# How long before I feel better/mastitis?



## OliverJuice (Feb 15, 2006)

I've been on an antibiotic for mastitis for 6 days. I feel better, but not completely better. It is still grit your teeth painful when baby nurses on the affected side and my cracked nipple is not healing very well on that side. I have large breasts and just my arm resting agains it still hurts. Y'day and today is the first days that 800 mg of advil has even touched the pain. If I am not in bed all day long, it hurts worse, but even then still very painful.

Should I be feeling more relief?? I just finished two rounds of other antibiotics for a nasty bladder infection that would not go away so I"m thiniking I may have a yeast infection in my milk ducts....How would I know for sure? I really haven't had a fever with this whiole thing, I had a minor fever of 99.9 at the doctors when I went in 6 days ago, but I have not felt feverish any other time.

When baby nurses it is like FIRE running through my breast. And after he is done for an hour at least it is like fire in the breast.

Thoughts??? Advice? TIA!!!

~beth~


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## MizLiz (Jan 23, 2005)

If you are still having grit-your-teeth pain when you are nursing then it sounds to me like you may have a problem with your dc's latch. Even with extremely cracked nipples with my dd, if my latch was good (lots of areola in her mouth, good positioning, etc.) then it didn't hurt too much. If I didn't have a good latch then I'd be so tense when I was nursing that it kept my milk from letting down properly which just made things worse. I also kept getting mastitis (like more than five times!) until my latch was better because the bad latch kept my cracked nipples from healing and I would continually get bacterial infections as a result.

So what I'm suggesting after my long intro is that you consult a lactation consultant or local LLL leader to figure out if your latch is good. Even if they say it looks fine, if it hurts then there is room for improvement - so keep asking for more help until nursing feels better and until your cracks start to get better. Even with cracks, breastfeeding should not be as painful as you describe it. Hang in there!


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## DaryLLL (Aug 12, 2002)

It does sound like you have thrush brought on by all those antibiotics. You can get something made up at the drugstore called APNO (all purpose nipple ointment) which is good for bacterial infections as well as thrush.

Hunt all around kellymom.com for nipple pain and thrush protocols (type in "thrush" in the search bar on the main pg). Here is a place to start:

http://www.kellymom.com/newman/03b-t...s_breasts.html

http://www.kellymom.com/newman/20fluconazole.html

The typical symptoms of a Candida infection of the nipples are:

* Nipple pain that begins after a period of pain free nursing. Though there are a few other causes of nipple pain that begin later, Candida infection is definitely the most common. The nipple pain of Candida may begin without an interval of pain free nursing, however.
* Burning nipple pain that continues throughout the feeding, sometimes continuing after the feeding is over.
* *Pain in the breast that is "shooting" or "burning" in nature and which goes through to the mother's back and shoulder. This pain is usually worse toward the end of the feeding, and worsens still more after the feeding is over.* It also tends to be much worse at night. This pain may occur without any nipple pain.


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## JenniferC (Dec 5, 2002)

If your breasts are still red and inflamed you could try some homeopathic belladonna for the infection, that always cleared mine up







, hope you feel better soon!


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## heatherdavis (Feb 23, 2006)

I just finished day 7 of antibiotics for mastits, but I felt much better after about 3 days! My midwife wanted me to call if I wasn't feeling better after a few days on the antibiotics b/c she said sometimes it's not the right medicine for the infection. I guess there are a few different kinds of antibiotics to try if one isn't working to clear it up. I am not usually an antibiotic-taking oerson, so I don't know much about it! I did try homeopathic belladonna (for fever, redness, inflamation) and bryonia (for achy joints). I think they helped, but I got a strange reaction on my tongue!

Anyway, I would check with your cargiver and let them know how you're feeling. You should be feeling 100% better after 6 days, not grit-your-teeth pain!

Masitis sucks! I hope you feel better soon!


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## Cajunmomma (Nov 21, 2001)

I think that if the antibiotic is going to work, you should start to feel better after a day or two. It sounds like the mastitis may be becoming resistent to the drugs that you are using--especially since you've been taking so many antibiotics.

For my last, I had recurrent bouts of mastitis that were very painful and not always accompanied by fever. I used a homeopathic remedy called "phytollaca" that worked like a dream for me every time I used it. I also had problems with a bladder infection several years ago that wasn't cured by a couple of rounds of antibiotics. A homeopathic doctor that I knew cured it with a herbal remedy in about 24 hours. I don't remember what he used (but I think it was something like bearberry maykbe--any herbalists out there?).


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## Lact-o-Mama (Jan 27, 2006)

Mastitis is awful! Hugs Mamma!
I would definately suggest running a treatment for thrush, all those antibiotics are sure to cause some yeast overgrowth. I'm a little concerned about the "extra" antibiotics that you mentioned taking for a bladder infection...maybe they cancelled out the pills for the mastitis, or caused them to be ineffective in some way? Taking more than one pill at a time for something could be why your mastitis is still lingering.
Many mothers with recurring mastistis have found the culprits lay within their eating habits/food choices. Some of the foods that feed yeast are dairy, sweets/sugar, mushrooms, beer etc. Foods that combat yeast are things like yogurt with active bacterial cultures.
You can get "Gentian Violet" really cheap from your pharmacists counter. Its a purple dye that you paint your nipples and areola with 4x's a day for 3days. It's very messy and stains clothing but it has the highest rate of effectiveness for curing thrush. You'll also want to boil anything that contacts babies mouth ie: pacifiers, nipples etc.
I used the antiobiotic "Keflex" for my mastitis and it worked well, I had relief after 2 days and was all cleared up after about 5 days.
You may also want to try different nursing positions to ease the discomfort, like the football hold. This will change the pressure on the affected area.
You could also try a little bit of breast compression during nursing to ensure that babe drains you as well as possible.
un-drained breasts= possible mastitis breakout
Rest as much as possible, get in bed for a few days with dc, nurse un-restricted and hopefully you will find some relief soon.
Let us know how things go.


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