Extreme pain and useless GPs

[JellyBellies]

I am in agony. I have thrush one one breast - deep inside where the stupid cream cannot reach it . I have taken 2 paracetamol but they haven't kicked in yet.

Now here is the reason I am angry. 3 months ago I started to get shooting pains deep in my breast after a feed. I went to see my GP. GP examined me and told me he couldn't find a reason for the pain and (at the pain wasn't consistent, came and went) to just the a pain killer if and when it happened. This was in June.

In early August the pain got worse. I did a bit of googling and realised it might be thrush. Made another GP appointment (different GP s I had moved). Again GP examined me. I explained that I thought I might have thrush. She examined me and said I didn't!

2to 3 weeks later, I am in extreme pain. Cannot slep, etc. Make another(!!) GP appointment. Again a different GP (from he same practice). Also have done more googling bow so I know from the BfN website that thrush doesn't need to have any symptoms other than pain in breast! And that if thrush has reached the ducts then you need a tablet to fix it.

This time I go to the GP, I don't say 'I think' etc. I said 'I have thrush, I need treatment'. She looked St a pamphlet that she had been given about thrush and thankfully believed me! She gave ma e cream prescription. I explained that I thought I might need tablets. According to her piece of paper, even though the UN recommended the tablets, the UK didn't as they can pass through the milk to the baby. She said try the cream first and then we'll see.

So here I am again, in agony. I have 3 GPs in 3 months. What on earth dies it take to be treated properly for what seems like a very straightforward problem??

Sorry for the typos. On my phone, very hard to edit!

So basically, AIBU to be pissed off? And what on earth do I have to do to get a GP to prescribe these tablets?

Unfortunately it's Friday night, so I am either stuck with this over the weekend or have to faff about with the OOH doctor who may/may not believe me!

Sorry it's long!

If it's standard thrush can't you go to Boots and just get the tablet? It doesn't have to be prescribed.. and I would just not mention BF or anything.. just ask for the tablet! I always buy OTC as it's quicker.

Sorry to hear you are in pain

My doctors are just as daft sometimes.

Do you think a pharmacy could help in anyway, they can actually give better advice sometimes.

I know it's probably not much help, hopefully someone with more knowledge will be along

Ohh, may listen. The once I went to see them with DD they were brilliant.

Understood totally that I wouldn't have bothered them if I wasn't really worried.

Medusa that's what I'd do, but I'm a naughty biologist who has only limited faith in doctors.

Can I get it from the pharmacy? Really?
I feel stupid now

Thanks. I will do that first thing in the morning.

I just don't understand why they kept fibbing me off. And the treated me according to a pamphlet(!!) and still would give me prescription that works!

Fobbing not fibbing...

So I don't say I am BF? Just say I have thrush and need some tablets?

You can get over the counter oral thrush treatment for vaginal thrush and it's the same tablet you need, just ask for oral thrush treatment. However, you only get one in a pack and from what I've read, you may need more. Still worth a go though.

I had the same experience and sadly never ended up getting any joy from the doctors. I was told the same thing - just take painkillers whilst your breastfeeding. One doctor did mention the oral treatment but did say they wanted me to use the cream first. Fwiw I ended up trying to control it myself and it did eventually clear up. I took Ibuprofen as it seemed to reduce the pain for longer than paracetamol. Not sure but I thought it might be because it's an anti-inflammatory and the effect was helping reduce the inflammation in the milk ducts for longer than the 4 hour dosage window.

I also took probiotic supplements from Holland and Barrett more frequently than was on the label (but no more than 3x a day as it made DS' poo go funny).

I used the cream religiously too to try and prevent any re-infection via the nipple or re-infecting DS.

Making sure I removed him once he'd stopped feeding and wasn't suckling at an irritated nipple also helped reduce the pain.

It did clear up but it was a slow process - maybe 6weeks - but it got a little better day by day.

Finally, I printed out the information which is on the NHS A-Z of conditions stating that breast thrush required oral treatment in case nothing else did work and a 4th trip to the docs' was needed. If you do have to go back, try and see the sympathetic doctor again and say the cream is not enough and you need the tablet.

One thing the breastfeeding support worker said too was that if I still had no joy it might be worth talking to my health visitor and ask for a HV referral to the GP, saying "We think it's this and this is what needs to happen".

I'm sorry that's so long but I hope it helps and I hope you feel better soon.

Here is the NHS link - sorry i can't make it live, using Ipod.
www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/2448.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=135

This is the NHS for Scotland and looks quite useful - actually quotes a study which has shown no ill-effects have so far been observed in babies exposed to Fluconazole.

www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/breastfeeding/topic4/fluconazole.html

Thanks Die!
Sorry you gave been through it too. The support for any thing breast feeding related is quite shit I find

I think I'll get a pack of tablets now and then I will see the doc on Monday. Will definitely get a tablet prescription out of her now

Do you know how often I should take them, does it say on the packet?

It still hurts
Normally with the cream the pain is gone by morning. I think the infection has spread quite badly.

Thanks for the ibuprofen tip, will try that now.

