The Ageless and Awesome Podcast

Balancing Hormones to Alleviate Breast Pain

• Susie Garden • Episode 254

Share episode

Ever wondered why breast pain seems to ramp up during perimenopause? This week on The Ageless and Awesome Podcast, I uncover the intricate dance of hormones behind this common yet rarely discussed issue. Learn how oestrogen's roller-coaster ride and progesterone's decline contribute to this painful problem and why it's crucial to keep a close eye on your breast health through monthly self-exams. We break down the nuances between cyclical breast pain and the persistent pain that perimenopause can bring, and offer practical steps to get relief.

From cutting back on alcohol to boosting your intake of cruciferous veggies, you'll gain actionable tips to support hormone balance and reduce inflammation. Hear about the benefits of phytoestrogens and supplements like Vitex, and how the right bra can make a world of difference. Plus, consider personalised herbal remedies with guidance from a naturopath or herbalist. Tune in and transform your approach to breast pain and overall well-being!

Send me a text!

Are you a woman feeling stressed, flat and experiencing the challenges of perimenopause or menopause?

It’s time to reclaim your youthful energy, radiance and self-assurance (and your ideal weight).

I’m here to help with my proven method.

Here's how I can support you -


1. Hit your health and wellbeing goals this year, balance your hormones and lose weight with your own personalised protocol, based on your body's biochemistry. Sounds awesome right!! Book a free 30 minute Peri Weight Loss Assessment with me so we can discuss your health and wellbeing goals and also see how I might be able to support you. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Book your call here. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

2. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@the.perimenopause.path

3. Join the waitlist for my innovative NEW 8 week group program, In Your Skin™️, for women in perimenopause and post-menopause who want effective solutions to manage skin changes at this time of life.

Speaker 1:

Hi, I'm Susie Garden and this is the Ageless and Awesome podcast. I'm an age-defying naturopath and clinical nutritionist and I'm here to bust myths around women's health and aging so that you can be ageless and awesome in your 40s, 50s and beyond. The Ageless and Awesome podcast is dedicated to helping women through perimenopause and menopause with great health, a positive mindset and outrageous confidence. Hit, subscribe or follow now and let's get started. Hello, gorgeous one, and welcome to this week's episode of the Ageless and Awesome podcast, and I'm excited about today's topic.

Speaker 1:

I haven't actually ever done a podcast episode on today's topic, and I don't know why, because it affects so many women, particularly in perimenopause, but often it can be at any time during their life. So I am going to talk about breast pain specifically in the context of perimenopause, but the cause of it is often the same cause as you have in other parts of your life or your cycle generally, actually, so it's kind of relevant whether or not you're in perimenopause, so let's get into it. It's not going to be a super long episode today because it really is actually a very, very simple situation. I guess for the most part because breast pain and the kind of breast pain that you can experience in perimenopause can be really quite significant. It can be quite painful. It can be literally just if you're walking around without kind of support of the breasts, it can be very, very painful and quite surprisingly so, particularly if you only ever had breast pain, say premenstrually, or just randomly or never. When you're suddenly getting breast pain every single day as soon as you get out of bed, it can be really quite disturbing. So I thought it was important to talk about it.

Speaker 1:

Now the thing is, our breast tissue has quite a lot of estrogen receptors in it. Now the thing is our breast tissue has quite a lot of estrogen receptors in it, so it's quite responsive to the fluctuations of estrogen that happen, whether it's during our menstrual cycle or whether it's the fluctuations of estrogen that happen in a more, I guess, extreme way when we're in the perimenopause kind of years. And I guess, first things first, if you are having pain or lumps in your breasts, you definitely need to get it checked out. I'm certainly not saying to kind of bring in the tips I'm going to share with you today without actually getting things checked, because you know, we all know it's really important to make sure we're very familiar with what is normal in our breast tissue and what is not.

Speaker 1:

If you're not doing monthly breast checks, you probably should start doing them. Try and do them on the same date every month, so you're getting the same part of your cycle. If you're still cycling and otherwise, it's just good to you know, pick a day, maybe it's your favorite number and you just know that that's the day you're going to do it, and that way it'll actually get done. But also, yeah, if you're still cycling, obviously there can be changes in the breasts at different times of your cycle. So if you're doing it on the same day each month, then you should get a relatively similar sort of picture going on with your breast tissue. So, yeah, that's the first thing is actually doing your monthly self-examination of your breasts, and if you're not sure how to do it, please Google it. There are so many fantastic resources available on the internet. That is one where you could safely get a good video online. Make sure it's by a qualified person a doctor, ideally and that will show you how to do it.

