Jill, you posted about a woman with pain.  You are not sure if it is thrush, and
this has been ruled out by her doctor.

The use of the words "burning" and "stabbing" really give me a clue that thrush
may be the cause.  In our work on the leaflet which Heather mentioned, Wendy
Jones and I have come to recognise that the way women speak about thrush is
usually very distinctive.

We have also collected a huge number of anecdotes which show that GPs often do
not know that thrush exists in the breast.  (My own GP, bless his cotton socks,
told me -- when I took him the leaflet -- "Thrush is a systemic thing.  It can
exist anywhere in the body".)

I don't think our leaflet *is* posted on the BfN webpage, sorry.  You could also
see the article Wendy and I wrote for December 1998 MIDIRS.  We quoted what two
GPs said to women -- later discovered to have thrush:  "You have a low pain
threshhold." and "If you were a sheep, I'd have you put down".  My other
favourite, which we didn't included, because it showed the medics in such a poor
light is "Well, I agree this looks like thrush in the breast.  Now, you don't
want to give it to the baby, so maybe you better breastfeed with a nipple
shield."  A really thorough understanding of what is going on, or what?

A good test for thrush is if it responds to anti-fungal medication.  If this is
thrush, sounds like this woman would need systemic rather than topical
treatment.

Magda Sachs
Breastfeeding Supporter
The Breastfeeding Network
UK