I am utterly dissappointed

J

joyofliving

Registered User
Hi everyone,
Sadly my arthritis has come back after 1 month of delivering my baby, during my entire pregnancy I was fine. The doc says in order to take medication for it, I will have to stop breastfeeding my baby, which makes me very upset. I was planning to breastfeed for atleast an year. Did anyone had a similar problem where they had to stop breastfeeding due to some illness? What did you do? Any suggestions? I do not want to put my baby on formula :((
 
Hi Geomum. I know how you feel. I tried to breastfeed but couldn't. I had an VERY BAD reaction to it. It was hard to accept especially at a time when ALL midwives and mums I encountered advocated breastfeeding as THE OPTION otherwise... But you know, it's ok. I was in a great hospital and had great follow up to help me deal with my guilt about not being able to breastfeed. My bub is 2 and he's been swell without having been breastfed from day 1!
 
Have you tried any alternative therapies ? Just a suggesion. Dr. Troy Sing is a very very good acupuncturist and TCM doc which I trust totally. Try and get a consult with him and maybe he can help: 25267908. Don't give up just yet.....
 
Check with La Leche League, they have a book of the most up to date information on medications and their impact on breast milk. Often doctors are over cautious with medications and their effects on breast milk. It's worth a look, just to make sure that your decision is completely informed.

Good luck!
 
If you e-mail me at [email protected] with the names of the drugs I can look them up in Medications and Mothers? Milk by Thomas Hale.

This will tell you whether or not the drugs you need to take are safe and be able to suggest other options if the first drug isn?t suitable.

I can photocopy the relevant pages for you to share with your doctor. Sometimes doctors don?t realize how important breastfeeding is to a mother until she explains that she really don?t want to stop and helps the doctor find alternative medicine.

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
geomum,
Please take Sarah up on her offer. I used this book during lengthy negotations on suitable drugs for an infection with a microbiologist. It transpired that I didn't take anything, but it takes some determination not to cave in at the first suggestion of your giving up BF. It certainly needn't be the end.
There may be clinical or herbal alternatives.
Good luck.
 
Geomum
I should have clarified that I had no other option. So, yes, you should explore all options. My colleague recently had some trouble and used acupuncture and it worked.
But if you have explored all possible options, don't feel lousy about not being able to breastfeed.
 
Dr Jack Newman gave me this info on medication and breastfeeding. Amazingly, he also answers emails directly with specific questions and is a real authority on this type of problem.
 

Attachments

i HAD to stop bf my son at 6 months, because my blood pressure was outta control. the meds they put me on would have been very harmful to him.

i was disappointed, yes, but bottle feeding does NOT make you any less of a mother than bf. you are doing what is best for you! and as for what is best for baby..... A HEALTHY AND HAPPY MOTHER!
 
Most drugs are compatible with breastfeeding and for those that aren?t the doctor can generally find an alternative drug. One problem is that most doctors don?t have a specific book like Medications and Mothers' Milk by Thomas Hale but instead use information from the drug companies. The drug companies very rarely pay for research into whether their drug is Ok while breastfeeding and so in order to cover themselves from possible legal claims they say the drug mustn?t be used while you are breastfeeding.

An example is Labetalol ? a drug used for high blood pressure.
The box says:
Labetalol has been found in human breast milk. Therefore, it should be used cautiously in nursing mothers because of the risk that the infant may develop a slow heart rate.

Hale on the other hand says:
Lactation Risk = L2 ? SAFER ? Drug which has been studied in a limited number of breastfeeding women without an increase in adverse effects in the infant. And/or, the evidence of a demonstrated risk which is likely to follow use of this medication in a breastfeeding woman is remote.

He goes on to say that, ?Only small amounts are secreted into human milk.?

(There are a total of five Lactation Risks:
L1 = SAFEST
L2 = SAFER
L3 = MODERATELY SAFE
L4 = POSSIBLY HAZARDOUS
L5 = CONTRAINDICATED)

I?ve been helping mothers with questions about taking drugs while breastfeeding for nearly 15 years and only once has the drug been so necessary and so dangerous for the baby that immediate and total weaning was required.

