It WAS mastitis

I finally went to the urgent care clinic today because I just wasn't getting
any better. Sat there for over 3 hrs, but it was worth it, because I was
diagnosed with mastitis that would have abcessed without antibiotics
(according to the doc). I got a prescription for keflex (sp?) and should be
much better tomorrow. Just knowing that I am already in the process of
getting better makes me feel good again.

I didn't want to go sit in a waiting room over the holidays, but if I were
given the choice to make again, I would have gone in 3 days ago. After
suffering through the nights of delirious fever, aches, chills, horrible
sweats, etc, not being able to hardly care for myself or my newborn, feeling
like my breast had a spike being driven through it, I can't believe how
stubborn I was in thinking I would be able to "shake it off".

If anyone else is faced with similar symptoms, don't mess around. The doc I
saw said it doesn't get better without antibiotics, which is probably an
exaggeration, but I believe I would have gotten much sicker...

Betsy

"oregonchick" wrote in message
. ..

If anyone else is faced with similar symptoms, don't mess around. The doc
I
saw said it doesn't get better without antibiotics, which is probably an
exaggeration, but I believe I would have gotten much sicker...

It's not an exaggeration. Mastitis is an infection and *will* get worse if
left untreated. Make sure that you nurse on that side to get the milk
flowing. You might want to take a warm bath and gently massage downward
toward the nipple to clear things out. I hope you feel better soon.

JennP.

JennP wrote:
"oregonchick" wrote in message
. ..

If anyone else is faced with similar symptoms, don't mess around. The doc
I
saw said it doesn't get better without antibiotics, which is probably an
exaggeration, but I believe I would have gotten much sicker...

It's not an exaggeration. Mastitis is an infection and *will* get worse if
left untreated. Make sure that you nurse on that side to get the milk
flowing. You might want to take a warm bath and gently massage downward
toward the nipple to clear things out. I hope you feel better soon.

I'd be tempted to nurse IN a warm bath... You'd be more relaxed, which
would help the pain, and the warmth would get the milk going more
easily for the baby... You can even massage them while you're there.

If you don't have someone there to help you get in and out of the tub
safely with the baby, try putting a bouncey seat or a boppy pillow
covered with a towel just outside the tub. Put the baby into it while
you get yourself in, and then put the baby in and wrap her up while you
get yourself out. I find this MUCH less nerve wracking than trying to
stand up in a slippery tub with a baby (though we prefer showers - it's
still easier). I just wish we had a bigger bathroom, because our
bouncey seat takes up the whole place.

Also, you might try taking a tube sock and filling it up with rice (NOT
Minute Rice - it'll start a fire), and putting it in the microwave for
a minute at a time until it's a nice temperature. It's a gentle, moist
heat, and may soothe your sore breast.

So glad you got treated Betsy, and that you're on the mend. Keflex is
good stuff. It'll cure what ails you.

Amy

"oregonchick" wrote in message
. ..
I finally went to the urgent care clinic today because I just wasn't
getting any better. Sat there for over 3 hrs, but it was worth it, because
I was diagnosed with mastitis that would have abcessed without antibiotics
(according to the doc). I got a prescription for keflex (sp?) and should
be much better tomorrow. Just knowing that I am already in the process of
getting better makes me feel good again.

I didn't want to go sit in a waiting room over the holidays, but if I were
given the choice to make again, I would have gone in 3 days ago. After
suffering through the nights of delirious fever, aches, chills, horrible
sweats, etc, not being able to hardly care for myself or my newborn,
feeling like my breast had a spike being driven through it, I can't
believe how stubborn I was in thinking I would be able to "shake it off".

If anyone else is faced with similar symptoms, don't mess around. The doc
I saw said it doesn't get better without antibiotics, which is probably an
exaggeration, but I believe I would have gotten much sicker...

Betsy


betsy, how awful for you. i really hate to say i told you so, but when you
posted on christmas eve, i responded that you had mastitis for sure.
I wonder if my posts are not showing up on your server. I even checked in a
few times b/c i felt bad for you having mastitis over the holiday break.
when i had my worst bout of mastitis, (almost at christmas time too
co-incidentally) the fever and shakes etc was quite awful, so for you to
hvae that for days on end.....

anyway, i hope you get bettter very quickly/ may there not be a next time,
but i guess at least you will know!

christine in oz

"Mamma Mia" wrote in message
u...

"oregonchick" wrote in message
. ..
I finally went to the urgent care clinic today because I just wasn't
getting any better. Sat there for over 3 hrs, but it was worth it,
because I was diagnosed with mastitis that would have abcessed without
antibiotics (according to the doc). I got a prescription for keflex (sp?)
and should be much better tomorrow. Just knowing that I am already in the
process of getting better makes me feel good again.

I didn't want to go sit in a waiting room over the holidays, but if I
were given the choice to make again, I would have gone in 3 days ago.
After suffering through the nights of delirious fever, aches, chills,
horrible sweats, etc, not being able to hardly care for myself or my
newborn, feeling like my breast had a spike being driven through it, I
can't believe how stubborn I was in thinking I would be able to "shake it
off".

If anyone else is faced with similar symptoms, don't mess around. The
doc I saw said it doesn't get better without antibiotics, which is
probably an exaggeration, but I believe I would have gotten much
sicker...

