Caroleen’s Treasures

Today I woke up with fever and chills accompanied with unbearable pain in my lower back that runs down to my thighs and an engorged breast. I had a feeling that I have mastitis on my left breast. Well I just diagnosed myself. LOL The lower back pain might be another case. I will have to see a doctor hopefully tomorrow. I had no idea why I have it. Eman is draining both my breasts well  and he is already 16 months old so this makes me feel a little bit confused. So I researched for more informations about Mastitis in eMedicineHealth.

Mastitis is an infection of the tissue of the breast that occurs most frequently during the time of breastfeeding.

Symptoms include pain, tenderness,  swelling, redness and increased temperature of the breast, fatigue, breast engorgement, fever and chills and rigor and shaking.

Causes of Mastitis is when bacteria, often from the baby’s mouth, enter a milk duct through a crack in the nipple. This causes an infection and painful inflammation of the breast.

Breast infections most commonly occur one to three months after the delivery of a baby, but they can occur in women who have not recently delivered as well as in women after menopause. Other causes of infection include chronic mastitis and a rare form of cancer called inflammatory carcinoma.

When to seek Medical Help?

When abnormal discharge  from nipples is present; breast pain is making it difficult to function each day; prolonged, unexplained breast pain; any other associated symptoms such as redness, swelling, pain that interferes with breastfeeding, or a mass or tender lump in the breast that does not disappear after breastfeeding. If you are breastfeeding, call your doctor if you develop any symptoms of breast infection so that treatment may be started promptly.

Go to the emergency department if you experience persistent high fever greater than 101.5°F (38.6°C), nausea or vomiting that is preventing you from taking antibiotics as prescribed, pus draining from the breast, red streaks extending toward your arm or chest, dizziness, fainting or confusion.

One IMPORTANT note is:  Mastitis does not cause cancer, but cancer can mimic mastitis in appearance. If a breast infection is slow in going away, your health care provider may recommend a mammogram or other tests to rule out cancer.

Since I have not seen a doctor yet, I am just following their Self-Care Tips like taking pain reliever, putting hot compress to the infected breast, massaging it and doing manual pump. It is painful but I am still feeding Eman from my infected breast. I hope tomorrow will be better. Donald took charge of the kids while I slept after taking the pain reliever. If not with that pill, I could still be wailing like a cow. LOL