Does this sound like mastitis or is it just a coincidence?

[ReshapeWhileDamp]

I've got fluey symptoms - aches in joints and down limbs, and shivers, and feel dizzy - and also have a sore breast. It came on quite suddenly yesterday. I've had a blocked duct in that breast twice this time round (never had problems with DS1) and it looks and feels as it did with the blocked duct in the early phase. I've got pink mottling and this funny pink inflamed 'line' down the other side of the breast (no idea what it is, it's not a vein as far as I can tell, but I had it exactly the same with the blocked duct before). The pain is very deep in the breast this time, and I can't see a bleb or any evidence of a blocked duct at the surface of the nipple. Which is a shame, because I managed to scrape it off last time and unblock it.

I'm pretty run down, having had about a month of colds, and DS2 is teething, which is pretty wearing for me as well as being miserable for him. I'm also a bit stressed about a fundraising event I'm meant to be running this friday (ironically, to raise money to train breastfeeding peer supporters!). Does this sound a likely way for mastitis to pan out? Worth taking to the GP? Am wondering if it's just a blocked duct and yet another virus.

It could be, although as you said, could be a coincidence. Have you seen this page on Kellymom? For the most part, the treatment for either is the same, although as the page says, in some cases you might need antibiotics for mastitis, so have a read and get medical advice if you're not sure.

Thanks, I've been re-reading Kellymom. I'm doing what I did for my blocked ducts previously. According to the page, I'm still a mild case in the early phase if it is mastititis, but I'm still seeing a GP this morning. Get it on her radar. I'm mostly concerned that the next three days are not going to give me much opportunity to rest up, but I've managed to persuade my parents to come over this afternoon, and I'll try to get some sleep - I was lying awake for over two hours last night, feeling ill and achey and worrying.