Anyone had an abscess after mastitus?

[lucy5]

About a week ago I had a really bad case of mastitus, swollen boob, boiling hot, red ring around it etc. I took antibiotics and the dr said there was possibly an abscess and I would know in about a week. I can feel a lump under my nipple. Is this the tail end of mastitus or could it be an abscess?

[lucy5]

bump

[crawk]

Hi Lucy5

I had an abscess - it developed after unsuccessful treatment of mastitis (wrong/ineffective antibiotic).

The abscess developed beneath the original red patch. The skin over it was red, shiny, and incredibly sore (couldn't touch it / couldn't even bear to have clothes against it) It looked like a huge boil and felt squelchy / boggy (sorry if this is TMI). I also felt like I had flu (high temperature).

Please, please get back in touch with your doctor. If there's a chance there's an abscess then he really shouldn't delay dealing with it.

It also may be worth contacting your local breast care clinic - i found the doctors and nurses at mine were more knowledgeable / helpful than my local GP surgery.

Good luck

[chocolateteapot]

I agree with crawk, try to get someone to deal with it now. My friend developed an abcess following mastitis. She delayed taking antibiotics ( her choice) but had a rubbish doctor who missed the fact an abscess was forming.

She developed scepticemia and nearly died. She is a nurse, as is her DH and this still happened - I am sure she would urge you to get someone to have another look and check it out.

Obviously what happened to her is extremely rare but best to be on the safe side.

[RnB]

Message withdrawn

[KTeePee]

I too developed an abscess after recurring bouts of mastitis. From what I was told at the time, if the antibiotics have not started to clear it up in 3 or so days you should go back to the gp again.

I ended up having to have the abscess drained under a GA when ds was 4 months old. I think what happened to me was that the mastitis never properly cleared up. I had it first when ds was a week old, got antibiotics and then had two subsequent bouts which I thought had cleared up by themselves just taking ibuprofen at home. But with hindsight, my breast was tender all the time (found it sore when cuddling my older two children, for example) and like you, I had a lump. When it flared up for the 4th time two lots of anti-b's didn't clear it up and an abscess developed.

The positive result was that I found Mumsnet while Googling for advice on Playtex bottles as I had to start combined feeding!

I would definitely go back to the gp now to get it checked out.

[kaitlinsmum]

Hi Lucy
Go back to your GP and tell them to refer you to a specialist if you are not comfortable. I have been suffering for about 3 weeks with mastitis/cyst (abscess) that is now being treated with antibiotics...I hate the idea of this, but I really want to keep BF. I am now under the care of a specialist and have had my breast drained 2 times over a week - and am feeling a great deal better, although very tender still.
I had to stop feeding bub from the bad side until the anitbiotics kicked in and have just started back on the bad side after a 3 day break...I expressed and throught the milk away each time, while supplementing bub with a formula as well as breast milk from the good side.

[tron]

get it checked. I ignored mine and it got worse. I gave up feeding cos I thought I was crap at it but the pain didn't go. I ended up having it drained 5 times with a large needle as it was under nipple but very deep down. No anashestic and hurt so much when a consultant decided to ' explore' it using a needle aaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggggghhhhhh. I still have a dent the size of a large grape under my nipple and to the side slightly and nip no longer sticks out and is an odd shape.

Don't mean to scare but just don't try to ignore it