>>My question - is this phenomena caused by broken blood vessels caused from
intraductal thrush?  Shouldn't this mom be using diflucan? Has anyone had
patients with this experience, and what did you do?<<

Brenda,
The "difficult mom" I recently posted on also had ductal pain and
intermittent blood in the milk. When we finally treated with diflucan, it
seemed to clear up. Unfortunately we treated only for 10 days, and she
cleared up only after 7 and then had recurrence around day 14, necessitating
another round. I came to the conclusion that the problem was likely an
entrenched case of ductal yeast that had seriously eroded the lining,
causing the bleeding. While I did consider an intraductal papilloma, the
pattern of occurrence didn't seem to fit the latter. I strongly encourage
that mom be started on a course of diflucan, at least 14 days.

Lisa Marasco, BA, IBCLC
Santa Maria, CA