Estrogen, I miss you.

I never gave estrogen much thought.

Enter breastfeeding.

Still, estrogen was not on my mind. I did vaguely recall something about needing to avoid birth control containing estrogen while breastfeeding, but I simply brushed this information aside (and categorized it in the "I will revisit this in the chance it affects me" category of my brain).

So now it affects me.

Not the birth control part, I have that covered. It's the strange interplay of breastfeeding and estrogen that has me all worked up this week. See, I've been having symptoms. Weird symptoms.

Like a UTI (and unfortunately I KNOW UTIs), but not really.
Like a yeast infection, but....nope.
Like mastitis....um, still not a match.

After five days of an odd ebb and flow of symptoms, I took to the internet.

Finally, I found a match. Under an article explaining a lack of estrogen due to breastfeeding, all my symptoms started to make sense.

Lethargy, Check. Briggs is sleeping between 7-9 hours a night (in one stretch!), so my sleepiness is no longer due to feeding my infant at night.

Unusual craving for sweets and carbohydrates. (Oh my! A previous post explained), Check.

Dry, relentless itchiness "down there." Check.

A frequent need to urinate (who knew this wouldn't be UTI related!), Check.

Night sweats and day chills. Check.

Short-term memory failure (so I'm not pregnant again, good!) Check.

Headaches and thinning hair (Okay, I expected these two as par for the course of mommyhood). Check and check.

Yes! Although I'm not entirely excited that breastfeeding seems to deplete my estrogen levels to epic lows, I am happy to know that my symptoms are not unusual.

And considering Briggs is in the top weight class for his age (maybe he will be a wrestler, who knows!), I must be producing quite a bit of milk- also a clue that my estrogen is low.

And so I find myself, after visiting with the doctor today, both grateful to be understood and a little unnerved that these symptoms may accompany me so long as I breastfeed. I have to say that if a few of them are managed correctly, the rest are rather subtle, and I will be just fine. But I'm shooting for a year of breastfeeding, folks, so take a look at the list of symptoms once again and send along all kinds of positive encouragement! :)

If only "acting hormonal" was a cute (albeit condescending) saying that meant little, I would take it! Unfortunately, hormones can play a much larger role in a breastfeeding momma's health than I ever realized!

So here's to you women in the same boat as me, wondering if you are going crazy. You're not, but your estrogen levels are. Good thing babies are so darn cute!