Mastitis - Causes, Symptoms and Treatment

Mastitis is inflammation of the breast, which may lead to infection. This condition is most common in women who are breast-feeding. You may notice areas of redness, hardness, soreness, or heat in your breast, and swelling of the affected milk duct. It can leave a new mother feeling very tired and run-down. Add the illness to the demands of taking care of a newborn, and many women quit breast-feeding altogether. The typical presentation is a young lactating women with mastitis symptoms such as fever, flu like symptoms, and breast tenderness and/or breast redness. The cause is almost always a bacterial infection, sometimes as a result of a cracked nipple, and antibiotics are needed. Signs of mastitis include red, hot, painful, or inflamed breasts and other flu-like symptoms such as headache, nausea, high temperature. It is sometimes caused by an infection spreading from another part of the body, or when bacteria get into the breast through cracked or pierced nipples

Mastitis (parenchymatous inflammation or the mammary glands) and breast engorgement (congestion) are disorders that may affect lactating females. Mastitis can be felt as a hard, sore spot within the breast. Mastitis can be caused by an infection in the breast or by a plugged milk duct. Mastitis is also known as breast engorgement. Girls may have brief hormone-induced breast inflammation soon after birth and during puberty. Chronic mastitis usually occurs in systemic diseases. It occurs occasionally in non lactating females and rarely in males.

Causes of Mastitis

:The common causes and risk factor's of Mastitis include the following :

• Use of cortisone drugs.
• Restrictive Clothing.
• Pressure to Breasts..
• Use of Artificial Nipples..
• Smoking.
• Irregular breastfeeding.
• Abrasion or cracking of the breast nipple.
• Yeast infection of the breast.
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Diabetes mellitus.

Symptoms of Mastitis

Some of the common sign and symptoms of the disease Mastitisare as follows:

• Tenderness.
• Body aches.
• Fatigue.
• Skin redness.
• Fever.
• Nausea.
• Swelling.
• Pains in the breast.
• Hardening in the affected breast.

Treatment of Mastitis

Find effective treatment methods of treating Mastitis:

• The goal of treatment for breast engorgement is to relieve discomfort and control swelling, and may include analgesics to alleviate pain.
• Continue breastfeeding. Your milk is harmless. Emptying the breasts regularly is essential in preventing and treating mastitis.
• Don't leave mastitis untreated. If you do, you might develop a breast abscess, a serious infection that usually requires surgery.
• Drink fluids and get enough rest.
• Breast infections require treatment by a health care provider.
• Some people recommend putting chilled leaves of a savoy cabbage inside your bra, to relieve the pain and swelling of mastitis.
• Ask a physician about whether over the counter pain relievers such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or ibuprofen are safe to reduce pain.
• Use warm water on the infected area of the breast before breast-feeding to help stimulate let-down (the milk ejection reflex).