Mastitis and antibiotics

[LCF2021]

Hi all

First time having mastitis here with 10 month old DC2. I think it’s been caused by a combo of 4 teeth coming at once as well as me wearing a very tight sports bra to the gym for a couple of hours which competent crushed my boobs. Anyway I’ve now got a very red and tender right boob which I’m taking ibuprofen for, as well as warm compresses prior to feeding, cold compresses in between feeds and a lot of gentle massage.
I saw a nurse today who didn’t seem to have much knowledge of mastitis but prescribed me 14 days worth anyway. The pain is improving (slightly) when I massage it and I don’t yet have any fever or flu like symptoms. There’s no lump on my boob either, not like when there’s a blocked duct. I get them a lot so I know how to deal with them.

Wondering if I should take the AB’s or just continue treating as I am for the next day. Two of my friends who have had mastitis both ended up with thrush after the course of AB’s which is putting me off.

When I got mastitis I had a very high fever which came on so suddenly. It was the illest I had felt in my life. The antibiotics helped a lot but my baby and I have suffered with thrush on and off since then. I don’t know if it’s related or coincidental. I am not a medical professional but in your case I would continue as you are and if u get a fever etc u have the prescription on hand anyway. Good luck

I have had mastitis 4 times. Like above each time I felt very ill and it came on very quickly. I had other times where I had the pain but not the illness. If I remember correctly I only had the AB on the times I was Ill with it. It does take a while for the pain to fully go, which can be frustrating. Once the redness went, the pain very much felt like it was inside the centre of my boob. Maybe got back and speak to your health visitor and see if they have any other advice? They will have seen it lots of times and know whether AB is a good idea or not?

I got thrush once from antibiotics for mastitis. I needed them again recently so I bought some probiotic drinks and had them while I took the antibiotics and I didn’t get thrush this time. Could just be a coincidence of course.

The GP has always told me to try to treat it like you are doing for 24 hours before starting antibiotics, and a couple of times I’ve managed to clear it without them, so with no fever I would probably hold off on the antibiotics if I felt it was improving.

Any AB can trigger thrush OP, I get it almost everyone I'm on AB unfortunately.
I have had mastitis before and liek tohers it came on very suddenly and by far wa a the worst I've ever felt in entire life. I've also had mastitis and had minimal symptoms a trust me it is not an illness you want to mess about with, I would 100% recommend taking the antibiotics. Th blockage could be tiny and hard to find and if there is an infection it will not go on it's own!
I hope you're feeling better soon!

Definitely take them. Fever can come on extremely quickly. I got sepsis and was hospitalised. It's better to just take them.

Thanks for all of your replies, really helpful! I’ve woken up this morning with almost no pain and the redness has totally gone so I think I’ve cleared it. I’m going to keep up the massage and ibuprofen for today in case there’s any inflammation left over but I think I got lucky this time. In case anyone gets it without the fever and flu symptoms I’d recommend following Olivia Hinge on Instagram. She has a video on lymphatic drainage massage which is what I kept doing yesterday and I’m sure that helped. Prior to watching that I’d been massaging a bit too deeply I think! 🥴