Mary Jozwiak wrote: >Perhaps I am going out on a limb here (how unlike me;)) But I have been >reading that perimenopause is often the time *before* menopause, and that >many women suffer from a condition called "Estrogen dominance." It is >beleived by some that during the 5 or so years before estrogen levels >actually start to fall, as in actual full blown menopause, during >perimenopause, they actually rise, while the progesterone levels fall or >are by comparison, lower. <snip> Mary, I am also thinking out loud, as you put it. ;-) This is fascinating and could be very relevant to many mothers' situations, with the increase in the numbers of 'older' mothers. I also experienced a similar phenomenon to you with periods in perimenopause (but I wasn't lactating as well). As well as more frequent, they were different in character and more like the periods I had when young, so something hormonally seemed to be different to the previous 20-30 years. I have just been thinking that the occasional story you hear about mothers, especially an older multip who might be struggling with supply, and people say that her breasts are 'too old' and can't make as much milk, etc etc. It could be her hormonal state, in perimenopause, causing this - not that she is 'tired' or her breasts are 'old', rather that the hormonal milieu is different and she has more oestrogen putting a damper on supply. So once this period is over and she is in true menopause (*if* she lactated long enough of course!) she theoretically could get back a great supply from those 'old' breasts! All theory of course, but I would be interested to know if this is indeed what is happening. Joy ****************************************************************** Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor Perth, Western Australia. mailto:[log in to unmask] ****************************************************************** *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html