Mastitis

Hi Venus
I seem to remember on either this forum or the other one that u had recurrent blocked ducts leading to mastitis.
Did you discover the reason for this? I keep getting blocked ducts and then it becomes soooo sore and I end up having to take anti-biotics.
I finished a course about a week ago, but now I have another painful blocked duct in another place! And the hot/cold compress thing doesnt work for me..... help please???

Aaargh LL, I'm so sorry - this is awful & very annoying, I know!

I had blocked ducts & mastitis 5 times & after the 4th dose of antibiotics, they sent a sample of my milk (mixed with blood & puss - apologies if TMI!) away to the lab to be tested. So as it turned out, I had been on the wrong kind of antibiotics all along! Perhaps Honeybunch can elaborate a little here, but the GP explained to me that there are 2 different types of bacteria: those that live with bacteria - and those that don't. They had assumed that I had the bacteria that lives with oxygen & gave me the antibiotics for that. But they may as well have given me Smarties, because it did nothing. As soon as they gave me the correct antibiotics, the mastitis FINALLY cleared up, once and for all. I can't tell you how relieved I was.

So you're saying that the hot / cold compress thing doesn't work for you. Perhaps you should try to massage the sore part of your breast (I know it sounds impossible!) when you have it all soaped up in the shower. That sometimes worked for me a bit.

Good luck. I hope it goes away. I really do feel so so sorry for you. It really is just awful.

Though I never (fortunately!) had mastitis, I got blocked ducts repeatedly as well. It's probably not the same, as I don't think mine was caused by bacteria. But this is what worked for me:

The MOMENT I start to feel ill, I had to take 2 NSAIDS. If I wait too long, they don't work. Then I take them for about 2 days. Also, the moment I feel the lump/pain I start massaging with arnica oil (just remember that this has peanut oil extract in, so I'm not sure what about allergies...). And then I sit the whole day with a hot water bottle on that arnica oil. Just keep an eye on your temperature. I usually got a bit of a fever with the block duct and a hot water bottle probably isn't the best thing then, but the myprodyl's hopefully took care of that.

Good luck, I too hope it's better soon. This is extremely painful, shame man.

Oh my goodness. I'm crynging here. That must hurt like hell. I've only had blocked ducts twice before and I just made sure that I let Leschel/Jasmine drink even when it was empty. It was painful but eventually I felt them pop and they came out. I can't even imagine the pain you must be in.

thanks all, thats actually brilliant advice! will try in steps....