Hi Jennifer,
Thank you for responding. I remember your screen name from when I was on this forum all the time. I am so sorry to hear that you are having symptoms again. Now that I'm thinking about it more clearly, I did have a short recurrence of symptoms myself about a year after the GM went away. They only lasted a few weeks, and they were not severe, but the emotional response I had to the pain was way worse than the pain itself. GM IS so frustrating.
My GM seemed to be linked up with my milk ducts in a way that not everyone experiences (I remember another forum member at the time who was successfully breastfeeding her baby during active GM). I started having GM symptoms when I was pregnant, and after I gave birth, I was completely unable to nurse on my GM side--I couldn't bear to try to pump more than a few times since the pain was so intense. I had abscesses that kept filling and bursting, of course, but after my son was born, they started aspirating breast milk from my abscesses during ultrasounds. Eventually every doctor I was seeing agreed that it was time for me to stop breastfeeding. That, combined with a very long course of antibiotics, seemed to be what I needed to get over the bulk of my symptoms. But I also have trouble remembering all the details from that time. I had really good doctors, too--Dr. Mary Laya (University of Washington) became one of my main doctors, and she was treating a bunch of cases of GM at the time. Seeing a doctor who actually had experience with GM made a huge difference.
Thanks again for responding,
Margaret Ann
Hi Margaret,
My GM was the worst during 2010, and 2011....around the same time as you. My symptoms cleared up early last year and were gone for more than a year, but recently they have come back. I know that is not reassuring. I am hopeful that I will improve again soon. This is such a frustrating disease!
Did you do anything specific that you could identify that made your symptoms better?
Jennifer
Oops--I meant "seemingly" vanquished!