on anitibiotics and have mastistis again and trying to dry up, any help??? in alot of pain:(

Aleah - posted on 12/15/2009

thank you everyone for your input! i have been using hot showers and expressing my milk with a brush, yes a brush; it works great to get the ducts unplugged! ( in the shower of course) i have been taking tylenol for the pain. after i get all the ducts unplugged i put cabbage leaves in my tight fitting bra and then put a gel ice pack on them to restrict the flow of milk. my breasts have decreased in milk darastically. So if anyone has this problem it only took me about 24 hours to do this. i still feel quite fatigued but alot better than yesterday morning! thanks for all your help:)

Pia - posted on 12/15/2009

I don't have any advice about getting your milk supply to dry up. I've heard chilled cabbage leaves over the breast work to relieve the pain though...

As for mastitis, I have had it and my GP refered me to a physiotherapist who did ultrasound therapy on the blocked duck. Two sessions of this and the duct cleared. I don't know if this is widely available and it may be expensive to get (I'm in Australia and Medicare covered it), but it's worth looking into if nothing else works. Good luck:) Mastitis is horrible!

Tanya - posted on 12/15/2009

My friend had the same problem and she was told to wrap up her breasts tightly - she used her smallest and tighest bra and then wore a very tight cami - and take tylenol and wait it out. She said it did hurt for awhile but the pressure of the tight clothing helped. She said she did leak but if you pump, your breasts will just make more as its like breastfeeding. After about 24 hours she said that she had no more pain and no leaking at all. She has done this twice now and has had good success:) Good luck:)

Alina - posted on 12/14/2009

if you have a good electric pump, use it. you need to unclog the duct. just use it for less and less time. start at 15 min then go down to 10 then 5 over a week or so and it will make it more comfortable to dry up. use hot rags when relaxing at home on the sorest spot. that is where the clogged duct is. it will probly feel hot to the touch in the spot that is clogged. (i had mastitis, no fun!) you will probly need the antibiotics again. when those are gone until you dry up completely to hold off the problem, as you seem to be prone to it as some of us are, you could go to your local health food store and get something called liquid silver. it is a natural antibiotic that helps keep your system from re infecting. it is not that expensive and worth it if you dont get the problem again. (they may have this under a different name last time i went to get it the name was changed but they still knew what i meant. it works for all kinds of stuff. my dad used it for a really bad tooth infection. by the time he got to the doctor, problem solved.)

Georgina - posted on 12/14/2009

The Dr can give you a tablet to dry up your supply.

Kate - posted on 12/14/2009

Hi, first off if you express the milk it is just going to keep coming. I lost my first pregnancy so I had to get my milk to dry up. The best thing that helped with that was to use chilled cabbage leaves. Put them inside a firm fitting bra. It will help, but the bra will smell like cooked cabbage. Hope this helps.

Traci - posted on 12/14/2009

contact a consultant. Other then that, try handpumping once in a while to help with the mastitis. Your milk supply should become less and less, gradually, until it is comfortable to finally stop. It is not something you can just stop doing or it will be painful.