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Breast Feeding Trumps DMDs in Reducing Post Partum Relapses

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:29 pm
by Shayk
Lots of news coverage today on this topic--

87% of the women who did not breastfeed after pregnancy had relapses (one year follow up)

while only 36% of the women who did breastfeed exclusively after pregnancy had a relapse.

Can Breastfeeding Reduce Multiple Sclerosis Relapses?
Sixty percent of the women reported their main reason for not breastfeeding exclusively was to start taking MS treatments again.

Women who began taking MS treatments within the first two months after giving birth had significantly higher risk of suffering a relapse than women with MS who did not start taking medications early, regardless of whether they breastfed.
Another article, same news,

Breastfeeding "can reduce chance of multiple sclerosis sufferers having a relapse"

It's the initial study--but may help some with decision making.

Sharon

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:43 pm
by mommasan
Please see my posts. I nursed my son for more years than is considered acceptable in our society. MS was never better controlled. Once I stopped I went downhill rapidly. Please do searches for prolactin and mylein regeneration. I don't know of any other substance that has that effect. Based on personal experience: If at all possible: NURSE NURSE NURSE without formula supplementation.

Sandy

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:11 pm
by mrhodes40
Wow!
87% of the women who did not breastfeed after pregnancy had relapses (one year follow up)

while only 36% of the women who did breastfeed exclusively after pregnancy had a relapse.
The really interesting thing about this is that MS is usually capricious in its attacks and you can't know if a treatment actually prevented a relaspse or if one wouldn't have happened at that time anyway. It is one of the big difficulties in interpreting a particular treatments real effectiveness rates.


But in this case we have a period of time that we know relapses predictably happen and treatment results in 87% of them still having a relapse.

Makes you think it is not all that effective to use current treatments; this is one situation where they should have been able to show a predictable success rate if they could have done.

I'm delighted that women can use this information to make a better decision about post partum approaches and thrilled something natural and beneficial for moms and babies is best.

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:36 pm
by cheerleader
I'd also look into the power of oxytocin- a neurotransmitter which is essential for breast milk let down. Stress is an inhibitor of oxytocin...this is why nursing women are told to relax, maybe have a beer, and not be tense. From Wiki...
In the pituitary gland, oxytocin is packaged in large, dense-core vesicles. Secretion of oxytocin from the neurosecretory nerve endings is regulated by the electrical activity of the oxytocin cells in the hypothalamus. These cells generate action potentials that propagate down axons to the nerve endings in the pituitary; the endings contain large numbers of oxytocin-containing vesicles, which are released by exocytosis when the nerve terminals are depolarised.
Here's a doc who thinks oxytocin (available in a nasal spray) should be tested in MS patients...
I have been impressed by the dramatic clinical responses and concomitant metabolic effects to synthetic oxytocin--administered both nasally and parenterally. (2,3) These were the most noteworthy in patients with multiple sclerosis, (2,3) including the prompt reversal of Babinski responses and ankle clonus, and the normalization of altered diurnal water/urine metabolism. Moreover, these effects were predictably reproduced on re-challenge.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... _n16675816

Good for baby and mother!
AC

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:01 pm
by CureOrBust
mommasan wrote:Based on personal experience: If at all possible: NURSE NURSE NURSE without formula supplementation.
being just a man, I have no idea what I am talking about, but would a breast pump be sufficient? and going out on on an even thinner limb, don't other women produce milk if they use a breast pump? :oops:

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 7:44 pm
by CureOrBust
no.

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:52 pm
by cheerleader
Cure...yes, a pump keeps the milk flowing for gals who work, or are not able to breastfeed on demand. I don't think gals who have not given birth have all the necessary hormones flowing to produce lactation.

But, I do have something that can benefit men and women...oxytocin. Whaddya know, it's a vasodilator too! Maybe this is why breastfeeding reduces MS exacerbations?

http://www.raysahelian.com/oxytocin.html
Oxytocin is a hormone that helps relax and reduce blood pressure and cortisol levels. Oxytocin increases pain thresholds, has anti anxiety effects, and stimulates various types of positive social interaction. In addition, oxytocin promotes growth and healing.

