Chest Pain During Pregnancy

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

Chest pain during pregnancy

The chest in the broadest sense of the word is the rib cage, which consists of the bone frame, pectorals, intercostal muscles and, last of all, the mammary glands. The internal organs of the chest are also subject to all sorts of pathological changes. Almost after conception, women experience discomfort or pain in the breasts during pregnancy, which are associated with changes in hormonal levels. But this is not the only reason for the onset of pain.

Women suffering from mastopathy are "accustomed" to the condition that occurs before menstruation. Usually, increased pain in the chest worries patients and doctors due to oncological alertness - the fear of developing breast cancer.

When the chest starts to hurt during pregnancy

However, not all pain sensations are associated with changes in the mammary glands. Therefore, when the chest begins to hurt during pregnancy, it is necessary to undergo an additional examination in order to identify the following pathological conditions:

• Angina pectoris;
• Intercostal neuralgia;
• Tonsillocardial syndrome;
• Myositis of the pectoral muscles;
• Respiratory pathology.

With angina pectoris, chest pains often occur during pregnancy, localized behind the sternum with irradiation to the left mammary gland. On examination, both mammary glands are equally enlarged, the nipples are slightly raised, there are no nodes. An electrocardiogram allows you to identify the true cause of pain.

Intercostal neuralgia also provokes acute chest pain during pregnancy. At the same time, the back hurts in the thoracic region, which may be associated with the phenomena of osteochondrosis. If even in the last twentieth century this pathology belonged to diseases of maturity, now intervertebral hernias are diagnosed when examining middle school students.

With exacerbation of chronic tonsillitis, chest pain occurs. They mimic ischemic heart disease with a characteristic irradiation to the nipple area of the mammary glands.

Colds are sometimes accompanied by inflammation of the muscles in the chest, which are located behind the mammary glands. Naturally, this causes chest pains, and during pregnancy, the mammary glands also hurt.

With bronchopneumonia, every cough push provokes acute pain. Inflammation of the respiratory organs is always associated with their functions, so a painful exhalation or inhalation is felt.

Chest hurts at the beginning of pregnancy

With a normal pregnancy, the mammary glands are preparing for feeding the baby. Under the influence of hormones, the mammary glands increase in volume. This leads to unpleasant sensations, such as:

• Feeling full;
• Itching and burning in the area of the mammary glands;
• The appearance of chest pain during pregnancy from mechanical stress - touching, rubbing against a bra;
• The appearance of a discharge of colostrum from the nipples.

Such changes are characteristic of primiparous women and are genetically determined. Therefore, there is an individual sensitivity in pregnant women. Some have severe chest pain at the beginning of pregnancy, while others develop skin stretch marks. Repeated pregnancies (if the first ended in childbirth, not interruption), as a rule, are felt only by the secretion of colostrum, and even then not in everyone. The mammary glands have already undergone a growth process with a subsequent return to their original size, so their enlargement is not accompanied by troubles.

As a rule, after the formation of the placenta, changes in the mammary glands end. This happens by 16-18 weeks. In some cases, chest pains stop during pregnancy at 12-14 weeks, along with early toxicosis.

It was noted that in women doing special gymnastics with a load on the pectoral muscles, there is an outflow of lymph from the space located behind the mammary glands. As a result of active drainage, cell metabolism improves, painful sensations disappear.

There is no drug treatment for chest pain during pregnancy.

Chest pain during pregnancy due to a malignant process

Pregnancy-associated breast cancer is an age-related phenomenon. Often a malignant process is provoked by conception or breastfeeding in women over 45 years old. Recently, such cases have become more frequent due to the "late" birth of the first child. Of particular concern is the contingent of re-pregnant, but primiparous, due to hormonal disruption after the violent termination of a previous pregnancy.

Symptoms of breast cancer are masked due to physiological pain in the chest during pregnancy, however, one should pay attention to the fact that the malignancy of the process develops on one side. In addition, the thesis of oncologists that "there is no cancer without precancer" is an axiom. When a woman was diagnosed with a precancerous condition even before pregnancy, such a pregnant woman should be observed not only by an obstetrician-gynecologist, but also by an oncologist.

Newly diagnosed cancer associated with pregnancy can be easily treated without the use of chemotherapy, which can adversely affect the fetus.

The chest stopped hurting during pregnancy

An alarming phenomenon when carrying a child in the early stages is the sudden cessation of symptoms of toxicosis. Sometimes this happens without any intervention of doctors and independent treatment: at any time up to 11-12 weeks, the chest suddenly stopped hurting during pregnancy, nausea disappeared, dizziness and other troubles stopped. In such cases, it is necessary to urgently undergo an ultrasound examination. If the early termination of toxicosis is associated with the individual characteristics of the organism, the condition of the fetus does not suffer. In the worst cases, the so-called "missed pregnancy" is diagnosed, which is a miscarriage.

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