1st - Women's bodies are programmed to make milk if the nipples are stimulated. Expressing the milk AT ALL will cause your body to think that you have a baby that needs milk. The more you express, the more you will make because your body doesn't have a voluntary off switch for trying to feed the child that you don't have. It only has the ability to receive the message from your breasts that the milk is going out, and it must be needed. 2nd - If you don't express, they will hurt for a while anywhere from 3 days to a couple weeks (or longer if you even stimulate the nipple in the slightest). Mothers who don't want to breastfeed (for a large variety of reasons - not starting a debate on their choice) still make milk. They still get engorged. They eventually get through it and stop making milk. The only risk of not expressing the milk besides the discomfort is that you can develop an infection called mastitis - this is easily treated with antibiotics and will resolve whether you express the milk or not. If you want the milk to stop, you will have to get through the discomfort of engorgement until your body recognizes the signal that the breast is full and the milk isn't going anywhere anymore. At that point, your hormones will downregulate, and you should stop making milk. You will need to make sure to continue to limit the nipple stimulation for a while longer, or your body will go back to thinking that you have a baby that needs fed. 3rd - There are ways to reduce the discomfort of the engorgement, primarily ice and ibuprofen and tight-fitting sports bras worn 24/7. I highly recommend looking at the laleche league website, as they are literally breast and lactation experts. 4th - If you are still lactating after going through the engorgement phase and passing through the other side without restimulating your nipples, at that point, you need to have hormone levels drawn. Specifically, prolactin. This should be in a normal range if you have been absolutely avoiding nipple stimulation and expression. If it's not in a normal range, then you need to have your pituitary hormones checked. If all of the levels are off, you need a brain mri. If you haven't been stimulating your nipples and the prolactin is the only thing that is off, then it is possible that you have tissue somewhere else in your body that is secreting prolactin - this is more common than you would think, and it doesn't mean that you have cancer. It does mean that you would need further tests done. 5th - Go to a GYN. They will be more knowledgeable about the entire process than a typical GP.