[blparent] Domperidone; was Re: Nursing and not sleeping through the night.

Thu May 31 09:08:45 UTC 2012

How horrible! I had some fatique issues while on domperidone too, but
for the most part, I could get past the anxiety and fatique and still
function.

Interesting theory about premature babies. I wasn't premature myself.

One of my sisters had a similar nursing experience with her first
child, except that she didn't take any medication and I'm not sure she
did much else. She stopped nursing completely when her son was 3
months old. But when she had her daughter two years later, she was
able to exclusively breastfeed for a year, at which point she chose to
ween her baby. She had no problems the second time around. It doesn't
seem likely that I will get the chance to try again, but I wonder if
my second experience would be like hers. In the meantime, I'm just
glad that Jacob is happy and healthy.

On 5/30/12, Jo Elizabeth Pinto <jopinto at msn.com> wrote:
> I took Reglan, and it increased my milk supply somewhat, but the physical
> and emotional side effects were horrendous.  Absolutely horrendous, and
> that's no exaggeration.  I had no energy whatsoever.  I would hear the baby
>
> crying, and my whole body would almost hurt, and I couldn't move to go and
> get her.  I was depressed and anxious, as you were, but the fatigue was
> insurmountable, to the point that I'd start crying when I faced a sink full
>
> of dishes because I couldn't manage to do them.  The problem with Reglan,
> also, was that I couldn't just quit taking it.  I had built gradually up to
>
> the maximum dose, probably denying some of the side effects because I wanted
>
> so badly to nurse, or blowing them off as new mom weariness.  So then I had
>
> to wean myself off the drug gradually, about a third of a dose at a time,
> and thus the fatigue lasted two or three more weeks, even after I decided
> Reglan wasn't for me.  I wouldn't advise someone not to take Reglan, but I
> would say, as you did, to be aware of her body and the side effects.  I'd
> never heard of the other drug you took.  But like you, I was satisfied that
>
> I'd done everything in my power to nurse, and it just wasn't meant to be.
> Sarah nursed a few times a day, mostly in the evening, till she weaned
> herself at about ten months.  I pumped several times a day, including once
> in the middle of the night, but I never managed to nurse exclusively.  Most
>
> of Sarah's bottles were half formula, half breast milk, which was the best I
>
> could do.  I grieved hard about that, but it was what it was, and I stopped
>
> completely a few weeks after Sarah's first birthday.  I'd made the goal of a
>
> year, sort of, and I couldn't take it anymore.
>
> Speaking of that, my lactation consultant was looking for research, which
> she never could find, as to whether premature babies who grew up to be moms
>
> had more nursing troubles, or different ones, from other women.  I think it
>
> would be an interesting question to ask.  Perhaps breast tissue is one of
> the last things to develop in the womb, as are the lungs and the pyloric
> valve at the bottom end of the esophagus.
>
> So that's my Reglan story, probably more than anybody wanted to know.
>
> Jo Elizabeth
>
> "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a
> song."  Maya Angelou
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Angie Matney" <angie.matney at gmail.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 3:33 PM
> To: "Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [blparent] Domperidone;was Re:  Nursing and not sleeping through
> the night.
>
>> Hi Jo Elizabeth,
>>
>> I don't mind discussing this on-list. At the recommendation of my
>> lactation consultant, I took domperidone. I ordered this from a
>> pharmacy in Canada because you can't get it in this country. My
>> lactation consultant told me (and I saw the same thing in my
>> independent research) that it had much less severe side effects than
>> reglan, the drug that is available by prescription in the US to
>> increase lactation.
>>
>> Domperidone did increase my milk production, but I still had to
>> supplement. Additionally, a couple of times when I caught colds, my
>> supply dropped drastically. I might have kept on going, but I was
>> starting to experience a lot of anxiety in general, and after the last
>> cold, I just could not face the prospect of continuing to pump several
>> times a day at work and wondering just how much my LO got while
>> nursing. So I stopped taking domperidone. My milk dried up pretty much
>> immediately at that point. I had no engorgement or anything like that.
>> My body really was done with milk production.
>>
>> And not long after, I noticed that my anxiety levels decreased
>> significantly. I should add that the anxiety was relatively
>> generalized and encompassed everything from feeding the baby to the
>> security of my current job.
>>
>> All of this sounded similar to me to side effects I'd heard about in
>> conjunction with reglan. But I couldn't find much on breastfeeding
>> boards about people who had experienced these side effects with
>> domperidone. I found one discussion about weight gain, which I had
>> unfortunately experienced as well, but nothing about emotional side
>> effects.
>>
>> Like reglan, domperidone is actually manufactured for GI issues. I
>> decided to look for information about domperidone side effects from
>> other sources. I eventually found some informative discussions on a
>> board devoted to GI issues. Other people had experienced similar side
>> effects with domperidone. (Some of the women had also experienced
>> lactation, which, for them, was an unwelcome side effect of their GI
>> medication.)
>>
>> I have a theory that some of this is due to domperidone's action on
>> dopamine and the connection between low dopamine levels and social
>> anxiety disorder, but this is only my own theory.
>>
>> Anyway, things have started to return to normal for me since I've been
>> off of domperidone. I went through a whole grieving process because I
>> gave up nursing much sooner than I wanted to. But I think it's
>> probably better for Jacob to have a mom who's basically together (or,
>> at least, not totally crackign under the pressures of a distorted
>> reality). I am glad I was able to nurse him until he was eight months
>> old.
>>
