The Hidden Symptoms of Breast Cancer and How to Reduce It

By Cathy Halls


There are many abnormalities that a woman might experience having to do with her breasts, but often, many don’t think that it’s anything to worry about. Here’s what you need to know about weird, painful or scary developments.

1. Breast Shape
The first symptom to look out for is a change in the shape or size of your breast. If this happens, a woman could have a tumor that is growing deep inside of her breast tissue. Therefore, always be looking for changes. Face a mirror and move your arms around so that you can see different angles of your breasts. Also, pay attention to whether or not it suddenly feels tighter than it previously did.

2. Pain in the Armpit
When a woman has a lot of pain underneath her arm, a doctor should have a look at it. This is because this is the first place that breast cancer develops. Usually, a woman can check for these symptoms with their fingertips very carefully. If a woman finds a lump that seems to be hard, and it will not move, this could be a sign of breast cancer. Also, the tissue under a woman's arms could be very dense compared to the tissue under the other armpit.

3. Changes in Nipples
If a woman starts to notice changes in her nipple, she should be alarmed. Since a tumor can change the appearance of the nipple, this is a big sign. Your nipple can also become inverted or flatter than it normally would be, compared to the other nipple. Plus, the nipple may be a lot more sensitive than normal. The nipple could also have blood coming out of it - if this doesn’t alarm you, I don’t know what will.

4. Sore Breasts
The fourth major symptom is when a woman's breasts become very sore or red. In fact, the skin on a breast might be very hot and irritated when touched. This is often a sign that the woman has inflammatory breast cancer. It’s the only type of breast cancer that is going to cause a woman's breast to become red and sore at the touch. The skin of the breast could also get dimples, along with some purplish areas that look like bruises.

5. Upper Back Pain
Most of the time, back pain is going to happen way before any of the other symptoms of breast cancer appear. The pain usually occurs between the shoulder blades. A lot of times, a woman is going to mistake this upper back pain for a pulled ligament or just sore muscles. This is going to be especially true if you do a lot of exercise. Don’t be fooled, get it checked out!


Reducing Breast Cancer

Nothing can totally prevent breast cancer, but studies have suggested that there are a few things that a woman can do to reduce the chances of getting it. The first thing is to limit the amount of alcohol that she drinks on a daily basis. Also, control your weight. Make sure you get plenty of physical activity on a daily basis, and also, believe it or not, breast feed when you have a baby. Lastly, avoid any kind of hormone therapy.

Cathy Halls writes about health, finance & saving money at www.dentalinsurance.net.

Posted in: Healthcare,Self Care