Medications

When nonmedical treatment fails to control cyclic breast pain, your health care provider may prescribe birth control pills or danazol (Danocrine). Be sure to ask about possible side effects of these medications and report them to your doctor if you experience them.

• Many other drugs have been tried in the treatment of cyclic breast pain and have been found not to be useful or are generally not recommended because of their side effects.

• Noncyclic breast pain is managed by treating the underlying cause. If a mass or lump is found, it is checked and treated. When your breast pain is caused by chest wall tenderness, it is treated with anti-inflammatory medication or rarely by steroid injections.

• If no cause for the noncyclic pain is found, a pain treatment protocol for cyclic pain is usually tried and often found to be successful.

• For simple mastitis without an abscess, oral antibiotics are prescribed. The antibiotic chosen will depend on the clinical situation, your doctor's preference, and your medication allergies, if any. This medicine is safe to use while breastfeeding and will not harm the baby.

• Chronic mastitis in nonbreastfeeding women is more complicated. Recurrent episodes of mastitis are common. Occasionally this type of infection responds poorly to antibiotics. Therefore, close follow-up with your doctor is mandatory.

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