Dysphoric milk ejection reflex sense of depression and this feeling can range from mild homesickness or wistfulness to more intense feelings of hopelessness and self-loathing. Similarly, anxiety may range from restlessness to more intense panic and dread. Anger, the least likely of the three, may range from tension and agitation to more intense feelings of hostility and aggression. The mechanism is not clear. In a mother with D-MER, dopamine may fall inappropriately with milk release, causing the negative feelings. Among the hormones involved in milk production and release are oxytocin, prolactin, and dopamine. Oxytocin, released in pulsatile "spikes" from the posterior pituitary in response
Dysphoric milk ejection reflex Dysphoric milk ejection reflex Dysphoric milk ejection reflex (D-MER) is an anomaly of the milk release mechanism in lactating women. A lactating woman who has D-MER experiences a brief dysphoria just prior to the milk ejection reflex. The lactating woman who has D-MER experiences a brief period of dysphoria that begins just prior to the milk ejection reflex and continues for not more than several minutes. It may recur with every milk release or only with the initial milk release at each feeding. D-MER always presents as an emotional reaction but may also produce a hollow or churning feeling in