What causes breast pain during menstruation?

I have heard many words to praise female friends, and the one I hear most often is "beautiful as a flower." If female friends are as beautiful as blooming flowers, then breasts are the softest buds. This shows how important a position breasts occupy. However, many female friends have reported that their breasts often feel swollen and painful during menstruation. So, what is going on?

Throughout the menstrual cycle, the sex hormones in women undergo cyclical changes. In the first half of the menstrual cycle, under the influence of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), the follicles gradually mature, estrogen levels increase, and the breasts show proliferative changes. At this time, the breasts will show signs of stretching of the mammary ducts, epithelial hyperplasia, enlargement of the alveoli, and expansion of the duct lumens, leading to edema of the periductal tissues and congestion of the local tissues. Therefore, the breasts will become noticeably swollen and even painful during this period.

Especially 3 to 4 days before menstruation, the ductal epithelial cells in the lobules hypertrophy, and the secretions between the lobes and the terminal ducts increase significantly. Therefore, many women will feel breast swelling, enlargement, tension and firmness before menstruation, and even have varying degrees of pain and tenderness, and sometimes lumps can be felt.

After menstruation, the levels of estrogen and progesterone in the body decrease rapidly, the stimulation of estrogen on the mammary gland weakens, the secretion of mammary duct epithelial cells decreases significantly, the cells begin to shrink and fall off, the edema subsides naturally, the volume of the mammary lobules and alveoli decreases, the breasts become smaller and softer, and the pain and tenderness will gradually disappear.

Women are like flowers that are about to bloom, so such delicate flowers need careful care. Especially for women during menstruation, they must pay more attention to the maintenance of their bodies, avoid eating irritating foods, keep their underwear clean, etc. After reading the above content, I believe that friends must have a certain understanding of what causes breast pain.