HI All,
I am really intrigued by this thread as well.  I have found that women who
use ibuprofin at the onset of mastitis (and do all the other stuff they need
to) get better far faster than if they don't.  I had one mom who had chronic
mastitis.  By the time her 3rd baby was 7 mo old, she had had 7 cases of
mastitis which left her bedridden for up to 3-4 days.  I suggested to her
that as soon as she felt it coming on to go to bed and take the ibuprofin.
She did this with the next attack (as she called them).  She took 600mg
every 4 hours and 24 hrs later was fine.  Next month, cam another
attack...again 600 mg every four hours.  Better within 24 hrs.  Then the
surprise.  She didn't have another attack for 2 months.  She did the 600 q
4hrs, better in 24hrs.  And after that,never another attack.  With her first
2 babies she had these attacks of mastitis every month for as long as she BF
them (which was no less than 15 mo).  She is still BF her third, who is
about 18 mo old or so now.
All anecdotal, I know.  Now the test would come if there are cracked,
bleeding nipples involved.  The moms I have worked with didn't have the
nipple problems.
In my case, I had the worst pair of nipples (infected, falling off, they
were hamburger, folks) and the worst case of bi-lateral mastitis.  It took
four months to resolve and I was on 4 different antibiotcis for the entire 4
months.  Thank God I didn't end up with yeast infections/thrush!  I was also
taking ibuprofin at the time for severe neck and shoulder muscle pain, bit
it didn't seem to make a bit of difference in mastitis directly related to
nipple infection.
I think it is highly possible for bacteria to "swim upstream" and infect
breast tissue.  (Not that I really know anything medical here, but it is
MHO)  Heck, if fish can do it, why not bacteria?  The milk is not forever
flowing out of the nipple, so there is time for the bacteria to "crawl" in
and swim up into the nipple pores.  Bacteria are very small, and if Drs use
pieces of wire (or whatever) to go into a nipple duct/pore, then why can't a
bacteria get in there?
BTW, I always reccommend that they talk to their HCP...
Just my thoughts..
Jay
Jay Simpson, CLE
Sacramento, CA
"No Miracles performed here, just a lot of love and hard work."