Nine months ago I wrote about a second-time type-1 diabetic mom who had
pneumonia at delivery (her first words post-birth: "I... can't...
breathe!").  She had had a full, though marginal, milk supply the first
time, and we both expected a comfortable supply with her second.  Instead,
she never expressed more than drops, and had a raging headache for about 2
weeks post-birth that was assumed to be part of the pneumonia.

We checked everything we could think of and never came up with an answer.
Thyroid was checked twice, several months apart.  First test was normal,
second test was low normal.  She had developed hot flashes, and was
chronically low-energy and depressed.

Her supply failure was totally unexplained until now.  She has gone to an
endocrinologist in another city who strongly suspects pituitary damage -
Sheehan's syndrome or similar to it - with resulting thyroid impairment.
She started thyroid replacement therapy a week ago and within a couple days
felt *good* for the first time since the birth.

It hasn't been confirmed yet, but it sure feels to both of us like the
answer we've been looking for.

In the meantime, she has managed to keep her baby human milk-fed for 6
months, with solids added to a diet that's still mostly donor milk.  This
has been really important to her, because her diabetes has a strong genetic
component.

The need for milk continues, but at least she now has a *reason* for
something that had her whole medical team baffled.  Don't know yet the
connection between the pneumonia and the pituitary damage, but I'm sure
she'll learn more.  Anyway, apparently it doesn't always have to be blood
loss...

--
Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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