Symptoms of mastitis

Breasts are a symbol of female gender and are responsible for feeding children. However, if women do not take good care of their breasts, it may cause them great pain. Many female friends experience breast pain before and after their menstrual period, but they don’t know what medicine to take to treat breast pain quickly. Some women develop a disease called mastitis during breastfeeding, which causes inconvenience to breastfeeding. Let me tell you what the symptoms of mastitis are.

1. Early symptoms: Swelling and pain in the affected breast, and the appearance of lumps (or no lumps), mostly in the lower outer quadrant of the breast, and poor milk discharge; accompanied by systemic symptoms such as fever, chills, headache, and loss of appetite.

2. Late symptoms: The lump gradually increases in size, followed by redness and burning of the skin, throbbing pain and tenderness, enlarged axillary lymph nodes on the affected side, and persistent high lactation fever, which are signs of suppuration.

2. Diagnosis of mastitis symptoms

1. Most of them are breastfeeding women, especially first-time mothers who are less than one month old.

2. Initially there is a painful lump in the breast, the skin is slightly red or not red, milk discharge is not smooth, and the nipple may be ruptured and eroded. When the breast becomes suppurative, the redness, swelling and pain will increase, the lump will become soft and responsive to the touch. The swelling and pain will be relieved after ulceration or incision and drainage. If the pus does not flow out smoothly and the swelling and pain do not subside, it may develop into "transmissible cyst". If the ulcer does not heal and leaks milk or pus, it may cause milk leakage.

3. Most patients have symptoms such as chills, fever, headache, and general discomfort.

4. The gluteal nucleus may be swollen and painful in the armpit.

5. The total white blood cell count and neutrophil granulocytes in peripheral blood increase.

Early stage: Breast lumps and pain, skin not red or slightly red, poor milk secretion, accompanied by chills and fever, headache, chest tightness, dry mouth and bitter taste, thin yellow tongue coating, and rapid and stringy pulse. Soothe the liver, clear away heat, relieve milk and eliminate carbuncle.

Purulent stage: The breast lump gradually increases in size, the skin becomes red and hot, the pain is severe, and it is a persistent chicken-pecking-like pain. The high fever does not subside, the patient is thirsty and likes to drink. The lump responds to pressure with the finger, the tongue is red with yellow coating, and the pulse is stringy and rapid. Clears away heat, detoxifies and discharges pus.

Purulent stage: The abscess ruptures, and yellow-white pus or milk flows out. The swelling and pain gradually subside, the tongue becomes pale red, the tongue coating is thin yellow, and the pulse is slightly rapid. Strengthen the body and remove the poison.

1. Liver depression and qi stagnation

The nipple belongs to the foot Jueyin liver meridian. The liver is responsible for regulating the secretion of milk. If the emotions are hurt, the liver qi is not comfortable, and the qi of the Jueyin meridian fails to be released, the milk will become stagnant and form lumps; if the stagnation lasts for a long time, it will turn into heat, and the heat will overcome the flesh and cause rot, forming pus.

2. Stomach heat stagnation

The breast belongs to the Stomach Meridian of Foot-Yangming, and milk is produced by Qi and blood. Eating excessive amounts of fatty and sweet foods after childbirth can cause Yangming heat accumulation, excessive stomach heat, Qi and blood stagnation, and milk channel blockage, leading to carbuncle.

3. Milk stasis

Damaged or sunken nipples affect breastfeeding, causing poor milk discharge, or there is too much milk and the baby cannot suck it all out, causing excess milk to accumulate, resulting in blockage of the milk vessels and milk stagnation. Over time, the milk accumulates and turns into heat, causing carbuncles.

Its clinical features are: lumps, swelling and pain in the breast, accompanied by fever throughout the body, and thick pus after ulceration. It often occurs in breastfeeding women who have not yet given birth for a full month, especially those with broken nipples or milk stasis.

1. Lactation period

The patient feels swelling and pain in the affected breast, and there is a lump (or no lump), mostly in the lower outer quadrant of the breast, and milk discharge is not smooth; accompanied by systemic symptoms such as fever, chills, headache, loss of appetite, etc. After treatment, if the chills and fever subside and the swelling and pain are reduced within 2 to 3 days, the disease will be cured.

2. Purulence stage

The above symptoms worsen, the lump gradually increases in size, followed by redness and burning of the skin, throbbing pain, tenderness, enlarged axillary lymph nodes on the affected side, and persistent high lactation fever, which are signs of suppuration. If the center of the lump gradually softens and there is a sense of fluctuation when pressed, it indicates that the abscess is mature.

3. Purulent stage

After natural rupture or incision and drainage of pus, the swelling and pain will generally subside, the chills and fever will gradually subside, and the disease will gradually heal. If the pus does not flow smoothly, the swelling and heat do not subside, the pain does not decrease, and the fever does not subside, pus bags may form, or the pus may spread to other milk sacs (glandular lobes), forming "contagious milk sacs", and may also cause sepsis. If milk leaks out of the sore and is not healed for a long time, it may cause milk leakage.