Shooting pains in breasts after pumping

[Anonymous]

My friend had a nasty case of thrush in her milk ducts. She went to a LC who suspected thrush. Her gyn told her THERE WAS NO SUCH THING as ductal yeast!!! He perscribed her antibiotics!!! Duh, everyone knows that antibiotics make yeast worse!! Her thrush was so god aweful after that she was about to quit nursing all together.

She went to another Gyn, Dr. Yeni-Komshian in Chevy Chase. He didn't know a lot about thrush in the breast but was open minded enough to here her out and let her try the Diflucan treatment. After the two week course it was gone! She lived in excruciating pain for no good reason.

I'm not sure if Dr. Yeni is still practicing as he was pretty old when this all went down......

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had this too and thought it was thrush, but both baby and I were given a clean bill of health. It's mostly gone away on its own, though occasionally I still feel it. It almost feels to me like the milk is refilling the ducts or something - no idea if that even makes sense though!

How were you given a clean bill of health? There are no tests to diagnose ductal yeast. You can't see it. It's a diagnosis based on symptoms...most specifically pain and more specifically pain AFTER NURSING when the breast is "empty". The only way to rule out ductal yeast as a cause of breat pain is to do a course of diflucan. If after the treatment it hasn't improved you can rule it out.

Baby had no white spots, and with me no good explanation. However, given that it is essentially gone I think my ob & ped were right.

I know you're trying to help, but posts like yours used to have me convinced I had thrush. That fear, combined with recurrent mastitis, clogged ducts, milk blisters, and low supply made me want to give up on breastfeeding at one point.

[Anonymous]

Shooting pain after pumping or BF as described by OP does sound like a yeast infection or thrush. Personal experience - I had the pain plus the vapospasms another PP described. LC and a nurse both thought it might just be poor latching, but the pain was so intolerable I thought "this just can't be right". I did not have any other symptoms, and DS didn't have any white spots. On-call OB at my practice agreed it was probably yeast infection or thrush - baby does not need to have white spots for mom to have a problem! Both mom and baby need to be treated, though. Various treatments finally cleared it up (after 3 bouts). Diflucan doesn't work for everyone, nor does nystatin, the typical treatment for baby. Kellymom has good info about alternatives, like gentian violet. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Do you have any white spots on your nipples? I had blebs on my one nipple and my breast would ache after DS would nurse and my nipple would throb throughout the day. I would actually need remember to breath again after he'd latch on too. I had clogged ducts with DS1 and this was nothing compared to that. Your best bet is to contact a lactation specialist. Most area hospitals have them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had this too and thought it was thrush, but both baby and I were given a clean bill of health. It's mostly gone away on its own, though occasionally I still feel it. It almost feels to me like the milk is refilling the ducts or something - no idea if that even makes sense though!

How were you given a clean bill of health? There are no tests to diagnose ductal yeast. You can't see it. It's a diagnosis based on symptoms...most specifically pain and more specifically pain AFTER NURSING when the breast is "empty". The only way to rule out ductal yeast as a cause of breat pain is to do a course of diflucan. If after the treatment it hasn't improved you can rule it out.

Baby had no white spots, and with me no good explanation. However, given that it is essentially gone I think my ob & ped were right.

I know you're trying to help, but posts like yours used to have me convinced I had thrush. That fear, combined with recurrent mastitis, clogged ducts, milk blisters, and low supply made me want to give up on breastfeeding at one point.

Just because your doctor couldn't give you an explanation doesn't mean you had a clean bill of health if you were in pain. Sounds like your doctor wasn't up to date on thrush during lactation and you suffered...unfortunately.

You probably did have thrush and you were lucky enough that your body eventually fought it off.....