Speaker 1:

And yeah, if you are noticing and yeah, if you are noticing excessive breast pain, uh, and you're in your 40s or late 30s, it's possibly part of the perimenopause experience and it, as I said, it can be really quite just. I'll use the word disturbing. I don't know if that's the right, quite the right word, but it can be very painful, I've experienced it and it's not nice. So it's caused by what many, many other symptoms are caused by in peri and that is this dropping away of the progesterone, because progesterone is quite calming in many areas of the body and also in the breast tissue. And when we get this high estrogen, which we get, these surges of estrogen in perimenopause, that combination of the high estrogen and the lower progesterone. So with this relative estrogen excess which you may have heard called estrogen dominance we don't tend to use that language anymore we use the terminology of relative estrogen excess because when you think of estrogen dominance you're thinking of high estrogen, right, whereas you can have quite normal estrogen. But if you have low progesterone, which is one of the first sort of hormonal changes in perimenopause, is this rapid dropping of progesterone and then you will have a relative estrogen excess, even though your estrogen is actually within normal range, in inverted commas. So that's why we've changed the language around that and that's in the medical kind of field, and the natural health field has also gone that way as well.

Speaker 1:

And so, yeah, when you get this high estrogen and low progesterone picture, which is the really common cause of many of our symptoms in perimenopause, then breast pain can be the result of that, and I guess the differences I think you would find is that it would be present pretty much every day, rather than a cyclical kind of experience of breast pain. And it's often, you know, when you get up in the morning there's just like this heaviness and then pain in the breast, and it really can be quite nasty. So what do we do about it? Well, as I said, obviously make sure there's no, no underlying other issue going on there. So get them checked out, um, and if there is no other underlying option and you know you're in that kind of age group, then it is highly, highly likely that, um, you are experiencing this because of perimenopause, you are experiencing this because of perimenopause. So what we want to aim to do, I guess, is to help balance out that estrogen and progesterone by. There's a number of things we can do. We want to make sure that the estrogen is getting released and detoxified in a way that is I'm going to use the word normal. So again my inverted commas are coming out.

Speaker 1:

But, yeah, that your liver is working really well and that is through having a good diet full of lots of leafy greens and cruciferous veggies like cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts, kale, all of your cabbage family, all of that sort of stuff. All of these beautiful cruciferous veggies are fantastic for your liver health. If you do have any thyroid issues, then you just want to cook these cruciferous veggies really well, because they contain a little phytochemical called goitrogens and if you have a thyroid condition, they can be not so great for your thyroid function. If you have a perfectly healthy thyroid, then you don't need to worry. You can have these veggies raw or you can have them cooked, whatever. Yeah, but if you want an entire list of these cruciferous veggies, so that's spelled C-R-U, cruciferous, c-i-f-e-r-o-u-s, so cruciferous veggies, and they're really high in the nutrients that your liver needs to do its detoxifying job. So that is one thing. Increase those cruciferous veg. That really helps to support the liver and help with your estrogen detox.

Speaker 1:

You also want to make sure that you are. I know I always hate saying this, but really your alcohol intake does need to be potentially modified depending on how much you're having. But if you're having more than one or two drinks one or two times a week and you're having these symptoms, you probably need to really modify that, because we know for sure that alcohol is not great really for anything. It's enjoyable, hey, it's a lot of fun, but in terms of from a health point of view, there's not really any benefits. So if you're having symptoms and you're wanting to get rid of them, sometimes alcohol modification is necessary, and particularly at this time of a woman's life. So increasing cruciferous veg, really looking at your alcohol super important things for liver support.

Speaker 1:

Also, making sure your gut is working well. I've done a recent couple of episodes on gut health and how that impacts hormones. And if you're not eliminating regularly, like having a good bowel clean out regularly, then potentially you can get hormone imbalance and excess estrogen from that. So if you have chronic constipation, you're probably going to have a tendency to get the breast pain because of this relative estrogen excess if you're in perimenopause. So making sure you're looking after your gut health, whether that's making sure you're hydrated well, so 35 mils per kilo of body weight per day. Whether you need to increase your fiber. And if you're going to increase fiber, I always recommend that it's prebiotic fiber. Just again, get online, google it Prebiotic fiber really easy to find lists of those sorts of foods. Because you get the added benefit of them supporting your gut microbiome, because your gut bacteria love to feed on these prebiotic fibers. So you want to make sure you have a really good, regular elimination path. So there's two things supporting liver and supporting elimination through the gut are going to be amazing for improving your breast pain, improving your balance of your estrogen and your progesterone. Also, what I really recommend is wearing a good supportive bra, preferably without wires. That can be a lot more comfortable.

