Susan asked about the aggressive use of birth control pills to control
very heavy menstrual bleeding.  The mother she asks on behalf of is
breastfeeding a toddler and is concerned about the effect on her milk
supply.  That is something that would concern me as well.  I also know
from recent unhappy experience that heavy bleeding can alter your life
and deplete your reserves and must be managed.  I was also given the
regimen of BCP that Susan mentions and was so thankful they worked.
However the problem did not go away immediately and finding myself not
wanting to continue the pills in order to continue managing the problem,
I went looking for an alternative.  I used to tell my girls (I have 3,
all have had serious cramping with cycles) that I didn't know how women
used to live a normal life and deal with this every month before there
were medicines to help.  Well, now I know and our foremothers were
really on to something!  I tried raspberry and ginger to control
bleeding and the accompanying cramping and they worked like magic!  I
told my OB about this when I went in for a follow-up visit (thought I
was going to need DNC, but herbs did the trick) and she said that ginger
was good for a lot of things.  I have recommended it to my girls and now
use it myself to manage other things, ginger being a powerful
anti-inflammatory.  I have become a convert to herbs!  I always believed
they were useful but had never experienced how powerful they can be.  I
highly recommend this for the mom who is breastfeeding and needs to
control heavy bleeding.  Of course, she should research the herbs first
and make sure there are no contraindications to her using them.  Off the
top of my head, I don't know.  There were none for me.  Hope this is
helpful to this mom, and maybe others.

Kathleen, I was happy to read your caution about the types of
conversations we should limit ourselves to on here.  I have slipped in
my following of LN this year for many reasons, like Diane, but when I
have tried to catch up, I have been put off by some of these posts and
they certainly have not inspired me to keep up.  I would like to see
only politics that are directly related to breastfeeding discussed.  We
are truly a diverse group and though we may see eye to eye on
breastfeeding, we do not on many other subjects.  While some of us like
to argue, some of us do not.  We should all be respected for our
opinions and personality traits and not labeled because we are not all
alike.  I hope the listmoms will forgive me for the editorial comment! 

Marsha, whose heart is so heavy over the terrible tragedy in Asia...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future
generations as all other earthly causes combined.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~John S. C. Abbot~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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