Anyone have any experience of reynauds???

[heather1212]

I am feeling rather down today!
I have been treated for thrush for over two months altogether. I've had daktarin cream, daktarin gel for LO, I've been taking acidophilus and I've had a 7 day course of fluconazole but I'm still having issues with breast pain and it's reeeeally getting me down!
I was wondering if it might be reynauds causing my pain and I was wondering if anyone on here could share their experiences of it with me?
My nipples do go White on the tips once LO has had a feed but it doesn't seem to hurt once the colour comes back to them. It doesn't hurt when LO feeds, but inbetween feeds I just have a constant bruised feeling in both of my breasts all day long. My nipples feel sensitive and sore when anything rubs against them and my boobs hurt just like bruises when anything is pressed against them, like if I'm holding LO.
Surely if it was thrush, all the treatments that I have had would have got rid of it by now?
I'm getting really disheartened now. I have always had poor circulation, for example when I get really cold my finger nails go a bit purple! Could reynauds cause this constant bruise pain within my breasts?
Please help!

 

[Ruth 1980]

Hiya, my husband and my sister both have reynauds. If you have reynauds a part or all of 1or more of your fingers will go deathly white, and it stops at a point on the finger quite suddenly creating a line between pink and white flesh. It doesn't sound to me like you have it but I don't know what could be causing your nipple pain sorry Hopefully ladies with more experience with thrush will come on and help you. Good luck with getting rid of it
x

 

[Pussycat]

I had a pain in one of my breasts for ages, it started about February last year. It would hurt while feeding, but then for hours afterward there would be a shooting burning pain from the nipple right back into the breast. It would often make me catch my breath, it was so sudden and sharp. It seemed that there would be a few days when this was really bad, then it would sort of get a bit better, but it would come back.
I went to the doctor and they referred me to the breast clinic at the hospital and I had a couple of unltrasounds. Unfortunately by the time the ultrasound appointments rolled around, the pain wasn't there. They never quite got to the bottom of it but I suspect I had reynaud's or something like it, the specialist did mention spasming of the milk ducts as a possibility.
He also asked me why on earth I was still breastfeeding (at about 18 months by then). I couldn't believe he asked me that, I mean it's recommended that babies are breastfed for two years, he must know that?
I am now pregnant again and am slowly weaning my now two-year-old off breastmilk. I no longer feed her off the affected breast (since the end of December, so I suffered with it for a bloody long time!) so she's only feeling off one side. I want it to hopefully recover before the next one comes along.
Here's a link that might be useful:
https://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/nipple-blanching.html

 

[Lawhra]

I suffered with it but only temporarily. It was awful pain after feeding until the colour came and at times until shortly after. Putting a warm flannel on right after feeding should help, then putting your bra right back on. You need to keep them warm.
I hope you find a solution. Sadly if thrush is bad it can take a long time to treat so don't rule it out as partial blame for the pain.

 

[summer rain]

It is possible to get reynauds just in the nipple from my understanding xx

 

[Ruth 1980]

It is possible to get reynauds just in the nipple from my understanding xx

Yes true, but that would be linked to the cold. So it would happen when she felt a little bit cold or the nipples were exposed to the cold

"My nipples do go White on the tips once LO has had a feed but it doesn't seem to hurt once the colour comes back to them. It doesn't hurt when LO feeds, but inbetween feeds I just have a constant bruised feeling in both of my breasts all day long"

This doesn't sound like reynauds to me as baby's mouth is warm so the reynauds shouldn't affect you upon finishing a feed. Also a "constant bruised feeling" wouldn't be a symptom of reynauds x

 

[summer rain]

Kellymom says that raynauds phenomenon, ie the actual symptom of nipples changing colour etc can be caused by other than cold, i.e. a poor latch or previous damage to nipples

https://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/nipple-blanching.html

According to wikipedia raynauds can have other triggers other than cold temperature, such as stress xx

 

[patch2006uk]

It is possible to get reynauds just in the nipple from my understanding xx

Yes true, but that would be linked to the cold. So it would happen when she felt a little bit cold or the nipples were exposed to the cold

"My nipples do go White on the tips once LO has had a feed but it doesn't seem to hurt once the colour comes back to them. It doesn't hurt when LO feeds, but inbetween feeds I just have a constant bruised feeling in both of my breasts all day long"

This doesn't sound like reynauds to me as baby's mouth is warm so the reynauds shouldn't affect you upon finishing a feed. Also a "constant bruised feeling" wouldn't be a symptom of reynauds x

It's the change in temperature between mouth and air that triggers it.

