What a hopping bunch you all are - of all the lists I am on, this is by far
the most active!

I have a former client who has a problem that is causing her great distress.
 I say former because she is no longer nursing and though she therefore falls
out of our usual field boundries, she cannot find anyone to answer her
questions.

She is a 38 yr old woman who has suffered for four years with chronic
bilateral non-cyclical breast pain.  The onset of her symptoms occured at the
age of 34, three months after weaning her second child (she has two children,
now aged 8 and 5, breastfed for 13 and 17 months respectively).  Her pain
varies in frequency and intensity, and shifts from side to side, sometimes
even within the same day, though the pain occurs with greater frequency on
the left side.  She experiences pain on a daily basis for long stretches of
time without relief.  Her symptoms have not responded to alternative
treatments such as acupuncture, homeopathy, diet changes (no caffeine...),
oil of evening primrose, psychotherapy and pain clinic treatment.  She has
gotten relief only from daily low doses of amitriptyline (elavil) prescribed
for chronic pain.  She prefers to not take a drug daily.  A mammogram and two
different bilateral breast ultrasounds have revealed no abnormalities.

She has several questions that have not been answered to her satisfation by
either  medical providers or literature that she has seen:
* How common is this problem in women, and how can she find other women
suffering from it?
* What is the rate of spontaneous remission among woman with chronic
(cyclical or) non-cyclical breast pain?
* What are the effects of this condition on further pregnancies, lactation or
menopause?
* Are with women with chronic (cyclical or) non-cyclical breast pain more
prone to breast cancer?
* What other remedies are there for the pain or for alleviating the
condition?

Thanks for what ever info you can provide for me.

Sharon Fontaine Terry