Soo has anyone had a mammogram while they were still producing milk?? I stopped breastfeeding my son 7 months ago and when i squeeze my nipple milk will still come out..............wondering if i could still get my mammogram now?
yes they are aware that i am still producing milk, its common.........my mom had milk for 2 years after having me.........but they told me to wait 3 months from now till i dont have any milk at all to have a mamo.....but we would like to start planning for number 2 so id like to go now! thanks ladies :)
Call either your mammography center or your OBs office to ask this question. It seems unusual that you would still be producing milk so long after you stopped breastfeeding so I wouldn't put off doing this.
Just to counter what others are saying, being able to express some breast milk months, yes even YEARS, after you quite breastfeeding is perfectly normal and not something to be concerned about. Just talk to your doc about the mammogram, I'm sure they have women leak milk while having the test done all the time.
I did not breastfeed and had a mammogram 6 weeks after giving birth. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal because my milk would be gone. I was wrong. I leaked quite a bit, but they did not make a big deal about it. So I'm pretty sure it can be a pretty common thing.
You might just want to wait since it will be more difficult for them to interpret the mammogram, since they are likely to have far less experience with this (as an aside it's also difficult for them to interpret mammograms for women with fibrocystic breast disease). Also, you might want to keep in mind that breastfeeding has been shown to reduce your risk of breast cancer. So, you might want to just opt for a thermogram of your breasts - that will show potential hot spots, which can be a sign of cancer.
The latest research shows that mammograms could well be contributing to cancer, due to increased exposure to the xrays, as well as potentially "bursting" small cancerous cells that might never have developed into anything problematic - in particular for folks that are motivated to make lifestyle choices that dramatically reduce the risk - i.e., diet, exercise, little alcohol, etc.. Also, stress is a known trigger for cancer and I can't think of anything more stressful than having to deal with a biopsy, only to find that it's benign. Now, if you have a family history then that outweighs some of these considerations, but again, my educated guess is that the folks that look at the mammograms have little experience in evaluating the breasts of lactating women.
And, it honestly amazes me that the medical community has been aware of issues with mammography for at least 8 years and thermography is rarely given as an option for women despite it's having been available for quite some time. Here's a good article on these topics:
http://www.womensenews.org/story/health/020203/some-exper...
And, lest folks think I'm not supportive of breast health - that's not the case, but the "pink ribbon" campaign was actually started by and is funded by the company that makes drugs for cancer. I would love to see the focus on prevention, as well.
And, if you ask many gyns, many (mine included) are actually quite okay with a woman choosing thermography over mammograms. They are just required to cover themselves by only giving you option of doing a mammogram.
I completely agree with Christine's recommendation - the fact that it's been that many months doesn't make sense that your body would still be producing milk.
I'd call the OB and the breast center as well.
Is the mammogram routine, or is there an issue they need to check you for?
Good luck regardless!
Yes you can. I got a mammogram several months after I stopped nursing. When I had my breast in the "vice-thingy", it got squished so hard that milk came out. But the technician said that was normal and common. It didn't affect my mammogram.
Go ahead and get the mammogram now. If you plan on having more kids, you'll be glad that you got it done before you get pregnant again. Good luck to you!
