1. What are the advantages of Chinese medicine in treating acute mastitis?
In the treatment of acute mastitis, TCM emphasizes the early stage with the use of pass and the elimination of toxins as the mainstay, and the middle and late stage with the use of toxins as the mainstay, and it is important to identify the evidence in the treatment in stages.
Patients in the early stage have fever and bad chills, milk is not flowing, swelling and pain, etc. The cause of the disease is liver and stomach heat, so the treatment is to clear the liver and stomach, pass the milk and eliminate swelling.
In the middle and late stages of the disease, patients often have fever that does not subside, and local swelling and pain with fluctuating sensation should be incised and drained as soon as possible to avoid the occurrence of transcystic canker. External treatment is especially important at this time, because with the discharge of pus, the systemic symptoms can be relieved and gradually disappear. Therefore, for patients with acute mastitis in the middle and late stages, we should pay attention to observation at all times, and once the pus has formed, we should make an incision to drain the pus and use Chinese medicine to clear heat and detoxify the pus. However, how to apply the “TO” method depends on the patient’s physical condition. The ultimate goal is to expel the pus from the body and get rid of the remaining evil.
The treatment of acute mastitis should pay attention to avoid the premature use of cold agents, and clever use of warming agents, so that the early lumps in the invisible, so as not to distinguish the beginning and end of mastitis and the use of antibiotics. The use of antibiotics or cold herbal medicines at too early a stage or too often can avoid the formation of localized “stiff lumps” in the breast, which do not dissipate easily. The above fully reflects the flexibility and advantages of Chinese medicine in identifying evidence.
2. Can I breastfeed my child when I have mastitis?
Proper breastfeeding can protect the mammary glands and help the uterus recover and protect the ovaries through breastfeeding. Those who suffer from breast enlargement before delivery can recover or get better by breastfeeding after delivery. It is also easy to absorb breast milk, which provides comprehensive nutrition to the baby and improves the baby’s resistance to disease, which is beneficial to both mother and baby. Therefore, women who suffer from acute mastitis during breastfeeding should not emphasize breastfeeding one-sidedly, but according to the specific situation.
In the early stage of the disease, if the milk is stagnant and not combined with bacterial infection (the milk is white in color and not tasteless), you should insist on regular breastfeeding and timely unblocking of the milk ducts, and then cooperate with treatment, and you can recover in 2 to 5 days. However, if the milk is yellow and sticky or the nipple is broken, you should stop breastfeeding temporarily on the affected breast and give regular massage to drain the milk or use a breast pump to drain the milk, and the milk should be sucked up with a breast pump to help unblock the milk ducts and reduce the development of inflammation. After treatment, breastfeeding can be continued if the milk turns white and drains freely, or if the nipple is broken and healed.
However, not all women are suitable for breastfeeding. For example, if a woman has a congenital deformity of the nipple (sunken, shortened, too small, no milk hole, etc.), which makes breastfeeding difficult, and acute mastitis occurs, she should be given back breast milk; if a breast abscess has become a transcystic change (i.e. multi-room abscess), and more milk glands and milk ducts are destroyed, she should consider giving back breast milk. If you are a breastfeeding woman who has had mastitis, you should gradually reduce the time and number of breastfeeding sessions before returning to breastfeeding to prevent sudden weaning and recurrence of mastitis.
3. What should I pay attention to in my diet for mastitis patients?
The actual fact is that there are various ingredients that are warm, mild and cold, and different body types and different stages of the disease should pay attention to choosing the right diet, so for women with mastitis, choosing the right diet is very beneficial to their recovery.
The actual fact is that you can find a lot of people who are not able to get a good deal on a lot of things. But after the late stage of mastitis pus ulcerated patients, deficiency of qi and blood, the wound flesh pale, a long time to close the mouth, can be appropriate to choose chicken, mutton, pig liver stew to replenish the qi and blood, astringent muscle. The meat of the flat side is duck egg, duck blood, lean pork, milk, etc., which can clear the heat and produce fluid, strengthen the spleen and nourish the yin, so it is suitable for various types of mastitis.
As far as vegetables and fruits are concerned, the warm ones are leeks, chili peppers, cilantro, lychee, cinnamon, etc. Therefore, they are not suitable for patients with acute mastitis who are hot or have internal heat of yin deficiency. The vegetables and fruits that are calm in nature are carrots, cabbage, potatoes, fungus, silver fungus, mushrooms, figs, grapes, pomegranates, apples, etc. They are calm and moist and suitable for various inflammatory diseases. The cooler vegetables and fruits are white radish, cabbage, cucumber, kelp, nori, bitter melon, water chestnut, rooibos, sugar cane, tomatoes, bananas, pears, etc., which can benefit the stomach and produce fluid, clear heat and remove annoyance, laxative, and therefore suitable for mastitis patients in the period of internal heat toxicity.
4.What about breast swelling and pain during breastfeeding?
Some women who are breastfeeding may have swollen and painful breasts due to too much milk or too sticky, incomplete emptying, or too small or sunken nipples that make breastfeeding difficult, or other reasons that make the milk ducts not flow smoothly, resulting in milk stagnation, or bacteria invading the milk ducts due to broken nipples, poor breastfeeding hygiene, babies sleeping with nipples, etc., which should be treated early.
In the early stage of milk stagnation, a large amount of antibiotics should not be used, so that the stagnant milk does not dissipate but coalesces to form a lump. First of all, it is possible to apply local heat to the lump, so that the ducts of the breast are heated and expanded, and then to massage it locally (with the large or small fissure of the palm of the hand from the periphery of the breast to the nipple), gently pulling the nipple, so that the accumulated milk is discharged and the lump can disappear quickly.
To prevent breast lumps from appearing during breastfeeding, you should also pay attention to breast hygiene, breastfeed regularly, alternating between the two sides; if milk is retained after breastfeeding, it should be drained out as much as possible. If the nipple is broken, it should be kept clean and a nourishing topical oil should be applied to help it repair. If the condition worsens, you should seek prompt medical attention to prevent the formation of breast abscesses through medication or local physical therapy (such as microwave therapy) to unblock the milk ducts so that symptoms can be controlled in a timely manner.
5.What is the prognosis of acute mastitis?
The prognosis of acute mastitis depends on the patient’s specific situation, but generally speaking the prognosis is good. The key to prognosis is early detection, early treatment, and “elimination is the key”.
The prognosis is better if the breast milk is discharged smoothly after treatment, the swelling and pain is reduced, and the fever is gradually receding; otherwise, it will easily become pus and cause breast leakage, and the prognosis is worse if the evil is removed and the positive energy is restored after ulceration, as long as the treatment is appropriate, it can be cured. In short, the time to dissipate and heal and the length of the disease are directly proportional to whether the treatment is timely or not.