Need Help with Breastfeeding or Weaning.

[OnyxSnowfall]

Hi ladies,

So I'd really like to continue to breastfeed but I am having some serious health issues (i'll go into them later in case they're relevant) --- and I can't treat them because apparently nothing is safe enough.

So my issues have just been getting progressively worse, but I don't know what to do as my baby will not take a bottle, sippy cup, anything. She only wants the boobs. And sure I don't mind sacrificing for now, but I am really falling apart lol, and I'd like to be able to function well for her and my boys later on too!

I don't know how to get her to accept such things, to at least gradually get her off breastmilk and onto some kind of formula.

Beyond that,

I don't know if there's anything safe to take whilst breastfeeding (I haven't even been properly diagnosed for something! It's driving me crazy, I'm done with being told it's just stress and anxiety ---

I have a sleep study ordered [as when I try to fall asleep I have to manually breathe --- my throat constricts, my lungs feel weak --- I keep gasping for air, and then a panic attack ensues... it's really becoming torture, it can take me hours to fall asleep --- I can feel and hear my heart beat in my left ear and it pounds for so long, I get so dizzy and my blood pressure drops to around 63 over 50 ugh --- then when I FINALLY get to sleep my baby needs me lol... and I get so nauseous and cold sweat and blargh --- but I don't even think I can do the sleep study as she needs me in the night) --- and I need a head MRI as the head ct scan was normal but I was told it couldn't see everything, but that's not for another two months ugh (I have constant numbness tingling in my face, feet and hands for no obvious reason --- my legs keep giving out when I walk, I keep experiencing random hot spots everywhere [always in the same stop on my toes though], my mental capacity is taxed and I sound terrible when I try to have conversation lol, I constantly have chest and back pains, my tongue feels sooo swollen all the time and heavy, and I have so much face and head pressure and pain [no congestion though?! no signs of infection]) --- I don't know what I could take with all that crap going on? Doctors wanted to prescribe me sleep meds but can't --- and even still, I feel like there's something else going on.

Sorry for the long post xoxo.

 

[pinkpolkadot]

Have you been tested for deficiencies? B12 springs to mind from what I remember reading...

https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Anaemia-vitamin-B12-and-folate-deficiency/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

 

[Maxy1]

Sounds like you have a few things going on there! I feel for you. Maybe start with the anxiety and see what that helps. There are anti-anxiety meds you can take and BF so talk with a good pharmacist and your dr.

I don't usually recommend dr google but maybe consider looking at the following to discuss with your dr or naturopath.

* as pp said - blood tests for deficiencies, or hair strand tests for toxicity?
* consider adrenal fatigue
* consider gluten intolerance (not allergy/coeliacs), find a specialist to talk to about this. In my country the go to guy is Dr Rodney Ford. To me, your symptoms best match this.

 

[noon_child]

I'm glad your doctors are following your symptoms up with proper medical tests but I would also say I have had ALL of these symptoms while depressed and anxious (but just not all together all of the time). That said, it isn't *just* stress and anxiety - these are real disorders that have real and horrible physical symptoms that are not just in your mind. Your doctors should be treating stress and anxiety as seriously as any debilitating physical illness. The fact that a lot of your symptoms only appear when you are trying to fall asleep also hints that anxiety is at least a factor in what you are experiencing.

In no way am I downplaying your symptoms by saying it could be anxiety as I have suffered myself and think it is one of the most horrible things anyone can suffer with. If you feel anxiety could be a factor, while you are waiting on the MRI you could investigate CBT, relaxation/meditation, address your life stressers etc. Even if a medical cause is found after that it is never a bad idea to get help relaxing and reduce stress as it helps your body to heal faster.

I'd love to suggest something to help get your LO used to bottles but I never found a way to persuade my LO to do anything! However without a diagnosis what medication would you take? Also breastfeeding produces hormones that actually help us fall asleep more easily (prolactin). Now that I have given up breastfeeding I am so much more likely to wake in the night and be unable to get back to sleep because my brain is looping my worries over and over.

