Is this thrush? Or something else? Advice would be very welcome!!!

[Rowlers]

DS is 9 weeks old.
I've been pretty pleased with the way the breastfeeding has been going so far.
However, every few days I keep getting these shooting pains in my breasts, well usually one side only, which are not comfy but not completely unbearable.
I have looked up thrush symptoms in breastfeeding women and do seem to have some of them, but not all - these shooting pains, discomfort in the cold (great at this time of year! and slightly shiny, pinky-red nipples.
Baby doesn't have any white patches in his mouth as far as I can tell and no nappy rash at all but he is unsettled at the breast at times and has been more difficult to settle.
Is this thrush or could it be something else?

It could be thrush. For me the shooting pains and the shiny nipples are the no. 1 signs. I find canesten on my nipples gives some relief from the pain, but if it is thrush, you should treat your DS too, or you'll just pass it between you. Try your GP, or maybe your HV (they can prescribe some of the thrush medications, but only GP's can prescribe the stronger ones). Things like daktarin are available OTC as well.

The white patches are hard to spot, and sometimes DS doesn't have them when I know I've got thrush (had it most of the time for the first 6m with DS1 )

if it was thrush you would be getting the pains every time you feed.

If it were thrush, would it be on both breasts? It seems my pains are on one side only and it lasts a couple of days then seems to subside for a couple of days before returning.
If it's not thrush, I can't think what else it could be.

Fingerwoman - I don't get them every time. Don't the pains indicate thrush inside the breast, whereas the shiny nipples could just be external thrush? At the moment, I get the shooting pains when the external thrush is particularly bad. They're not every feed (and often one breast will be worse than the other). Sorry for the mixed messages though Rowlers. I found a really helpful bfing counsellor with DS1 (NCT I think?), who talked me through the various symptoms, and advised me which treatments to use when, and what to ask the GP for. I find if you know what you want, you're a bit more likely to get it (so long as you approach them the right way!). I'm sure I know more about breast thrush than most GP's I've seen over the years - some have never heard of it! I'm sure the NCT website had a helpful leaflet on it too, but that might have gone now (going back 3 years!)

x-posts

but surely if the pain indicates that it's inside the breast then it wouldn't just go away for a few days and then come back?
if it's in there it's in there.

dunno. I just got over it and it was constant. ditto with ds1.

rowlers, are you still being careful to get ds latched on properly?
I found that once we got the hang of breastfeeding I got a bit lax with his latching and then it started hurting again. I personally would give it a couple of days of being scrupulous with latch and positioning before thinking about thrush, especially with so few symptoms

Laura thanks!
I've never been too impressed with any of the GPs at my local surgery and my HV seems to talk incessantly without saying anything useful so maybe I need to speak to a bfing counsellor as you suggest.
I'll start with NCT site.
My symptoms do sound like yours.

Fingerwoman, you could be right.
I could very easily be guilty of this, having struggled with the latching on initially, I know I have been taking it for granted that we cracked that one.
I will pay more attention over the next few days and see what happens.