dysphoric milk ejection reflex - Humanterm UEM

GC: n

N: 1. – dysphoric (adj): From noun “dysphoria” (“impatience under affliction,” 1842, from Greek dysphoria “pain hard to be borne, anguish,” etymologically “hard to bear,” from dys– “bad, hard” (see dys-) + pherein “to carry”; from PIE root *bher- (1) “to carry”).

– milk (n): “opaque white fluid secreted by mammary glands of female mammals, suited to the nourishment of their young,” Middle English milk, from Old English meoluc (West Saxon), milc (Anglian), from Proto-Germanic *meluk- “milk” (source also of Old Norse mjolk, Old Frisian melok, Old Saxon miluk, Dutch melk, Old High German miluh, German Milch, Gothic miluks), from *melk- “to milk,” from PIE root *melg- “to wipe, to rub off,” also “to stroke; to milk,” in reference to the hand motion involved in milking an animal. Old Church Slavonic noun meleko (Russian moloko, Czech mleko) is considered to be adopted from Germanic.

– ejection (n): 1560s, from French ejection and directly from Latin eiectionem (nominative eiectio) “a casting out, banishment, exile,” noun of action from past-participle stem of eicere (see eject). The jet pilot’s ejection seat (also ejector seat) is from 1945.

– reflex (n): c. 1500, “reflection of light, image produced by reflection,” from a verb reflex meaning “refract, deflect” (late 14c.; compare reflect), from Late Latin reflexus “a bending back,” noun use of past participle of reflectere “to bend back, bend backwards, turn away,” from re- “back” (see re-) + flectere “to bend” (see flexible). Also as an adjective (1640s), “thrown or turned backward,” also of thoughts or the mind. Meaning “involuntary nerve stimulation” is recorded by 1877, short for reflex action (1833) “simple, involuntary action of the nervous system.”

Abbreviation: D-MER.

2. D-MER, or dysphoric milk ejection reflex, is a condition that affects people who are lactating. It causes you to have intense negative feelings when your milk lets down during a feeding. Research is still ongoing, but there are coping methods available to help.

3. Dysphoric milk ejection reflex, or “D-MER” – pronounced by saying all the letters rather than, for example, “deemer” – is “an anomaly of the milk ejection reflex that results in a brief but intense negative emotional response in the breastfeeding mother that lasts for usually 30 to 90 seconds”, says Alia Macrina Heise, a retired international board certified lactation consultant (IBCLC) who coined the term around 2008.

4. Affinity terminology: Sad nipple syndrome may be related to a condition some breastfeeding women experience called D-MER (Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex). Interestingly, the feelings people with sad nipple syndrome describe are similar to those of lactating mothers with a dysphoric milk-ejection reflex report. Dysphoric milk-ejection reflex — or D-MER, as it’s called — is a phenomenon in which women experience a brief but intense emotional drop right before milk is released from the breast. The dysphoria (another word for a state of mental discomfort or distress) typically lasts only a few minutes.

S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=dysphoric+milk+ejection+reflex, https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=dysphoric (last access: 21 December 2024); NIH – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8594038/ (last access: 21 December 2024). 2. CC – https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24879-dysphoric-milk-ejection-reflex (last access: 21 December 2024). 3. The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2024/oct/18/what-is-dmer-breastfeeding (last access: 21 December 2024). 4. HuffPost – https://www.huffpost.com/entry/sad-nipple-syndrome-homesickness-depression_l_635434bee4b03e8038dfb52b (last access: 21 December 2024).

SYN: D-MER

S: NCBI – https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8594038/ (last access: 21 December 2024); HLN – https://www.healthline.com/health/breastfeeding/dysphoric-milk-ejection-reflex (last access: 21 December 2024); CC – https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24879-dysphoric-milk-ejection-reflex (last access: 21 December 2024).

CR: dysphoria, infant feeding.