Guest guest Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 How old is her baby? Have her prolactin levels been checked?Sent from my iPhone Hi all,A mom has been told she must wean immediately. She has pituitary adenoma and has been told the prolactin increase related to breastfeeding is causing it to grow rapidly. The solution she has been told is to wean immediately. Does she have any other options? -- Pam MazzellaDiBosco, IBCLC, RLCBirthing & Beyond, Inc.Labor Support and Lactation Consultant Services Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 baby is 5 and a half weeks...and yes...the rising numbers are why they want her to wean immediately. How old is her baby? Have her prolactin levels been checked?Sent from my iPhone Hi all,A mom has been told she must wean immediately. She has pituitary adenoma and has been told the prolactin increase related to breastfeeding is causing it to grow rapidly. The solution she has been told is to wean immediately. Does she have any other options? -- Pam MazzellaDiBosco, IBCLC, RLCBirthing & Beyond, Inc.Labor Support and Lactation Consultant Services -- Pam MazzellaDiBosco, IBCLC, RLCBirthing & Beyond, Inc.Labor Support and Lactation Consultant Services Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 Is a pituitary adenoma just another name for prolactinoma? (the benign tumor of the pituitary gland) If so, the prolactin is rising because of the *tumor*, not because of the *breastfeeding*. During normal breastfeeding, prolactin levels drop as the weeks go by. Even the spike that occurs with letdown is not as high later in breastfeeding as in the early days. Perhaps a second opinion is in order? Does Riordan & Wambach or Lawrence & Lawrence have anything in them about this condition? Dee Kassing Hi all,A mom has been told she must wean immediately. She has pituitary adenoma and has been told the prolactin increase related to breastfeeding is causing it to grow rapidly. The solution she has been told is to wean immediately. Does she have any other options?-- Pam MazzellaDiBosco, IBCLC, RLCBirthing & Beyond, Inc.Labor Support and Lactation Consultant Services -- Pam MazzellaDiBosco, IBCLC, RLCBirthing & Beyond, Inc.Labor Support and Lactation Consultant Services Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 The fear is loss of her vision. She is having terrible headaches and numbness and blurred vision. Surgery is on the list of options if the weaning immediately does not solve the problem. Seems like she is going to wean to rule it out? I don't understand why they can't figure it out without her weaning to do so. Why is it that the first response to whatever is happening if a mom or baby is breastfeeding is 'wean and then we will see what is really going on'. Poor momma. Pam MazzellaDiBosco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 7, 2012 Report Share Posted March 7, 2012 The thing is, the goal of any treatment is to reduce prolactin levels which may reduce the size of the tumor. The alternative to weaning, and the probable treatment if weaning did not produce the desired effect, would be to put the mother on an anti-prolactin drug such as bromocriptine or cabergoline.These are the same drugs used to halt lactation for whatever reason. It is possible sometimes to regulate the drug dosage so that it does bring down levels and shrinks the tumor, but does not shut down breastmilk production (see Hale and also this reference from my files: One of the subjects " was taking 5mg of bromocriptine a day and successfully breast-fed her infant " This is from Fertility and Sterility Vol 36, No. 4, October 1981. " BROMOCRIPTINE AS PROPHYLACTIC THERAPY IN PROLACTINOMA DURING PREGNANCY " Authors Elias S. Canales MD, Isabel C. B.Sc., E. Ruiz, B.Sc., & Arturo Zarate, MD.) The effect on breastmilk production relative to dose, I would suspect, is very individual. For some women, just about any dose might completely shut it down, for others production might be slightly to greatly reduced and in others, production might be able to continue at " normal " levels, whatever that is for that mother. This does need to be addressed very soon. The tumor seems to be pressing on the optic nerve and the symptoms will only worsen as the tumor increases in size. Hopefully this mom has a physician that is willing to work with her to preserve breastfeeding if at all possible. Sharon Knorr, IBCLC, ColoradoOn Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 4:12 AM, Pam MazzellaDiBosco wrote: The fear is loss of her vision. She is having terrible headaches and numbness and blurred vision. Surgery is on the list of options if the weaning immediately does not solve the problem. Seems like she is going to wean to rule it out? I don't understand why they can't figure it out without her weaning to do so. Why is it that the first response to whatever is happening if a mom or baby is breastfeeding is 'wean and then we will see what is really going on'. Poor momma. Pam MazzellaDiBosco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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