Ped meds for breast pain?

[CecileSF]

Hello. I'm in the peds unit for clinical rotations and don't know what to make of this prescription. I have a question about a medication for healthy female patient about 11 yrs old for breast pain. She doesn't have breast yet, so it was for pain around the nipples. I believe she is going through puberty and just doesn't realize it yet. I know breasts get sore when they are growing as a child. I asked her about the pain and she doesn't know why it is happening (no truma stated) and it doesn't seem like she knows about changes in her breast with puberty. She has no upper body diseases or any indications for why she would receive this med. It was simply for slight pain in the breasts area. The med wasn't pain killers like tylenol or advil either. Perhaps the doctor who prescribed it to her knew about the puberty but the child wasn't explained why the med was given. Unfortunately I don't have the name of the medication. But the one given at my hospital was a light pink opaque liquid that was slightly grainy, could be different else where.

Has anyone given or heard of medications given to young females to deal with breast growth soreness? Is it safe? Will it affect breast growth or puberty of the female?

Thanks for any help on this!

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

Would you recognize the name if you saw it? If so, you could search for "pre-pubescent breast pain" and see what comes up.....

I think most of us old ducks were told we had "growing pains" (even if the 'growth' didn't show up for a couple of years- lol)....and had to suck it up.

Without knowing the med, you can't look it up for side effects, or safety. Also, see if one of the regular nurses on the floor is familiar with this :) You'd have the med there, and be able to get more info- good luck :)

I just did a "prepubescent breast pain" search, and found that exact phrasing on 4 different sites....supposedly by a prepubescent girl who uses the word "prepubescent" - sounds a bit odd.... be careful what sites you reference :)

[kaliRN]

OP: I think the greater thing you can take from this experience is how you could have better addressed your concern. If you are still a student and issues about a medication arise, take the opportunity to address it with the staff RN for this patient, or if she is not receptive to or unable to answer your concerns, your clinical instructor. Since you do not know the name of the med, addressing safety and side effects is nearly impossible for us on AN. Not that this isn't a tremendous resource to flush out unique concerns such as this one, but the patient's RN would have a much clearer picture than anyone here.

Sounds like a missed opportunity for education. If the patient needed education about puberty and body changes, the RN could have addressed this with her family and then offered appropriate educational resources depending on how and in what manner the family wanted to address this with their child. Maybe the medication is for an entirely different purpose that the patient is not aware of or confused about.

I can see that you are trying to process this information and are asking good questions by thinking of what else (like trauma or underlying disease in that area of the body) might be behind the prescription. I just want to encourage you to ask those questions as soon as you get them. Most RNs are great resources (and yes, I know some are not - I remember those too), but as I said your clinical instructor is a resource also.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

I would ask the primary RN for this patient.

[CecileSF]

This is late, but thank you for all your replies.