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From:
Marsha Glass <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 9 Dec 2004 18:21:48 -0500
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I wanted to respond to the post from someone who is helping a mom with
this syndrome.  It caught my eye because I have had CFS or CFIDS for
about 13 years.  It is so different for everyone that has it that it's
somewhat hard to generalize what is "normal", especially when they
haven't yet put their finger on one thing that causes it, and I suspect
they never will because I believe different things can cause it, and
therefore, it will take different "shapes" in everyone who has it.
(Whew!  Sorry for the run-on sentence.) My diagnosis came a couple of
years after my youngest child weaned, so I have not had personal
experience from that standpoint, but I have known someone with CFS who
had and briefly breastfed a baby, and I can do some logical speculation
based on my experience.  First, the mom I knew was quite late in life to
be having her first baby since she was around 40-41.  She was overweight
and held a fulltime job, so those are considerations along with her age.
She found pregnancy and breastfeeding very tiring and gave up after
about a month.  However, she had other health issues, so I think the
picture is too complicated to say definitively how CFS might have
affected -0r not- her pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Now, as to my own experience with it, I too had many strep throats prior
to the onset of my own diagnosis.  I also get sore throats when I don't
get enough rest -guaranteed!  However, I think my case was precipitated
by extreme, long-term stress as I had just gone through a divorce and
custody battle and was trying to get settled in my new career and
working full-time after being a stay-at-home mom.  This was on an L&D
unit where they knew I was a LLLL and you can guess what kind of
reception I got from some of the staff!  My illness went into remission
for almost two years, then during a very stressful time at my job, it
came back and has haunted me ever since.  I think my illness is my
body's reaction to stress, so by extension, I would think that the
oxytocin associated with breastfeeding would help.  In fact, to my mind,
at least in my scenario, knowing that caring for a newborn is stressful
regardless of how you feed them; breastfeeding, with associated
oxytocin, would at least provide some help to get through that stress!
I know this has been briefly discussed on this list before so it might
be worth checking the archives for practical suggestions on getting help
for mom that is truly helpful!  Good luck!
Marsha

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~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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