Help! Sharp stabbing pains in breast

[ReneRusso]

I am breastfeeding my 4 week old baby. I have been getting sharp stabbing pains, which last a few seconds, deep in my breast tissue, mostly on one side. I have no particular pain when feeding, the pains occur between feeds. I have googled and looked through the archives and it does sound like the pains are possibly vasospasms. There are lots of threads about thrush and Reynaud's syndrome in relation to these symptoms, but GP has seen me today and says it isn't thrush. There is no rash or noticeable damage to the nipple. The nipples don't turn white or blue as is apparently the case with Raynaud's.

Has anyone experience of this? How did you treat it and did it get better?

I did get this a lot while pregnant, but not after. I assumed, in my non-scientific way - that my boobs were sort of gearing up to the job. It just stopped after a bit.

But they were momentary. When you say a few seconds - do you mean a second or so? Or more like 5-10 seconds?

bump

Could be deep breast thrush too. There's a great leaflet on the Breastfeeding Network website that covers thrush diagnosis, see if you can find it and have a flick though. I had the most hideous between feed stabbing pains for hours at a time for most of myfirst three months feeding ds1, and only much later did I realise what it was. If it is thrush you need it sorting, pronto.

I had thrush deep in the breast and my nipples looked normal. The second time I had thrush with next baby I had white nipples.

I can only describe the pains as feeling like laser beams if that makes sense.

Long course of Fluconozole did knock it on the head finally.

Thanks folks. GP was fairly adamant about it not being thrush, but I guess GPs don't always know about these things in great detail. I am taking painkillers, which don't really touch the pain unfortunately. I will go back and see a different GP in a couple of days. I think its getting worse .

Here's the BfN leaflet I mentioned - you may need to take a copy with you to get fluconazole prescribed in the right strengths and amounts. Most GP's are simply crap at dealing with breastfeeding issues and you may need to fight your corner.

It does sound like breast thrush to me. I had this recently and fluconazole is the only way to clear it. Terrible pain, so you have my sympathies.

I also took the BFN leaflet to my GP but it didn't work - she wouldn't prescribe it. To be honest, I'd recommend showing your GP this NHS information instead - I found it after my failed visit and wish I'd been armed with it in advance! If all else fails, you can in fact buy flucoazole over the counter (but only 2 doses at a time). This is what I did in the end - I bought most of the doses from online pharmacies as so much cheaper.

if your GP won't prescribe anything, try asking your HV to prescribe some anti- thrush cream rather than anything taken orally. I'm not sure how good this is of getting rid of it in the long run, but it removes the pain whilst you are in the midst of using it. Does your baby have any signs of thrush?

Thanks. Baby is showing no signs of it. She has no deposits in her mouth and is happy to stay latched on for the usual time. Are there any other signs?

It might be that it takes a bit of time before your baby shows any signs (if it is thrush).

One of the symptoms is fussing at the breast and the baby yanking themselves off after latching, which is very painful for you.

Another is a white deposit on tongue.

I saw health visitor today who agrees it's probably thrush. Why don't GPs know about these symptoms? I am going to have to try all the GPs at the practice until someone is prepared to prescribe for me. Or I will try and get the health visitor to speak to one of them.

I had a nightmare with the GP's too. No one had a clue and took the word of the HV, luckily. I had a vey good brochure from (I think) the Breastfeeding Network with a list of symptoms, I think I had ticked most of them and handed it to the GP. I think at that stage I was still under the midwife and she ended up prescribing it.

Get the HV to speak to your GP if they fob you off.

The Fluconozole needs to be the long course IME to get on top of it.