	Possible

* This is a simple example to illustrate the process

Arriving at a Correct Diagnosis

The Analyst™ is our online diagnosis tool that learns all about you through a straightforward process of multi-level questioning, providing diagnosis at the end.

In the Female-Specific Symptoms section of the questionnaire, The Analyst™ will ask the following question about breast pain:

Are you currently experiencing breast tenderness, soreness or swelling that is not associated with your menstrual cycle? If it is related to your cycle, answer the question that comes later.

Possible responses:

→ Don't know / it is related to my cycle
→ No
→ Yes, slight, for under 1 month
→ Yes, severe, for under 1 month
→ Yes, for over 1 month

Based on your response to this question, which may indicate not having non-cyclical breast pain, recent non-cyclical breast pain or chronic non-cyclical breast pain, The Analyst™ will consider possibilities such as:

Breast Cancer

Many women with breast pain worry that it might be breast cancer. This is very unlikely. Breast pain is very common – about 70% of women have it at some time. Doctors at the Edinburgh Breast Unit have looked at the medical records of more than 8,500 women who attended the Unit simply because of breast pain. They found that less than 3% of these women – whose breast pain was probably quite severe – had breast cancer. Breast cancer is extremely unlikely if your only symptom is pain that varies with the menstrual cycle, or if both breasts are affected.

Ectopic Pregnancy

Concerned or curious about your health? Try The Analyst™