The nonapeptide oxytocin, originally known to stimulate labor and milk ejection, appears to play an important role stress and pain. Oxytocin can induce anti-stress-like effects such as reduction of blood pressure and cortisol levels. It increases pain thresholds, exerts an anxiolytic-like effect and stimulates various types of positive social interaction. In addition, it promotes growth and healing. Repeated exposure to oxytocin causes long-lasting effects by influencing the activity of other transmitter systems, a pattern which makes oxytocin potentially clinically relevant.
Availability of Oxytocin Drug
Oxytocin is sold as oxytocin nasal spray. Oxytocin nasal spray (Syntocinon).Intranasal administration of Oxytocin causes a substantial increase in trusting behavior.
AC

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 5:37 am
by CureOrBust
when I first read this thread, I searched the Internet, and found the following "post". I tried to find the studies referenced, but came up empty handed.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... _n16675816
Roberts, HJ wrote:I have been impressed by the dramatic clinical responses and concomitant metabolic effects to synthetic oxytocin--administered both nasally and parenterally. (2,3) These were the most noteworthy in patients with multiple sclerosis, (2,3) including the prompt reversal of Babinski responses and ankle clonus, and the normalization of altered diurnal water/urine metabolism. Moreover, these effects were predictably reproduced on re-challenge.
...
1. Fehr, E., Fischbacher U., Heinrichs M., Kosfeld M., Zak P.J. Oxytocin increases trust in humans. Nature. 2005;435:673-676.

2. Roberts, HJ. An inquiry into the pathogenesis, rational treatment, and prevention of multiple sclerosis, with emphasis upon the combined role of diabetogenic hyperinsulinism and recurrent edema. J Am Geriatrics Soc. 1966;14:586-608.

3. Roberts, HJ. On the etiology, rational treatment, and prevention of multiple sclerosis. South Med J. 1966;59:940-950.
I also did a quick check on women producing milik, without giving birth, and found the following in the wiki.
A breast pump may also be used to stimulate lactation for women with a low milk supply, or who have not just given birth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_pump
I am guessing they got the text from here. http://www.breastpumpsource.com/why-breast-pump/

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 6:50 am
by mommasan
When I tried to re-initiate lactation after my MS was spiraling down, I was not able to. Some women can. There are medication that can increase prolactin levels and help adoptive women with the process as they latch the adopted infant on for the direct stimulation of the breast. After a while they can produce milk on their own, but not as much as if they had given birth. It takes a lot of stimulation to get to this point.

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 6:56 am
by Punchy
I am currently 8 weeks pregnant and this is very heartening news for me!

CureOrBust - pumps would work however generally, they don't produce as much milk as actual nursing does. Or course it varies woman to woman.

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:20 am
by mommasan
My son just turned 8. He was and is allergic to all foods. I nursed him for about 4 years. MS was in control before then, but seemed to improve a bit during nursing. Got pregnant with Sammi (not planned) and I had to stop nursing- I could only eat 1 food while I nursed Jon and couldn't find a doc to implant a feeding tube in him- he refused the elemental formula orally and was allergic to all foods besides lentils even thru the breastmilk. Didn't think eating 1 food was enough to support a pregnancy. I actually had a VERY mild attack during first trimester with Sam when I stopped nursing Jon. Nursed Sammi for as long as I could- she is allergic to all foods as well and I couldn't find anything to eat to nurse her- they both have eosinophilic gastroenteritis. I was pumping and dumping 40 ounces a day and was still engorged during the first 10 weeks post-pardem. Took 5 months for my milk to dry up- once it did the MS started getting bad and didn't stop. Sammi is a bit over 3. If the studies had come out, I would never have stopped pumping. Probably would still be walking, running and functioning perfectly. I was on copaxone the whole time I was pregnant and nursing. It was no better than a placebo. My doc was adamant about me not nursing to take the copaxone I said "NO Way." I had no idea it was really the lactation until I stopped.

Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 8:27 am
by mommasan
Thanks for the kind words. No doubt in my mind that being pregnant, pregnant and nursing or just nursing for 5 1/2 years was keeping the MS at bay. Lactation also inhibited ovulation and menstruation in me for 3 full years too. But the only direct relationship was ceasing lactation. Since I had that minor attack during the first trimester with Sam immediately after weaning Jon, I should have had a clue.