Speaker 1:

Also, some things that many people find useful is to eliminate dairy. Now, that doesn't mean having lactose-free dairy. That means eliminating dairy All right, and often when I'm working with clients specifically on this, we might eliminate it for at least two weeks. And I'm talking all dairy, even fermented dairy like yogurt, because if we're wanting to check to see if there is actually if that's causing a problem, we need to remove all of it. All of it. So cheese, remove all of it, all of it. So cheese, yogurt, ice cream, milk, all of it. If I emphasize that enough, because, yeah, I get a little bit saying, oh yes, I'm having lactose free milk in my coffee. Well, you may be actually having a reaction to the casein part of the milk, so removing the lactose isn't going to make a difference. So when we are actually working specifically with symptoms and symptom management with food, we have to bite the bullet and really go for a proper elimination. So eliminating dairy can be very helpful in managing breast pain.

Speaker 1:

Also, going to a low histamine diet Now that's a pretty complicated thing. There's a lot of foods that need to be eliminated when you go to a low histamine diet. However, generally speaking, when we're doing this sort of stuff, it's not necessarily going to be forever. Okay, as nutritionists we do not like restricting food for long, long periods of time. Sometimes it's absolutely necessary because it's going to affect a positive change in the body and correct things like inflammation, for example. That's what I work a lot with my clients in the GLOBE protocol is that we are eliminating foods that cause inflammation in the body and that helps to really improve symptoms across a multitude of different body areas and getting symptom improvements and things like that. So having a low histamine diet and again just go online and have a look at what that would entail sometimes can be very, very helpful because histamine in many people can worsen breast pain.

Speaker 1:

Also, you can eat some phytoestrogens, so plant-based estrogens, so that's things like so, plant-based estrogen, so that's things like lentils, flax seeds, flax seed oil, things like that. They can have a beneficial anti-estrogen effect and promote healthy estrogen metabolism. So, again, that's something that you can Google. I do for my clients. I provide lists of phytoestrogen foods to help with hormone balancing. But, yeah, generally the kind of foods are going to be seeds and legumes, so very easy to access, for no matter really what kind of diet you are on, generally speaking, people are going to be able to access some sort of phytoestrogen food, so that may be helpful. Phytoestrogen food, so that may be helpful.

Speaker 1:

In terms of other kind of supplements, sometimes I don't normally like recommending herbs, but Vitex can be. That's also known as chase tree. That can also be really helpful because it really helps support your progesterone. Now, it's not a miracle worker, but it can help a lot. I've taken Vitex on and off, oh gosh throughout my menstruating life and I found it's been very, very helpful, particularly for PMS, because it helps to, you know, modulate that progesterone and get that estrogen and progesterone back into balance. So that might be something worth trialing. I always do recommend that after you are going to look at herbal medicine, that you actually talk to a naturopath or a herbalist that can really give you some very specific advice with regard to your own situation. Own situation, it's really important.

Speaker 1:

You're not going to get enough of a dose of a herb in a tea. So if you're just having like some chase tree tea, look it's very nice but it's not really going to give you a therapeutic dose on a regular basis. And with Vitex particularly, you really need to be taking it for a bit of time, really consistently, to see the benefits from that particular herb. In fact, most herbs, when I'm talking medicinal herbs you do need to take them for a good six to eight weeks regularly to really see the full benefit of them, and it's usually worth the wait, usually worth the wait. It's usually worth the wait, usually worth the wait.

Speaker 1:

There is I will just very briefly touch on iodine for breast pain. Now, I am not a massive fan of prescribing iodine unless I've tested my patient for their iodine levels, for their iodine levels. So you can get that tested, because you can really do some damage with iodine to your thyroid gland if you you overdose on iodine. Now the thing is, most people are not getting enough iodine in their diet. I don't know if you recall iodized table salt used to be on everyone's kitchen table Growing up.