Oh you poor thing. I had thrush in my ducts some weeks ago. My gp firstly gave me cream and anti bios to start with as she suspected mastitis rather than thrush. Thrush was obvious on my nipples and the deep pain especially after feeding was agonizing.

I didn't think.it was mastitis as no general unwell feeling.

Anyway it got worse (probably the anti bios making it worse).

I went back and said I'm sure its the thrush .its in my ducts. Gp said she'd never heard of thrush so deep. Anyway, she gave me flucanzole (sp?). It's literally one pill. After that it started clearing very quickly.

Until I had this I had no idea of the pain. It was really bad, I feel for you. The baby also needs to be treated so you don't keep passing it on to each other.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

I've had this - worse than giving birth!

I had a tablet to take, and mouth drops for teh baby and cream for his bum. Cleared in a couple of days - but pretty much instant relief.

I am impressed you are keeping up the feeding - you get a badge for that!

Oh.yes also what was said above re health visitor. Try them.if no joy.with the Gp as when I saw mine after she told me had I gone to her she would have prescribed me the tablet sooner and would have prescribed ds oral drops (Gp didn't treat ds immediately which meant kept cycle going).

Also agree with nanky I.found the pain worse than my.labour with ds!

I also echo the HV advice - I know they are often a bit rubbish, but when I was having problems in the early days of BF I was at a BF support group led by an HV who was very good. SHe diagnosed thrush and had prescribing powers so was able to prescribe stuff and tell me to come back if it didn't clear up.

I've never met her since, all the other HVs I've seen have been rubbish, but this one was really up on all the BfN advice!

This is what the NHS Scotland website says

Treatment of Breast Thrush with Oral Fluconazole
An initial loading dose of 150-400mg is required followed by 100-200mg daily for at least ten days.
The dose depends on how long the mother has had symptoms and whether she has recently had antibiotics.
Longer courses may be necessary to clear long-standing infection, but if there has been no response within ten days, prudence suggests that the diagnosis should be reconsidered before continuing.
Topical treatment of mother and baby should continue throughout the course of the oral therapy.
Although fluconazole is not licensed to be given during breastfeeding, it is licensed to be given directly to babies in doses ten times higher than that which passes through Breastmilk, so is unlikely to produce problems.
Fluconazole has also been studied in babies of

You have my complete understanding and sympathy, well done for continuing to bf through all of this.

This happened to me, gp agreed dd had thrush but didn't think I needed treating so few days later my nips looked like they'd been dipped in jam.

In the middle of all this I had a visit from a breast feeding counsellor who said dd didn't have thrush and I should stop treating her.

Dd couldn't feed, started to refuse, breast became engorged, ended up on OOH getting high dose antibiotics for mastitis. I felt v I'll.

I stopped breastfeeding, and felt quite let down by gp and bfc. I ended up back at gps stating what gel medicine I needed for dd who prescribed it.

Like you I read the leaflet!

Thanks. It's shocking isn't it that with all this info - like in the Scottish NHS website they still don't prescribe correctly.

Sorry that happened to you meetupmisery. for you.

My DSs are 3.5 and 16 months so I am not sure if the HV will still step in? They are both breastfeeding so I have been feeding for a while! TBH if this had happened when I first started breast feeding I would have really struggled. At least at this point I know what I am doing and I know that you have to make a fuss to get things going!

DH has gone out now to get the meds. So will hopefully have some relief soon
It's at times like his that I really wish I could train as a breastfeeding consultant as the level of mainstream support is so bad. But I am not in the medical field so not sure how much help I would be!

I had this problem when one of mine was really small, I was prescribed tablets, cream and a liquid for the babys mouth, there is no reason at all for you not to take the tablets, your dr is talking guff.

I.think.health visitors are until they go to school so should Def be able to help you if Gp is rubbish.

You need to treat little ones as well, or you'll keep passing it back to one another.

You have my sympathy - I remember - god that hurts!

Docs don't like prescribing tablets/internal treatments for BF mums with thrush because the medication passes to the baby in the breastmilk, and it kills lots of the 'friendly' bacteria/fungi, but isn't strong enough (in breastmilk without medication) to kill off all the thrush... So if your baby hasn't already got it, he WILL get oral thrush and probably 'nappy thrush' and an upset tummy too.

This is a useful leaflet.

But tbh I'm not sure it's thrush. Since you've had it for 3/4 weeks, I'd expect your DSes to already have it - I'd expect them to have sore red bottoms and probably to be more fussy about feeding - but you haven't mentioned either of these symptoms. Also, thrush almost always occurs in both breasts because it transfers during feeds, and you specifically say your pain is in one breast. So...

I'd suspect either mastitis (you don't have to have a fever too - I didn't) or a blocked duct. These are actually quite common with older BFing babies/toddlers, because they're caused by ducts not being completely emptied of milk, which happens as older/also weaned babies fill up on other foods. There's some info about blocked ducts here

There is an effective but rather odd treatment for mastitis and blocked ducts (tho feeding more is the best cure for that!) - place raw organic cabbage leaves directly on your breast - eg inside your bra! You feel an idiot, but I found that it works! more info