Desperate for help with left nipple pain

Hi all, I’m posting here because I’m lying in bed crying because of the pain I’m experiencing in my left nipple and areola area and desperate to get rid of it hoping someone has experienced the same.

Basically I get an intense stabbing, burning pain in the areola and nipple after breastfeeding baby only on the left side. This pain pulsates for a long time after and is so painful that I can’t sleep at night. I always feed him cross cradle on this side to ensure an exaggerated deep latch, shoving as much breast tissue as possible into his mouth. There is no pain while breastfeeding.

I’ve seen a lactation consultant who has ensured that the latch is good. Previously I also have had a bleb on the left nipple which seems to be gone now but has left a permanent whiteish patch on the nipple. There were also some blockages previously which was related to the bleb. I’ve been taking sunflower lecithin since.

When I lightly brush my fingertip over the areola and nipple it causes an intense stinging and burning pain. I’ve been experiencing this for weeks maybe even months now and I can’t deal with it any longer.

I’m 4 months in and I really don’t want my breastfeeding journey to end just yet. I know some will say why don’t you just feed on the right and pump on the left? I could but there are many factors that don’t make this convenient such as the fact that I am on the move a lot and need baby to feed on that side to relieve engorgement, baby is 4 months old but still waking up frequently throughout the night to feed and to protect my sleep I need to feed on both sides (if I keep offering right baby gets frustrated due to slower flow) and also my preference to feed on the left because I just hold baby better that way on the left side.

For the record I have tried everything!!! I took antibiotics because maybe it was mastitis, I did the treatment for thrush, I have taken a course of nifedipine for vasospasm, did the warm compresses, did the cold compresses, expressed breast milk on it, used nipple cream, used silverettes, kept it dry with breast pads, the list goes on…

I’m currently taking ibuprofen and paracetamol hoping that it will numb the pain.

The ironic thing was that this used to be baby’s favourite (and mine’s) side when he was a newborn as the left nipple protrudes a bit more than the right so he had a better latch on the left when he was a teeny baby.

Now it’s causing me a world of pain and making me hate breastfeeding which makes me really sad because I wanted that bond with my baby.

Can anyone help out there? Desperate!!! Thank you.