Breast Tenderness in Teenagers and Young Adults

Can you remember back to when you were younger, to the time when you experienced breast tenderness? It's not easy being a young woman growing up. There is a constant roller coaster ride of emotions to feel and experiences to go through. Hormones are erratic, skin problems seem continual and your moods are up, oops now they are down, no wait, they are up!

Breast tenderness is normal and common when young women are going through puberty. Often they ache, causing discomfort. Embarrassment can be felt by what is thought as the "overnight" growth of your breasts. "Honestly, I could swear they weren't there yesterday!". Getting used to your breasts developing, having breast tenderness, feeling uncomfortable, finding what bra is right for you, whilst going through possible confidence and self esteem issues, can be a huge ordeal!

My advice for teenage girls and young adult women, is to learn the basics and be breast aware. Find someone you can talk to about what you are feeling and going through. For young women aged 20, I would encourage you to start doing monthly breast self exam. Why wait until you are 40! The sooner you get into the regular habit of doing this, the quicker you will become familiar with your breasts. Please get past the embarrassment and weird feeling of doing breast self exam. You and your girlfriends need to have a discussion about the signs of breast cancer - you owe it to yourself to talk it over with them.

Learning how to do regular breast exam, you will no doubt discover that you are like many of us, and have lumpy breasts. Don't panic and assume that your breast lump is breast cancer. More than likely, your lump or breast lumps you are feeling, are hormonal. That's why by doing your breast self exam each month, you get to know how your breasts normally feel, and know when to do your exam. Most breast tenderness at a younger age is usually associated with your cycle, so be aware and don't panic.

Young women also need to be aware of inflammatory breast cancer, which is a highly aggressive uncommon cancer, that does not have a breast lump. I am not trying to scare you girls, but do read up on inflammatory breast cancer so that you know the particular signs of breast cancer to look for.

For teenage girls, I think it's never too early to start talking about womens health issues and breast cancer. Education is so important and in my opinion it is never to early to start raising awareness. Sow the seed of breast health into your teenagers mind. She may not pick up on it right now, but with support and encouragement, open discussions and education, she may end up being a young adult who starts doing regular monthly breast self exam. Yippee to that I say!

Oh by the way girls, please don't roll your eyes with horror or boredom, if your mother or another female in your life has a breast talk with you. It is only because she cares!