Breast pain - could my under active thyroid be responsible?

[PottyDotty]

My GP wanted to reduce my thyroxine by 25mc a day, I renegotiated to reducing it my 25mcg every other day. However for the last three months, I have been suffering a lot of pain in my right breast. My GP referred me to the breast clinic at the hospital, but thankfully, nothing sinister was found by a manual examination. He has put me through for a mammogram in a couple of weeks to be certain, but he thinks the pain could be hormonal. Now at 74 years of age, I wouldn’t have thought I would still be suffering from hormonal imbalance. Just wondering if it could be anything to do with thyroxine as that is a hormone. Has anyone else had this problem? Many thanks.

[shaws Administrator]

What dose were you taking when GP reduced dose by 25 mcg? Sometimes the medical professionals jump to conclusions without testing vitamins/minerals and do not make sure we're on a proper dose of thyroid hormones and we are aiming for a TSH of 1 or lower (not somewhere int he ranges) and the vitamins/minerals should be near the top of the ranges.

Do you follow this procedure when having a blood test:-

Do you get the very earliest appointment.

It is a fasting test but you can drink water.

Allow a gap of 24 hours between your last dose of levo and the test and take it afterwards.

Do not take thyroid hormones before it but afterwards.

If GP hasn't tested, B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate ask for these next time as deficiencies can also cause symptoms.

Put the results onto a new post so that more members can view them.

[PottyDotty in reply to shaws]

Thank you Shaws. I was on 175 mcg daily, but because my tsh was 0.03 he tried to reduce it to 150 mcg daily. I did manage to get him to agree to 175 / 150 alternate days. I take so many supplements so pretty sure they are all optimum.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

PottyDotty

I have recently been through this. Even though I have had fibrocystic breasts for many years, this was something different. My mammogram showed nothing sinister and the consultant diagnosed Mastalgia, I am just a year younger than you so it can't be cyclical so that rules out treatment for cyclical mastalgia.

He gave me an information sheet which has a few treatment stragegies which you may wish to consider (assuming your mammogram also is clear). I am, of course, not diagnosing just passing on information that you may wish to consider.

1) Ensure you have an appropriately fitted and comfortable bra - so finding a good bra fitter is essential there.

2) A high fat diet and high caffeine intake have been associated with increasing levels of breast pain so this may be something to look at.

3) Dietary supplenments - either B6 or evening primrose oil. Too much B6 can cause it's own problems. Because the active component of EPO is GLA (gamma linolenic acid), he recommended Starflower Oil as this has a higher GLA content. He suggested 3 x high strength capsules daily for 4 months then either stopping or going onto a maintenance dose of 1 or 2 capsules. It's important to buy PA free Starflower Oil (PA = pyrrolizidine alkaloids) and after researching I found Higher Nature do a very good one.

4) Treat as if you have sprained your breast and in some circumstances topical anti-inflammatory gel (eg Voltarol Emugel) 3 times a day can be effective.

I hope that helps.

[PottyDotty in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you so much Susie. My Dr suggested similar self help, good fitting bra, ibuprofen gel, flaxseed, Agnus Castus and evening primrose oil. I am already on a very low fat regime but do drink quite a lot of coffee. I will try and limit my intake now though, to see if it helps. He also said if the pain continues, I could try tamoxifen as a last resort, but I really don’t want to go down that avenue.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to PottyDotty]

The information that I was given says that Tamoxifen is used for the suppression of menstrual cycle and cyclical mastalgia and noted to have quite marked side effects, eg overgrowth of the lining of the womb and an increased risk of developing clots in the leg, severe hot flushes and menopausal symptoms, so maybe not the right drug considering yours wouldn't be cyclical mastalgia.

It might be worth trying the Starflower Oil first.

[PottyDotty in reply to SeasideSusie]

Exactly. I will give Star flower oil a try. Something must work. I do find a hot water bottle under my right arm does help. Xx

[alysonkerry-]

Hi there

My initial diagnosis for hypothyroidism came because I suffered breast pain for several months granted I was in my early 40’s but after many visits to my GP because I wasn’t presenting with obvious thyroid symptoms he never suspected hypothyroidism. Once diagnosed and given correct dosage of thyroxine pain disappeared. Hope this helps

[PottyDotty]

Thank you so much for your response. I know it’s not much use asking my GP because their knowledge of thyroid conditions often leave much to be desired.