My LO blanched my nipples really badly in the early days, and he still does occasionally. It bloody well hurts! The relief is in either keeping them warm or in warmin them up quickly after a feed.

I thought it was thrush too, but after looking at my nipples, it's blanching. It does feel like they're bruised sometimes.

My nipples were really flat, and still are pretty much inverted between feeds, so LO has always had to work hard to latch. I think mine was caused by the pumping I had to do when LO wouldn't latch initially.

It's not so bad now, but occasionally you go outside and you can feel the cold in your nipples. It's weird!

 

[Braven05]

I had it temporarily as well...it was gone by around 10 weeks I think. It was horribly painful in between feeds though...hoping yours gets better!

 

[marycotter567]

My OH has a slight case of reynauds. His finger turns white quite often. I doubt thats what you have though. It os quite rare too.

 

[patch2006uk]

My OH has a slight case of reynauds. His finger turns white quite often. I doubt thats what you have though. It os quite rare too.

It's specific to BFing I think. it is definitely a thing though

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/113/4/e360.full

It's not the same as nipple blanching I don't think, although they are very similar. Blanching is only after a feed, whereas reynaud's is at any temperature change and the nipple has to go through a specific colour cycle.

 

[Lisa1981]

After suffering from nipple pain in my left nipple for majority of time I was breast feeding I was referred onto gp by health visitor as I'd took her info about Raynauds phenomenon and nipple vasospasm as a stab in the dark at what was causing the pain after thrush was ruled out. GP seemed to think I had hit the nail on the head. Initially agreed to treat with heat pads for 3 day and if that didn't work then he prescribed Nefedipine. I treated with heat pads and warm flannels, also wore layers to avoid cold outside as it was painful whenever I went out in the cold. Symptoms were severe shooting pains whilst feeding nut also after feeding and whenever i got cold. Also after feeding I noticed my nipple was White and it gradually returned to normal but would turn blue before it went back to normal. I had my latch looked at to confirm that wasn't causing it and was told that it may be worsened by the fact that LO has Tongue tie, if it hadn't got better through heat treatment then I would have got his Tongue tie snipped. Hope thats helped, it's a bit of a babble as nursing right now. Lx

 

[Ruth 1980]

Kellymom says that raynauds phenomenon, ie the actual symptom of nipples changing colour etc can be caused by other than cold, i.e. a poor latch or previous damage to nipples

https://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mom/nipple-blanching.html

According to wikipedia raynauds can have other triggers other than cold temperature, such as stress xx

This is a quote from the paper that patch posted:


"To diagnose Raynaud’s phenomenon accurately, additional symptoms such as precipitation by cold stimulus, occurrence of symptoms during pregnancy or when not breastfeeding, and biphasic or triphasic color changes must be present. All our mothers experienced precipitation of symptoms by cold stimuli and demonstrated biphasic or triphasic color changes, and 6 of the 12 experienced symptoms during pregnancy."

But I agree (having treated patients with reynauds) that stress is another trigger for reynauds in the digits x

 

[heather1212]

Thank you everyone for the replies!
I don't think the pain is quite as bad today so I'm reeeeally hoping that whatever it may be is going away! Keep your fingers crossed for me!

 

[beanfluff]

Im suffering from vasospasm which is similar but not worse in the cold. The breast pain you talk about is exactly what i have.In fact having just fed dd im sitting here with white painful nipples. They burn and feel bruised when the burning goes
I think mine is due to a shallow latch but no matter how many times I take her off and re-attach she still slips her lip up.
Im on the verge of just expressing its so painful. No real advice but the Kellymom article is quite good at explaining it.xx

 

[patch2006uk]

Im suffering from vasospasm which is similar but not worse in the cold. The breast pain you talk about is exactly what i have.In fact having just fed dd im sitting here with white painful nipples. They burn and feel bruised when the burning goes
I think mine is due to a shallow latch but no matter how many times I take her off and re-attach she still slips her lip up.
Im on the verge of just expressing its so painful. No real advice but the Kellymom article is quite good at explaining it.xx

That sounds so like my LO. It will get easier as her mouth grows. I used to hold the palm of my hand over my nipple after a feed, and that helped with the discomfort a little. It's not nice at all, but it shouldn't last forever