Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Mastitis?

First...I'm fine.  If I did have mastitis I fixed it and I have it no longer.

But I wanted to share my little story.

Almost 14 months nursing and I've had a plugged milk duct twice...that's it...that's as far as my nursing woes go.

UNTIL...

Yesterday afternoon, roughly 3pm I notice a pain in my right boob.  Pain came out of nowhere, hurts like a bitch and there's a hard knot where the pain is.  

Oh great...a plugged duct.  No problem I think to myself, I've had these before, I'll just massage that bad boy out of there. 

Come 5pm I'm starting to feel a little...peculiar.  My stomach feels like it's in my throat, I feel sort of lightheaded and fuzzy...but I power through.

By 6pm I have to call my husband away from his work (he was working at home luckily) to come help me because I HAVE TO LIE DOWN.  I'm feeling REALLY weird.  I'm starting to get the chills and feel very achy, almost like I have the flu.

At 7pm we get the baby down and I'M DONE.  I get on the couch next to the roaring fire and curl up into a ball and I CAN'T STOP SHIVERING.

As soon as I started shivering I JUST KNEW that that damn knot in my boob was the cause of all my discomfort.  I'd been massaging away since 3pm and I'd spent the last 2 hours trying to get the baby to nurse exclusively on that right boob but all to no avail, the knot wasn't budging.

I choked down dinner, shivering so bad it was almost impossible to eat and by 8pm I drew THE HOTTEST BATH I'VE EVER HAD.

Completely random sidenote here...why is it DRAWing a bath?  Why do we say draw?

Anyway...

FINALLY I was warm.  I stayed in there for 20 minutes but as soon as that water started to cool down I was shivering again.

Somehow I made it into bed, got myself dressed with the help of my husband, and buried myself under 3 blankets.  Luckily it was also super warm up there because we'd had a fire going all day.  But I was still freezing.  77 degrees, 3 blankets, my skin feels like it's on fire and I'm absolutely freezing.

Out comes the pump, I'm going to get that knot out of there if it kills me!  So I start pumping away, trying to massage the lump while I pump.

Suddenly there's a popping noise and a splash inside the pump.  DID I JUST UNPLUG MY CLOG?  I didn't imagine it would make such an obvious noise but it very much sounded and looked like I'd just unclogged my duct.

Sure enough about half hour later I can suddenly FEEL how hot it is up in that room.  I start peeling off the layers of clothing, one piece at a time, then slowly one by one each of the blankets come off until I'm so hot that I have to open the window because it's still 77 degrees.

AND THEN about 11pm I start sweating.  The sweating was the sign for me that it was over, the clog with it's accompanying bacteria was gone.

Just like that, as quickly as it started, it was over.  I was fine.  I went to sleep and woke up with nothing more than a slightly sore boob from all the massaging.

So, was that mastitis?  Anyone else had mastitis for a whopping 8 hours?

7 comments:

  1. that is weird and awesome that you felt it pop like that! I'm glad pumping gave you some relief and that it passed, I'm impressed! I've known girls that mastitis is the end of nursing for them because it screws up their milk supply and never comes back. I hope you got it all and it doesn't come back!!

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  2. Not fun! I can't tell you if it was mastitis or not. I had both a clogged duct and mastitis while I was nursing the boys, it sounds like a cross between the two or maybe a light/or caught super early case of mastitis. I felt like I was dying when I had my case of mastitis and didn't start feeling better until I had some antibiotics on board. All the pumping/nursing/massaging in the hot shower didn't help a bit. No matter what it was for you, I'm glad you were able to get through it quickly.

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  3. Glad you're feeling better! Mastitis is a deep tissue infection and you def need strong antibiotics to clear it safely. If you start feeling icky again call your OB right away! I caught mine early and was still on the couch feeling like death for a day. Keep and eye on it mama!

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  4. I had those same symptoms at 8weeks. But like you I took a super hot shower and squeezed the day light out of my right boob and then pumped till I heard the pop.
    I think its a clogged duct. Mastitis is a bazillion times worse or so I've heard.

    14 months nursing! You go girl!! I'll be right behind you!

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  5. I've had mastitis twice and it sounds very similar. I don't think I have ever felt so sick in all my life. I tried everything and there was no relief both times I needed antibiotics.

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  6. Sounds miserable! Glad you are feeling better.

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  7. If that's mastitis i suggest trying probiotics for the first sign of pain as it restore balance of good bacteria in breast milk that may have been disrupted by antibiotics, or other external factors. Probiotics reduce the recurrence of mastitis. Check out https://www.qiara.com.au/ to learn more about this.

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