Hi, all. As a quick reintro, I'm an IBCLC in rural west Tennessee (moved from
Atlanta last summer). I've been an LLL Leader for 5 years, and am Area
Professional Liaison for TN. I have 2 kids, 8 and 12, and 2 dogs. My kids were
breastfed, and we can assume the dogs were for at least a short period of time
before we got them!!

I received 2 calls back to back this afternoon and hope some of you might have
some info. I'll post a separate note for the second call.

A bf mom with a 7mo son called because of a bad case of hives that has been
going on for quite some time. She first got the hives before she got pregnant.
She had an IUD that had progesterone in it and the hives showed up about the
time that it was time to get rid of the IUD and the progesterone would have been
gone.  Once she had the IUD taken out, the hives went away.  She got pregnant 3
months later (and she said something to the effect that getting pregnant was not
easy for her, though she didn't elaborate). Her period returned at 4 months, and
the hives returned at 5 months. Baby is now 7 months, eats 1 good meal of solids
per day, sucks thumb, pacifier, and has a bottle of apple juice daily. Her
periods are normal and regular.

She has seen an allergist and an immunologist (and will see him again this
afternoon), has been tested for lupus (among other things) which came back
negative. One of the drs has suggested that the hives is a hormonal problem and
that she needs to take progesterone to clear it up, either a daily pill or a 3
month shot (depo-provera, possibly?).

She wants to know whether it is okay to take the progesterone with the 7mo
nursling. I read in the 1992 USPDI under progesterone which said so little was
known that it was not recommended for nursing mothers, and I read in 1994 Ruth
Lawrence about oral contraceptives that gives the mini-pill recommendation. I
know some of you are a lot more up on the drug info and hormonal stuff, but
isn't the mini-pill progesterone, only? Or is it different from plain
progesterone?

And, does the hives connection make sense? Seems to me that if the IUD and the
waning levels of progesterone were the initial trigger, then taking the IUD away
would not cause the hives to go away. Could the resurgence of hives at 5 mon
postpartum be related to the return of her periods at 4 months? And could the
fact that they started up relatively early be further indication that her
hormones are not what they ought to be (realizing that the other kinds of
sucking baby is doing could also be the trigger for the return of the periods)?

She's tried taking Benedryl but it does little for the hives and she believes
her milk supply has dropped since taking it so she quit that.

She is supposed to be faxing me more info tomorrow on background, etc. Any of
you have any thoughts on all this?

Thanks!

Melissa Vickers, MEd, IBCLC
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