A Letter from Miranda:

After the age of 45yrs I began to suffer from menorrhagia (heavy menstrual bleeding) due to uterine fibroids. The treatments offered were, hormonal treatment and medication to alleviate bleeding.  I tried all of this medication but suffered severe side effects. The next step was  surgery (ablation or hysterectomy).  I opted for uterine ablation but after about 3 months my periods were still very heavy. The surgeon informed me that the only way I could stop my periods was to have an hysterectomy. 

I had  a friend who had breast fed her two children many years previously and had continued to lactate by stimulation and ANR. I was always slightly embarrassed to enter  into the details of her ANR relationship and thought of her as being slightly eccentric,  until one day when we met up and I started to discuss with her the problems I was suffering due to heavy periods and how it began to impinge heavily on my career and lifestyle. What prompted the discussion was the fact that we had been forced to cancel a trip due to my symptoms.

She then began to divulge how she not only developed a close relationship with her husband through ANR but also used breast stimulation through breast massage to alleviate and almost eliminate her menstrual period. "After all, what happens when breastfeeding a baby?" she asked. "Your periods stop or they become infrequent or lighter."

I decided to give this method a try by stimulating my breasts through a TENS machine every 4 hours. I had learned of this method through reading an article which Ken had placed on the internet through another site. I contacted him for more details and he shared his knowledge on where to place the TENS electrodes.  I was not interested in developing an ANR, and breast massage alone was too time consuming, so the TENS seemed to be the most convenient option. What could I loose?

It took an immense amount of  commitment but I persevered until after around 4 weeks I started to see an increase  in breast and nipple size, followed by drops and then streams of clear fluid which slowly began to resemble milk. Things were not all plain sailing as  accompanying this I also suffered from menstrual cramping pains while I was stimulating with the TENS. The small amount of milk which was produced  needed to be removed from the breast to avoid mastitis, so I did this through hand expression morning and evening. Mastitis was a condition that I was always fearful of... but it never actually happened.

I  had been warned about the symptoms of stimulation* before hand, but these paled into insignificance in comparison to the heavy periods that I was having to endure, plus the threat of more invasive surgery.  My next period was delayed by around 3 weeks, so that was a positive sign that kept me going. I began stimulating in Dec 2009 and  by the end of March  2010  my periods had almost ceased, only slight spotting maybe every 7-9 wks. By around May 2010  I slowly dropped my 4am and lunchtime sessions  and then in July dropped the sessions down to just two:  morning (7am) and evening (10pm), each one 15mins by TENS machine. I continue to stimulate by TENS machine at those times and  I have very little milk,  maybe a few drops but more importantly my periods and period pains remain absent. This method has also worked for my friend and she has not had any intervention through surgery.  We both remain almost period free to date.      (January 2011, ten months)

MIRANDA

P.S. On afterthought, I think that if you wish to stimulate your breasts for the purpose of diminishing your periods, it may be a good idea to try just twice daily and see how that goes. I wonder also if a large surge of prolactin is needed at first and then you can reduce later when your periods have stopped, or have become more acceptable. Or you may need to stimulate several times in 24 hours to build up enough prolactin to alter/stop your periods. It seems to be trial and error at the moment as there is not very much information out there.

 

 

* The symptoms of breast stimulation that Miranda has warned about are:

1. Swollen breasts

2. Larger nipples - hers are now over half an inch wide.

3. Fatigue - maybe the same as you would feel if you are breastfeeding.

4. The calming effect on your mood - possibly from rising prolactin levels.

5. Being attracted to all things feminine. 

6. An increase in sex drive - this she did not observe.