mastitis without lactating?

[sphinx]

Hi all, I stopped nursing 8 months ago. Suddenly yesterday I started having major pain in my nipple and a little painful lump just above. The feeling is exactly the same as having mastitis. The pain is literally on a milk duct. I think it's smart to get myself for a mammogram right away but I just wondered if it's possible to have mastitis when one is not lactating?

[tanyalynn]

Well, it's been a couple days, so this may be too late, but I'd look for other signs of infection like fever, chills, achiness. I don't know if it's possible/likely to get mastitis so long after weaning, and if it happened to me, I think I'd be a bit worried--that tissue isn't (now) that much different from other tissue around the body, so if I got an infection in my breast, I'd worry that something more global was going on with my health. Not meant to sound alarmist, it just seems enough atypical (about how my health works, anyway) to make me start hunting for answers. Whatever's going on, I hope it resolves quickly and easily!