Friday, June 19, 2009

Sexual functionality (again)

Could it be possible to give doses of prolactin to new mothers having difficulty lactating? I am more often hearing of women having trouble in this area, and I am wondering what is the cause of it might be. It wouldn't be that hard to derive prolactin from nature, and it couldn't be that hard to disperse it in a simple way. If it could help (if it addresses the main problem) there would be a huge market for the product.

Did you know that the sexual fluid of the vagina actually has spermicidal qualities? It has a raised acidity level, which kills sperm which doesn't get to uterus which is slightly kinder.

7 comments:

  1. May be the cause is high levels of female hormones?

    At birth progesterone and estrogen levels suddenly drop. This sudden drop together with high levels of prolactin triggers milk production.

    Heres an idea, maybe we should be encouraging women to breast feed longer and even inducing lactation in non pregnant women as means of preventing breast cancer. 80% of breast cancers are fueled by estrogen. Breast feeding seems a natural way of lowering a womens overall exposure to estrogen, giving their body a rest and possibly causing changes in breast cells which make them more resistant to cancerous mutations.

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  2. Doses of prolactin have been given in clinical trials to assist new mothers with lactation.
    Other experimental uses of prolactin include contraception.

    Prolactin levels can also be indirectly raised through medications that suppress dopamine (such as Antipsychotics). Hence the side effects of many antipschotics are elevated prolactin levels causing galactorrhea (abnormal milk production).
    Other side effects include loss of menses, loss of sex drive, impotence (in men), and the associated depression and apathy caused by low dopamine levels.

    I wonder if its prolactin that causes post natal depression.

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  3. WHAT ABOUT THE BABY! You would be drugging the baby when he/she drinks the milk!

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  4. good point.

    Did you know if a baby lactates it called witches milk.

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  5. I have never known of any babies lactating! They have bearly developed their own stomaches! But, the prolactin might seep into the kid, though I would presume that since the mothers prolactin levels would naturally be catered for by the body during breastfeeding time when it is naturally high anyway, so I doubt it would be passed in the milk as that doesn't normally happen when the prolacting rich breast feeding period occurs. I guess u could use it in cases where low prolactin levels are the main problem.

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  6. From Wikipedia

    "Breast milk production occurs in about 5% of newborns and can persist for two months though palpable breast buds can persist into childhood"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch's_milk

    far out thats 1 in 20!

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  7. http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2457-semen-acts-as-an-antidepressant.html

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