Shooting Pain In Breast
What Causes A Shooting Pain in the Breast, and What to Do About It
Physicians will typically advise that a shooting pain in the breast, or other breast pain or soreness, is not serious. Based on examples in health care interactive sites for women, a sharp breast pain seems to affect women age 18 and up.
Possible causes related to general beast pain or a sharp, shooting pain:
Excessive caffeine or cheese consumption, or nicotine use
Certain drugs, including: hormone replacement treatments (common), cardiovascular or psychiatric drugs, tranquilizers (less common)
Unmanaged stress
A benign lump in the breast
Trauma to the chest wall, or other breast trauma caused externally. The related pain can last several months
Heart disease
Digestive problems such as GERD
Activity such as lifting or athletics, that causes muscle strain near the breast region
Large breasts which are not adequately supported, causing strain on breast ligaments
Arthritis
Shingles
Tissue disease
Cancer
Think about any strenuous movement or repetitive motion that could have set off the pain. Or, if you’ve been under stress, attempt to manage it better. There are wonderful guided meditation programs, or you can use a sport or hobby to help you relax.
If you use any of the above medications, a doctor can supervise a test to see if stopping them makes the pain go away. If you consume a lot of caffeine or cheese, stop them one at a time to see if their elimination corresponds with cessation of pain in the breast. When trying elimination of certain possible triggers, keep records of when the pain occurs. Document what you were doing when it happened.
If you have explored these possibilities as well as others, discussed with a physician and ruled them out, you should be checked for breast cancer. There is a lot of disagreement about a shooting pain in the breast being a signal of cancer, but in fact, some women who have breast cancer report a pain of exactly this type.
By no means is this cause for alarm. If caught early, you may be able to prevent cancer altogether. If you have a pain in the breasts and it does not go away within 2 months, especially if it always occurs in the same location, you should seek advice regarding the possibility of cancer, particularly if you have a history of cancer in the family*.
Some methods of alleviating a shooting pain in the breast or other breast pain and soreness, suggested by the Harvard Medical School, are:
Pain relievers – occasional use only
Avoidance of nicotine, caffeine and cheese
Low fat diet – made up of less than 20% of calories from fat
evening primrose oil
fish oil supplements
tamoxifen danazol, bromocriptine – These can impose significant side effects
*Note: Regarding all types of cancer, you should research and document all incidents of cancer on both your mother and father’s side of the family. The list should include: your relationship (aunt, grandparent, mom, etc), date and type of cancer, and the outcome. If your cancer history is not provided, your doctor will be unable to take necessary screening steps. If screened and caught in time it could save you from a lumpectomy or mastectomy.