Betsy


betsy, how awful for you. i really hate to say i told you so, but when
you posted on christmas eve, i responded that you had mastitis for sure.
I wonder if my posts are not showing up on your server. I even checked in
a few times b/c i felt bad for you having mastitis over the holiday break.
when i had my worst bout of mastitis, (almost at christmas time too
co-incidentally) the fever and shakes etc was quite awful, so for you to
hvae that for days on end.....

anyway, i hope you get bettter very quickly/ may there not be a next
time, but i guess at least you will know!

christine in oz

It's not that I didn't believe you, I just didn't want to deal with sitting
in the ER for hours over the holiday. I did speak with an advice nurse who
told me if my breast wasn't red or swollen, and initially it wasn't, then I
probably just had a virus and not mastitis. So, I erred by not going in
sooner!

"oregonchick" wrote in message
...

"Mamma Mia" wrote in message
u...

"oregonchick" wrote in message
. ..
I finally went to the urgent care clinic today because I just wasn't
getting any better. Sat there for over 3 hrs, but it was worth it,
because I was diagnosed with mastitis that would have abcessed without
antibiotics (according to the doc). I got a prescription for keflex
(sp?) and should be much better tomorrow. Just knowing that I am already
in the process of getting better makes me feel good again.

I didn't want to go sit in a waiting room over the holidays, but if I
were given the choice to make again, I would have gone in 3 days ago.
After suffering through the nights of delirious fever, aches, chills,
horrible sweats, etc, not being able to hardly care for myself or my
newborn, feeling like my breast had a spike being driven through it, I
can't believe how stubborn I was in thinking I would be able to "shake
it off".

If anyone else is faced with similar symptoms, don't mess around. The
doc I saw said it doesn't get better without antibiotics, which is
probably an exaggeration, but I believe I would have gotten much
sicker...

Betsy


betsy, how awful for you. i really hate to say i told you so, but when
you posted on christmas eve, i responded that you had mastitis for sure.
I wonder if my posts are not showing up on your server. I even checked in
a few times b/c i felt bad for you having mastitis over the holiday
break. when i had my worst bout of mastitis, (almost at christmas time
too co-incidentally) the fever and shakes etc was quite awful, so for you
to hvae that for days on end.....

anyway, i hope you get bettter very quickly/ may there not be a next
time, but i guess at least you will know!

christine in oz

It's not that I didn't believe you, I just didn't want to deal with
sitting in the ER for hours over the holiday. I did speak with an advice
nurse who told me if my breast wasn't red or swollen, and initially it
wasn't, then I probably just had a virus and not mastitis. So, I erred by
not going in sooner!


if ever a nurse erred by giving you the wrong advice, that one did. I
reckon you should let her seniors know, so she can be re-educated for the
next poor sucker that rings in. And did you take your baby in with you when
you went? I hope so, that was a disgrace.

good health to you!

chris

In ,
oregonchick wrote:

*
*It's not that I didn't believe you, I just didn't want to deal with sitting
*in the ER for hours over the holiday. I did speak with an advice nurse who
*told me if my breast wasn't red or swollen, and initially it wasn't, then I
*probably just had a virus and not mastitis. So, I erred by not going in
*sooner!

What a lame nurse! I've had mastitis at least four times and only once had
any associated breast redness!

--
Hillary Israeli, VMD
Lafayette Hill/PA/USA/Earth
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it is
too dark to read." --Groucho Marx

"Mamma Mia" wrote in message news:43b1f187$0$17706

if ever a nurse erred by giving you the wrong advice, that one did. I
reckon you should let her seniors know, so she can be re-educated for the
next poor sucker that rings in. And did you take your baby in with you
when you went? I hope so, that was a disgrace.

good health to you!

chris

Fortunately my husband was home and could watch the baby. Really, I was
glad she wasn't there - it was full of very unsavory looking people coughing
sneezing and gagging all over the place. Waiting room was small and packed
to the gills. I felt like I was being marinated in germs...

Now to my mastitis - I have no more fever, but 24 hrs into my antibiotics I
still have extreme tenderness and some swelling on that side. How long can
I expect the pain to continue on that side? I'm pumping religiously every
2-3 hrs, and completely emptying it each time, but it's excruciating...

JennP writes:

"oregonchick" wrote in message
. ..

If anyone else is faced with similar symptoms, don't mess around. The
doc
I
saw said it doesn't get better without antibiotics, which is probably an
exaggeration, but I believe I would have gotten much sicker...

It's not an exaggeration. Mastitis is an infection and *will* get worse
if left untreated.

Err, no, it is an exaggeration. Mastitis is normally caused by an infection
(though the word itself simply means inflammation in the breast), but
nevertheless, it will normally go away without antibiotics. Not saying
antibiotics are a bad idea, but the advice I got here (from LLL I think)
was to treat it with nurse nurse nurse, lots of water and rest etc., for 48
hours, and only go to antibiotics if it wasn't improving by then. Worked
for me: I definitely had mastitis, but didn't need antibiotics.

Makes sense if you think about it - otherwise, everyone who got mastitis
before the advent of antibiotics would have died, which didn't happen!

Sidheag
DS Colin Oct 27 2003

"Sidheag McCormack" wrote in message
Err, no, it is an exaggeration. Mastitis is normally caused by an
infection
(though the word itself simply means inflammation in the breast), but
nevertheless, it will normally go away without antibiotics. Not saying
antibiotics are a bad idea, but the advice I got here (from LLL I think)
was to treat it with nurse nurse nurse, lots of water and rest etc., for
48
hours, and only go to antibiotics if it wasn't improving by then. Worked
for me: I definitely had mastitis, but didn't need antibiotics.

Makes sense if you think about it - otherwise, everyone who got mastitis
before the advent of antibiotics would have died, which didn't happen!

Well sure, any infection will go away, but why suffer and it can take a long
time for the infection to go away. Since antibiotics start helping pretty
much immediately, if not in a day, then the person is that much quicker to
feeling better and in a better position to care for the baby and/or other
children. So, again, why suffer, I sure wouldn't.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)