Do you have moments where you feel sad while you are breastfeeding? Do you have a sudden feeling of anxiety overcome you? Lastly, do you have some type of weird feeling but can’t put your finger on it when you breastfeed? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you may suffer from a little known condition called Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex or D-MER for short.
What is D-MER?
D-MER is “Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex is a condition affecting lactating women that is characterized by an abrupt dysphoria, or negative emotions, that occur just before milk release and continuing not more than a few minutes.”
With D-MER you tend to experience uncomfortable moods like sadness, depressed feelings, anxiety, irritability, and even restlessness. D-MER is a reflex (hince the “R” in DMER) it is controlled by your hormones and not you yourself.
D-MER: A breastfeeding condition
As a woman we tend to have our hormones out of whack sometimes even very often depending on various reasons. However, especially after birth our hormones are all over the place. If you experience anything like what I described above please know that you are NOT ALONE and it will get better.
Many women who experience this condition can handle it on their own because they understand that it is hormonal and not psychological. All it is is a chemical imbalance, I REPEAT D-MER is just a CHEMICAL IMBALANCE.
Treatments
There is a medication that can be prescribed by your doctor so if you feel that you need to go that route please contact your doctor. The three levels or intensities of D-MER are mild, moderate, and severe.
Mild:
Mild cases are where you feel like you are “off” when your milk tends to let down and it goes away. If you can tolerate it than it should go away in the first 3-4 months.
Moderate:
With a moderate case you notice that you are feeling a way that may not be healthy. You may not feel like your normal self. Take notes on your daily routines when it comes to what may be triggers. For instance, what are you eating and drinking daily, what starts to stress you out.
When you pin point some of these issues you may be able to put D-MER to rest by making some changes. The symptoms should subside within 9 months.
Severe:
Now if you have a severe case of D-MER where the symptoms are so bad that you no longer want to breastfeed because of the symptoms please talk to your doctor. Your doctor can look into prescribing you with something to help with your symptoms. If your symptoms are bad to where you feel that you would harm yourself AGAIN SEE YOUR DOCTOR.
Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex is a condition that is not talked about often but it is starting to change. You can visit d-mer.org for more information and a better understanding of it all. For myself, I noticed a change where I was feeling off and I would always feel anxious and worrisome plenty of times throughout the day. That’s when I started to do a little more research and found that I was not alone.
Before I decided to look more into my symptoms I remember not wanting to talk to anyone. Being afraid of linking it to postpartum depression (which I experienced mildly with my first son). I was definitely happy to see that it wasn’t postpartum.
As for me, my case was probably a mild/moderate case. Possibly due to dehydration and nutrition along with the IUD that I have implanted. All of which can contribute to an imbalance of hormones. My symptoms subsided around month 8 of breastfeeding but I knew what was happening and took it with a grain of salt so to speak.
I knew to speak life into my situation and to not let it get the best of me. Drinking lots of water which kept me hydrated and watching what I ate both helped.
Caring for D-MER naturally
Thankfully, I found a natural remedy that helps with D-MER and if you know me than you know I am all about natural remedies. There is a supplement called Rhodiola which helps with anxiety symptoms. You heard it here first, it does work! I’m very impressed and take it daily even after my breastfeeding journey.
You can read all about Rhodiola HERE in another post where I dive deep into this wonderful supplement. Personally, I noticed that the anxious feelings that kept happening was gone. On the other hand, if I missed a day or two the symptoms came right back that next day. So it is vital to take the supplement daily.
Take the steps of identifying the issue and doing something about it whether it be doing research on your own or talking to a doctor. At the same time don’t beat yourself up about it. You just had a baby for Pete’s sake ;).