Speaker 1:

We always had it. My grandparents had it, like every household. I think in Australia had iodized table salt, but of course, as we know, probably over the last couple of decades it's all about the Himalayan salt, the rock salt, the sea salt, which is also fantastic and very nutritious and not nearly as refined. So that's really great. But there are a lot of us that are not having enough iodine on a regular basis, and one of the I mean, if you eat a lot of sushi, you probably are, because seaweed is a fantastic source of iodine in food, but there are not a lot of foods really that have iodine in it naturally. That's why you know we used to have the iodized table salt, because it was fortified and I think there are possibly some breads that are fortified.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so there are some foods, but many of us are a little deficient and so iodine supplementation might be valuable, but I would never personally be taking it unless I tested myself and I wouldn't prescribe it for a patient unless they I had actually tested them, because it is really that important. You do not want to screw around with your thyroid gland. So, yeah, and the thing is, you can get tested for iodine. You can also get tested for thyroid antibodies so that you can tell actually, is there anything going on with the thyroid? Now, again, if you're in Australia, that test cannot be done under Medicare unless you actually have a problem with your thyroid. It can be done through private pathology. So if you are working with a natural health practitioner like myself, we can order whatever tests, because you will be paying for them, not the government, not the taxpayer. So, and to be honest, it's actually not that expensive to get your own blood testing done. But what you know, you do need to know how to interpret it, and that's I would always be working with a practitioner so that you're getting the support that you need, particularly if a test comes back that doesn't look fantastic. So you're not panicking and you know you've got some professional guidance and you know what to do with a test that perhaps is not looking where we want it to be.

Speaker 1:

So I think that's all I want to talk about when it comes to breast pain. Talk about when it comes to breast pain. So yeah, just I guess to recap, ensuring you've got good detox going on with your liver and your bowel in particular really important. And you can do that through dietary, you can do that through hydration, you can do that through some phytoestrogens in the diet, you can try dairy free, you can try low histamine using alcohol. Whole bunch of things you can do that are really easy, accessible, they're not going to cost you anything. All of these things you can do and trial.

Speaker 1:

And also choosing a bra that's supportive, well-fitted and wire-free and there are some fantastic options these days. Covid it really promoted a lot of innovation in comfortable bras because we all got we're all about comfort during COVID and I know for myself I'm someone that's somewhat blessed in the breast department, so I've always really struggled to get bras that fit me properly because I'm pretty narrow around the back and I've got, you know, f cups at the front. So it's I've always struggled to get well-fitting bras, but COVID was fantastic for getting good bra innovation. So if you don't have a good wire-free bra, definitely go and have a look at some of the less conventional labels. You won't really find too much really if you're large busted in the department store, but a lot of the online providers have got awesome options and fantastic returns policies, so you can just buy with no risk and really find something super comfy. That's going to help, particularly if your breasts are sore, because it's awful, having experienced it myself. It is just it's awful, having experienced it myself horrible. So, yeah, I think I've pretty much covered everything. Oh, yeah, so Vitex I talked about and also thinking about iodine, but doing that with advice and with proper testing, so that you are not putting any kind of issue in your thyroid by using iodine when you have a thyroid issue. All right, I think that's about it.

Speaker 1:

If anyone has any questions, please let me know, particularly whether it's about breast pain, whether it's about anything else going on in your body that you're thinking oh, is this related to perimenopause or is this something else? I'd love to help you with your question. I'm always looking for questions for my Thursday Q&A episode, so I'm going to be back on Thursday with a fresh question. I haven't recorded that ep yet, so if you have one, I'm still looking at options. So, yeah, I hope you liked this episode.

Speaker 1:

If you did, I'd love to hear from you. I'd love you to leave me a review or to subscribe to the podcast. That really helps me to get other people knowing about it. Uh gosh, feel free to share with your friends. You could screenshot my uh my podcast and pop it in your stories. Oh gosh, and I'd be so excited if you did that. Please tag me at Susie Garden Wellness. If you do that, I'd be super excited.

Speaker 1:

Anyway, I think that's it today, so enjoy the rest of your week. I will be back on Thursday and I'll talk to you then. Thanks so much for joining me today on the Ageless and Awesome podcast. If you liked today's episode, please make sure you click the little plus button if you're on Apple Podcasts, or the follow button if you're on Spotify, so that you get each new episode delivered to you every week. If you like free stuff, then head to the show notes and click the link to receive my free Radiant Reset Hormone Detox Guide for Perimenopausal Women. Or, if you'd like to continue the discussion, head over to Instagram and DM me at SusieGardenWellness. I'd love to connect with you.

Head Shot

Susie Garden

Host