Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine is a Toronto naturopathic clinic dedicated to providing safe and effective treatment of a wide variety of health conditions using natural therapies and the principles of naturopathic medicine.
Mastitis well treated using naturopathic medicine. Mastitis is an infection of the breast tissue that usually affects women who are breastfeeding, most often within the first six weeks after birth.
Mastitis is caused by introduction of bacteria from the surface of your skin or baby’s mouth through a break in the skin of your nipple or your milk duct opening. Untreated mastitis can result in the formation of an abscess (collection of pus).
Professional healthcare should be sought out as soon as you recognize the signs and symptoms of mastitis.
Symptoms of mastitis
Usually influenza-like symptoms will precede local, breast symptoms by several hours. Possible symptoms of mastitis include:
• Pain (often of a burning quality), continuously or during breastfeeding
• Breast swelling
• Breast tenderness
• Warmth and redness (often in a wedge-shaped area) of breast tissue
• Fever of 38.3 C (101 F) or higher
• General malaise
• Symptoms may occur only in one breast
Treatment of mastitis at Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, the goals of mastitis treatment are to reduce intensity of pain and other mastitis, decrease duration of symptoms and prevent recurrence.
Conventional treatment for mastitis may include a variety of medications, including antibiotics (e.g., penicillin), which are transmitted to your baby through breast milk. For this reason, you may choose to try natural treatment to possibly avoid use of antibiotics, or together with antibiotics in order to decrease dosages of antibiotics required to manage your mastitis symptoms.
Naturopathic treatment of any chronic health concern must be recognized as a process that involves identifying specific treatment goals, a thorough understanding by your naturopathic doctor of all factors affecting your health, including physical, psychological, emotional and lifestyle factors, development of a comprehensive treatment plan and execution of that plan through periodic monitoring and adjustment.
At Toronto-Centre Naturopathic Medicine, a typical approach to treating mastitis may be to first resolve breast infection using antibacterial botanical (herbal) medicines, “move” stagnant breast milk using hydrotherapeutic applications, soothe and heal cracked nipples using botanical (herbal) creams and salves, and identify and address underlying factors in your lifestyle (e.g., using only one position to breastfeed, improperly fitted bra) or general health (e.g., cracked nipples, previous history of mastitis, low immune system function) to prevent recurrence.
Where appropriate, a number of therapeutic options are available, to be used alone, or more often in a complementary fashion, including:
• Hydrotherapy
• Botanical (herbal) medicines
• Nutritional supplements
• Homeopathic medicines
• Lifestyle counseling
• Diet therapy
References
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Mastitis [Online]. [cited 2010 Jan 29]; Available from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/mastitis/DS00678 .