to find it disturbing that

[biddysmama]

this was posted on a breastfeeding forum i'm a member of

" I am a man who has a medical condition which has caused me to lactate, this started over a year ago and I've been seeing doctors for this ever since... but they haven't yet found a way to stop it. I was in quite a lot of discomfort so my doctor advised that I should use a breastpump... both for comfort and to avoid mastitis. It seems that the amount of prolactin in my blood is always astronomically high whether I pump or not, so that kinda helps. Since it started the amount of milk I've been producing has increased quite steadilly, so at the moment I'm pumping about 7 times a day and producing roughly 1300ml per day. I go to university so I often have to skip a pumping session or two for my lessons and just leak through it."

he goes on to say he now donates the milk to a milk bank.....

(i understand its a genuine medical condition, but on a breastfeeding forum???)

[pingviner]

its possible for a man to lactate but is usually a drug side effect or neuroendocrine issue - could be a paraneoplastic thing i suppose if no pituitary tumour. I cant think of many types of non pituitary tumuor that would produce prolactin but im not an expert in this area

but i cant imagine any endocrinologist worth their salt shrugging - hey its medically unexplained have a breast pump and get on with it... maybe start your own ice cream business...?

it also seems pretty unlikely that UK milk banks would accept it

[dorisbonkers]

My parents friends used to work in the pron mag industry and I've heard from my mother about the many weird and bizarre predilictions (smoking, plushies etc) and lactation is a fairly common one. Well fairly common at the weird end of the sexual spectrum.

Yes men can lactate, but the disengenous wording of this, coupled with lactation being a thing among certain men makes me certain this is an elaborate fantasy.

[thumbwitch]

ah, didn't go and find the original post, just read what was on here.
Unexplained cause hey. I can't see the actual point of this trollery, if it is a troll - except to maybe freak out any poor woman using milk from the milk bank.

[Magaly]

and if that didn't work I'd scoop out his pituitary gland with an icecream scooper.

[Magaly]

i'd give him a double mastectomy.

[runnybottom]

he said he doesn't have a prolactinoma though, he said the cause is unexplained.

[thumbwitch]

but it won't work if he has a tumour that is producing prolactin, because it isn't under the same controls that women are - since their glands are operating on a biofeedback mechanism. The tumour, by definition, is not going to be under normal physiological control and therefore is unlikely to respond to drugs that deal with normal physiological responses.

[Magaly]

absolutely. There's a drug which is routinely given out to new mums in france to stop them lactating. If it works when there has just been a BABY then it should work on a man.

[runnybottom]

I've had a look. If they didn't know what was causing it, there is no way he could donate to a milk bank. Not if he is in the Uk as he says.

trippy trapp.

[thumbwitch]

Poor sod.
He does say in his post that his prolactin levels are astronomically high regardless, so pumping relieves the pressure. Stopping pumping wouldn't therefore necessarily make it go away. If they've been trying to stop it for a year then one would presume they've tried drugs. He might have a tumour in his pituitary gland that causes the enormous levels of prolactin.

Mind you, if he's lactating because of drugs he's on, I wouldn't think a milk bank would take it either.

[Magaly]

if he stops breastfeeding the breastpump the problem should go away.

i bet it's easier to wean a breastpump than it is to wean a baby

[WorzselMummage]

What a bizarre fantasy to have eh.

The milk bank didn't want my milk bcause of a drug I was taking ironically to help me make more breastmilk. They are very fussy.

Someone needs to point this guy in the direction of domperidone.

[Valpollicella]

Absolutely SGB.

Hence my ness. I would have utter sympathy for a man going through this. But bet there would be better forums other than a BF one on which to post it. A man who is lactating is not BF. Appropriate advice could be found in other places, with a namechange if needed!

[SolidGoldBrass]

Yup, it's the milk bank bit that really made me think it's a fantasy: if this were a man with a pituitary tumour, for instance, he would probably be on all sorts of meds that would make actually giving the milk to a baby a bad idea.

[TheCrackFox]

Ditto what SGB said.

Men can lactate but in the off chance this is real he will only make his problem worse by pumping. There are drugs that can be prescribed to stop lactating.

Also, I would imagine that milk banks are quite fussy and he would have to be medically OK'ed to donate.

[WorzselMummage]

Sorry.. Moob juice !

[WorzselMummage]

I don't find it disturbing at all that men do lactate or get they might want to post about it on the Internet. I'm not much bothered by men pretending to lactate if that's what flicks their switch

I wouldn't have wanted either of my premature babies to have mens boob juice though, no way.

[Valpollicella]

I don't find it disturbing at all. Men do lactate. I do find it implausible though that he is producing enough to donate to a milk bank, and that his docs would advise a pump (which would increase production) rather than prescribe a medicalised route to stop the lactation.

[pigletmania]

Why the hell is it disturbing I have read of men who do lactate very rare but it does happen. Same sort of reactions from people like op when men started to get breastcancer. The bf forum is probably the only place he can post and get a bit of understanding and sympathy, can hardly tell his mates can he!

[Valpollicella]

Plus a pump would surely stimulate the supply, which is effictively what both he and his doc would be hoping to avoid.

Given there are anti-lactation drugs given to women in certain circs, surely there must be some kind of similar drug that he could take

[Valpollicella]

Cannot imagine for a second a milk bank would accept it Lactation in men amounts to pretty insignificant amounts compared to what would be donated to a milk bank

[cory]

My experience of milk banks is that they are quite choosy about whose milk they take; imagine SGB is right; it's the detail that sounds implausible.

[runnybottom]

Its not as uncommon as you might think, though that doesn't mean it happens a lot. Its usually a side effect of medication, mainly cancer drugs and antipsychotics.

There are recorded stories of men breastfeeding their own and other children.

interesting article here
and a video here

[OTTMummA]

ditto what SGB said.

[SolidGoldBrass]

I'm a little tiny bit here (though I am not a medic). While I have heard that men can lactate, to do so to this extent sounds pretty fucking implausible. I am more inclined to think that this poster is either someone with some kind of gender issues (possibly intersexual) or someone with an elaborate lactation fantasy.