I went into the emergency room with some kind of acute intestinal distress - I was having cramping that rivaled labor, so figured I'd best get it checked out. The doctor couldn't find anything wrong, but gave me a little packet of pills to take. I asked what they were, he told me "metoclopramide", and told me a little bit about the effects it has on the stomach and intestines. I was groggy from being sick and vomiting, and didn't put it together that metoclopramide is the generic name for Reglan (which I knew about from researching milk supply boosters). He didn't ask if I was breastfeeding, so I told him. It didn't seem to be a concern. He also didn't ask if I have a history of depression, which is a major side-effect of Reglan. But this is a funny story, so I'll leave my doctors lack of information out of it. Oh, and by the way, the dose for GI distress is about 5 times what you'd take to increase milk supply...

The funny part is that the next day, once my gut felt better, my breasts began to swell. I mean, seriously, so you could see it, they were growing! I got my daughter to nurse (she was about 11 or 12 months, so I could just say "hey honey, want some milk" and she'd come over).  Then they were swelling again! I was getting seriously engorged for the first time since I'd had a newborn!  My daughter was getting full!  My son was weaned! I ended up pumping a bit to get through the day, and finally the drugs wore off - phew! But it took about 24 hours, and I had to dig around to find some pads to put in my bra!

The next day I called that poor unfortunate doctor, who got an earful about breastfeeding, milk supply, Reglan, and the fact that maybe he should know a little bit more about the drugs he's prescribing.....

Poor guy, but now maybe he knows better.