Sorry I haven't got more practical help. Hugs

Oh I've just remembered that sometimes when I feel panicky and like I have to gasp for air when I'm falling asleep, propping myself up on pillows and sleeping at a 45degree angle sometimes helps. Feeling like you have to manually breath is also really common when the body is ready to sleep but the mind is awake. The body slows your breathing right down to a very slow rate when you sleep but if this happens while your mind is racing, it can feel like you aren't breathing at all and like you have to gasp to get any air. Having a wind-down and relaxation session before bed and making sure you tackle what is worrying you during the day rather than stewing on it (even if it is just writing a list of things that are worrying you and putting it in a drawer so you know you don't need a mental list) can help the brain fall asleep at the same rate as the body.

 

[pinkpolkadot]

^^ this is very true, my DH had similar physical symptoms several years back and it was down to anxiety. We think it all started with stress from work and then when the physical symptoms started to present themsleves it just perpetuated itself as he was worrying about what was wrong with him.

Eventually his parents paid for a private appointment as there was a wait otherwise and he was told anxiety. I think hearing and accepting this helped a lot as he knew what he was dealing with and his mind stopped running wild.

He still now occasionally gets some of the symptoms pop up. He will sometimes appear to choke, he says his throat feels like it closes over and he can't breathe.

I am not saying what you have is down to this but maybe don't rule it out, I think most people underestimate what it can do to you.

 

[OnyxSnowfall]

Thank you each for your replies. Really it means a lot!

I haven't been tested for toxicity (possibly b12, if it's included in the metabolic panel here). I will inquire. I think I need to find out if I have any food allergies too.

Also adrenal fatigue is interesting.

I am admittedly a hypochondriac right now lol. I think a lot of it is owed to the post-partum/breastfeeding hormones (I have Dysphoric milk ejection reflex). I got this way after my oldest for a good year at least. Then poof, my hypo etc just went into "remission" lol.

I do have generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder --- I have since I was little (I started having panic attacks when I was 11 --- granted, the conditions I grew up in fostered all of this, and I have been through therapy --- not CBT, I wish I could afford that [did do EMDR which unfortunately I ended up not being a good candidate for]). It just has never been this bad before --- nor accompanied with so much daily. I have noticed fatigue makes everything worse, but there's not much I can do about that right now.

I keep obsessing over how tragic my father's death was (he died of squamous cell cancer at age 56) and I don't think anyone should have to go through all that suffering ugh.

I have had a ton of chronic stress over the last few years (which just makes me more paranoid that I've developed some terrible disease/health condition lol) --- I know stress is bad, but stressing about stress I have failed to manage is ick too!

I've never been good at meditation / relaxation techniques.

Most of the stuff my Docs have wanted to prescribe go into the milk (sleep meds & NSAIDs [I'm allergic to all but aspirin based, and they said not to take that while breastfeeding]). Antidepressants have never worked for me (I've tried a myriad of them -- zoloft, paxil, prozac, lexapro, celexa --- some others I forget lol --- and they all make me extremely lethargic and feel actually empty and depressed).

I was big on using herbs to help manage my madnesses / health, but I've abstained from many since being pregnant and breastfeeding (I do take what's safe still).

I used to take curcumin w/ ginger for any kind of inflammation, but it isn't recommended for lactation --- gwarghhghhh.

Lol. Can't wait for this all to pass @.@

 

[azure girl]

I just made the hard to choice to start weaning. My RA is too active, making daily activities like caring for DS difficult. I just did his first mixed bottle :'(

You definitely need answers, an MRI should be safe without the contrast, it's just a big magnet. As far as getting her used to bottles, that is the million dollar question. All babies have preferences. Mine likes nuk pacis, so I use the same bottles. Continue to offer a bottle, she may take to it after a bit. Nursing after a refusal may make her think it's OK to not take it, so a small pause between may be good.

Your baby, your body, your choice. Keep your head up!

 

[noon_child]

I have been through therapy --- not CBT, I wish I could afford that

It greatly saddens me that you are having to live in a country where your insurance will pay for an MRI scan but not CBT therapy.