>> I don't regret trying domperidone. Apparently, many moms use it
>> successfully. My lactation consultant recommended it after pretty much
>> everything else had failed to get my milk production back up to a
>> level where I could feed exclusively breastmilk again. (I did do this
>> successfully for a few months.) And I know now that I tried everything
>> within my power to nurse for as long as I could. But it truly was an
>> awful experience. I found it interesting that more people who used the
>> drug for GI purposes seemed to be reporting issues than  did moms who
>> used it for lactation.
>>
>> Anyway, that's probably more than you wanted to know. But I thought
>> I'd post this publicly in case someone else is considering
>> domperidone. I wouldn't tell someone else to stay away from it. I'd
>> just recommend that anyone be aware of their emotional state and bear
>> in mind that domperidone could have a negative effect.
>>
>> And if your experience was at all similar, my heart goes out to you as
>> well.
>>
>> Angie
>>
>>
>>
>> On 5/30/12, Jo Elizabeth Pinto <jopinto at msn.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm wondering, Angie, about what drug you took that had side effects.
>>> Write
>>>
>>> me off list if you want, and if it's none of my business, feel free to
>>> say
>>> that as well.  But I had serious issues with a drug, also, and I'm just
>>> curious if it's the same one.  If it is, my heart goes out to you.
>>>
>>> Jo Elizabeth
>>>
>>> "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a
>>> song."  Maya Angelou
>>>
>>> --------------------------------------------------
>>> From: "Angie Matney" <angie.matney at gmail.com>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2012 12:38 AM
>>> To: "Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Nursing and not sleeping through the night.
>>>
>>>> Every baby is different. Jacob started sleeping through the night
>>>> before we stopped nursing. Unfortunately, we had to stop because I had
>>>> chronic low supply issues. I tried everything to maintain my supply,
>>>> including using a medication to aid with lactation. But it had some
>>>> unfortunate physical and emotional side effects. so we stopped nursing
>>>> a little while back. I'm off on a tangent, sorry. Just wantend to say
>>>> that my son did start sleeping through the night while he was still
>>>> nursing.
>>>>
>>>> Angie
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 5/29/12, Erin Rumer <erinrumer at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Oh, I know it is, but for now I will keep nursing him because my son's
>>>>> not
>>>>> ready to wean and I'm alright with waking briefly a couple times per
>>>>> night.
>>>>> I just make sure to go to bed early enough so I don't gyp myself on
>>>>> sleep
>>>>> and feel drained the next day.
>>>>>
>>>>> Erin
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>>>> On
>>>>> Behalf Of Allie
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 3:44 PM
>>>>> To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
>>>>> Subject: [blparent] Nursing and not sleeping through the night.
>>>>>
>>>>> I wonder if that has to do with the fact that you're nursing him,
>>>>> Erin.
>>>>> Gabbie didn't sleep through the night 'til after I weaned her off the
>>>>> breast. Coincidence?
>>>>>
>>>>> Allie
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>>>> On
>>>>> Behalf Of Erin Rumer
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 4:58 PM
>>>>> To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
>>>>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
>>>>>
>>>>> You ladies are blessed!  My son is 19 months and not sleeping through
>>>>> the
>>>>> night yet.  It's not horrible though because we co-sleep and he just
>>>>> wakes
>>>>> me a couple times per night to have a booby snack and we then both
>>>>> fall
>>>>> asleep right away again.  I think a lot of it is that he's growing so
>>>>> fast
>>>>> and just can't go through the night without having some sustenance and
>>>>> that's alright by me.  I know that when he does start sleeping through
>>>>> the
>>>>> night, there will be a short period of time when I will keep waking on
>>>>> my
>>>>> own because my body is so used to it.
>>>>>
>>>>> Erin
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org]
>>>>> On
>>>>> Behalf Of Angie Matney
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 5:59 PM
>>>>> To: Blind Parents Mailing List
>>>>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
>>>>>
>>>>> Hi Bernadetta,
>>>>>
>>>>> That's great that he's sleeping through the night already. Jacob was
>>>>> about
>>>>> seven months old before he did that consistently. I think he did it
>>>>> just
>>>>>
>>>>> in
>>>>> the nick of time to save my sanity (or what little there is of it,
>>>>> anyway).
>>>>>
>>>>> Angie
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>>> From: "Bernadetta Pracon" <bernadetta_pracon at samobile.net>
>>>>> To: <blparent at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, May 27, 2012 6:31 PM
>>>>> Subject: Re: [blparent] Introduction
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> Wow, my goodness, your right. It's eleven months, not over a year.
>>>>>> lol.
>>>>>> Ok, I've never been great in math, but I thought I could do basic
>>>>>> subtraction without a problem. Guess this sleep deprevation is
>>>>>> getting
>>>>>> to me. *grin.
>>>>>> It's a good thing that my little one has recently started sleeping
>>>>>> through
>>>>>
>>>>>> the night finally. It's been happening for about a week now; He's
>>>>>> sleeping
>>>>>
>>>>>> for seven, eight, even ten hours at a time now. He doesn't even fully
>>>>>> wake
>>>>>
>>>>>> up when I change his diaper. I was really concerned at first; I never
>>>>>> expected him to sleep that many hours at a time, but the pediatrician
>>>>>> says
>>>>>
>>>>>> it's ok as long as I check on him every now and then.
>>>>>> Yeah, I heard teething isn't fun. Fourteen teeth, wow, that means
>>>>>> your
>>>>>> little guy is almost home free as far as that's concerned. Mine
>>>>>> hasn't
>>>>>> started teething yet, but he's beginning to drool a bit and trying to
>>>>>> put his toys into his mouth, so I'll bet that's going to occur soon
>>>>> enough.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Bernadetta
>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
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