Another consideration is the age of the baby. Drugs are most easily passed on to the baby in the first two days of life ? before the milk wall is closed (and yet it is a time that most of us have a huge number of drugs in our system). As the baby gets bigger he can often cope with small amounts of drugs in the milk.

Some drugs that a doctor might hesitate to give you when your baby is only six days old won?t be seen as a problem when the baby is six months old.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about drugs while breastfeeding (I have even been known to lend my Medications and Mothers? Milk out to doctors in special cases).

Best wishes,
SARAH
 
I have arthritis and I found that mine started to come back slowly about 1 month postpartum, but it was not that bad and I was able to go to 6 months before I desperatly needed medication. I couldn't carry the baby easily and could hardly stand up from the floor, pick things up, etc. so I knew it was time. I went on prednisone and that was enough for me. It is fine to take unless the dose is super high to the point that the amount the baby is getting could impact their growth. I started at about 60 or 80 mg and then taped down and stayed on 5 or 10 mg long term. This was four years ago so can't quite remember. With my second baby I was able to go without any medication for 13-14 months. Both times I went on medication around the same time that period came back, so I really think that BF hormones helped me out a lot. The best book out there that I have ever found it called "Medications and Mother's Milk" by Thomas Hale. He also has a really good website and there is lots of information on there about arthritis medications and BF as well as all other types of diseases you could imagine.

http://neonatal.ttuhsc.edu/lact/

You will find the info in the medication forums

Teh other part that is really interesting is the section on how drugs actually get into Breastmilk.
 
huh.... labetalol was the drug that they put me on! they made me swear that i wouldn't bf while i was on it! i'm a little disappointed now!
 
that is too bad Carang. It seems like so many drs are more worried about a potential law suit that taking the time to really research the issue. I found very little support from my rheumatologist and had even gone to another DR who supposedly had an interest in drugs and BF and was told, ?well its not like your ina thrid world country, the formula is safe hear?. Which is hardly the point! I did my own research and make my own decision on which drug was best for while BF and what I was confortable with. My pediatricain was much more supportive and said she would just what babys growth to make sure there was not an effect on baby, but I ended not having to take any extrememly large dose anyways. I also had good information from another dr who ran a breastfeeding clinic as well, so If you can find the right people who know what they are talking about you will find a drug that is safe to take.
 
I had very bad wrist pain (including numbness of the hand for the first month)after I gave birth to my baby. My doctor told me it was carpal tunnel syndrome and that it would go away in a couple of months. The numbness did but the wrist pain just worsened with breastfeeding the baby caused by the way I had to twist my wrist to hold my breast to the baby's mouth. I found breastfeeding and carrying the baby very painful whenever the wrist is twisted in a certain angle. Eventually after 6 months, i went to see an osteopath, who injected steroids into a vein on my wrist and the pain miracleously went away. I'm still not sure what I had- maybe it was arthritis? How can you tell the difference?
 
Thank you for your response

I am overwhelmed by the response by all of you and truly appreciate your concern and help. I am definitely more relaxed and informed after reading the replies, the article by Dr Newman and visiting Dr Hale's website. I have been prescribed Voltaren SR (Diclofenac Sodium) and Plaquenil (Hydroxycloroquin) by my Rheumatologist Dr. Tak Hin Chan, which fall under L2 category. So I shall continue breastfeeding after some more research.
Query, doctors can figure out whether its Arthritis by looking at your symptoms, family history and by running a battery of tests. The symptoms in my case are severe body ache, stiffness and pain/ warmth/ redness/ swelling in many joints (Especially in the morning). I have a strong family history as well. As far as I know Arthritis does not always go away completely after one or two rounds of treatment and one has to take medication for a lifetime to keep it under control. But then there are several types of Arthritis and treatment varies according to which one the person has. (Although it is difficult to put it into one category in the initial stages).

PS: Sarah I have sent you an email.
 
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