# How long until plugged ducts turn to mastitis?



## ~Jenna~ (Dec 7, 2003)

I've have a plugged duct for a few days and can't get it to clear up. I feel like crap, achey, etc, but no fever. I'm afraid that if I can't get it unplugged I will get mastistis. I've tried heat - both moist and dry, massage, rest, pumping and nursing like crazy in every position I can get ds in. It actually feels like it is getting worse. Any other ideas?


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## meowee (Jul 8, 2004)

Jenna-- if you are in that much pain you probably do have mastitis. I hope you don't mind but I'm just going to copy and paste my reply to *monismama* below. This may be an oversupply issue with you. Can you drink sage tea? Hope you feel better!

*****
I've had similar problems. You can read a thread I started here. If you are in as much pain as you sound like you're in, it is not just a plugged duct, it's mastitis. Mastitis has different levels.

1) There is the general body ache/ pain level, without fever, that is more mild (but still very painful and debilitating).
2) There is the acutely painful version with fever.
3) There is the recurrent version where you get either one and/or the other over and over again.

You don't necessarily have to have a fever to "really" have mastitis. I would recommend that you go through at least one course of antibiotics to see if this helps. If your OB won't give your a prescription, find someone who will. This might clear up the infection, but if it doesn't, you should try a natural approach, since you have a yeast problem, and you don't want to go on antibiotics over and over again for obvious reasons.

To naturally deal with the underlying infection you likely have, you can take Echinacea and Poke Root tinctures three times a day. You only need one drop of the Poke Root tincture, and a droperful of the Echinacea. And/ or, eat 6 whole cloves of raw garlic a day for seven days (the bottled capsules will not help you for infection). If you mash it into a paste with olive oil and a little salt, it is quite edible on bread.

You need to drink tremendous amounts of water.

To deal with the pain: You can take Advil or Benadryl (but not both) to ease the inflamation in your milk ducts. You need to take hot soaks in the tub, and use cold compresses alternating with hot compresses. Massage the bad breast with an electric toothbrush or just your hand. Cold, bruised cabbage leaves can be used as a compress.

Assume you are anemic until proven otherwise. Make sure you are taking a daily supplement that has the daily requirement or iron.

I hope this helps, and keep us updated. My experience was that few people know much about recurrent mastitis, including LCs and especially OBs. You need to do your own research, educate yourself, and take care of yourself. This is a "body" illness as much as a "boob" illness.

It's too soon for me to know if this is really going to be a help, but after suffering from recurrent mastitis for over a year, I finally had a long-decayed wisdom tooth pulled. I was amazed that I began to feel better, in terms of the pain in my breast and the general body aches, immediately. The pain that radiated from my right breast down my right arm got better. It's possible that the decayed molar was the cause of a low-grade infection that was supressing my immune system. So do go to the dentist when you are feeling better, to make sure that there are no hidden problems in your teeth.


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## VeganDoula (Aug 26, 2004)

I know they say use cabbage leaves for engorgement--I used it for my mastitis too and it seemed to help/feel better.


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## dukeswalker (Feb 1, 2003)

ok - those are all great ides - but not if you don't have an over supply issue - it could actually compromise your milk production. Usually - no fever means no infection. You can feel achy, crappy, etc but traditionally speaking the fever is the big indicator of infection. Ibuprofen helps, so does heat and gentle massage. I had a plugged duct that stuck around for awhile - I even had my midwife call in a scrip just in case...Every day it seemed to grow a little bit...Every day I made sure to take it easy, rest as much as possible, guzzle water, apply heat before every nursing session and let really hot water from the shower head shoot over that part of my breast while working the "plug" towards the nipple. I also had my dd nurse in a position where her chin was pointing towards the plug - their most effective "suck" is in that area. It hung around for 5-7 days but did get better. You could get some antibiotics now and it would probably clear things up but it also wipes out all of your good bacteria for no reason - so ...call a local LLL leader, they can give you all sorts of info...


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## wombat (Nov 3, 2002)

I think there are various 'grades' of mastitis. More info here:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/mastitis.html

I had lots of plugged ducts when I was pumping and my dd wasn't nursing well. And when dd wouldn't nurse at all, sometimes I had the plug for up to 3 days. In hindsight, I probably had a low grade mastitis like you're describing. I never went to a doctor or had any treatment, other than trying to clear the plugged ducts. It always cleared up on its own. Support your immune system with Vit C, zinc and lecithin is good for recurring plugged ducts.


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## Roon (May 23, 2004)

There's some great advice here but I'll echo wombat's suggestion about lecithin supplements. I was getting plugged ducts on a fairly regular basis - {{{rich milk!







}}} - so, at my doctor's suggestion, I began taking two 1200 mg lecithin capsules nightly. Now when I get a plugged duct (which is rare, thankfully!), I just pop 2 extra whenever I feel it coming on and the problem is cleared by morning. Not very scientific, but... there ya go.

Hope you're feeling much better by now!


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