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:
-
Swollen breasts
-
Larger nipples - hers are now
over half an inch wide.
-
Fatigue - maybe the same as you
would feel if you are
breastfeeding.
-
The calming effect on your mood -
possibly from rising prolactin
levels.
-
Being
attracted to all
things feminine.
-
An increase in sex drive - this
she did not observe.