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Old 01-01-17, 11:53 PM  
beanpeanut
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
I've run the gamut.

I've tried over the counter Estroven, it only helped my hot flashes, but it made me swell like a bloated fish and I gained weight.

Bioidentical: Added more problems than it resolved, I have a list (somewhere around my house) that I made when I was on it. And it was always dose changing because no dose was ever effective, upping the dose was not working but the Pharmacy wanted to keep going, I just had it! I was rubbing that stinky cream everywhere, they offered suggestions to try putting it on different areas of the body but still nothing, and I thought by the time they figure out my dose, I'll be done with menopause! (He, he!)

Horse urine: My daughter describes me as being a rabid horse out of the running gate! I can't even remember this because I was so....Crazy!

I was told that getting a blood test was not so accurate, your hormones change throughout the month, I was told that the saliva test was more accurate but even that can be indifferent due to the ever changing hormone levels in the body from day to day.

Nothing has worked for me, I've gone through more hell to make me feel whole again, all It's done is made the journey longer.
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Old 01-02-17, 11:03 AM  
Lori_Michigan
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Quote:
Originally Posted by toomuchjoy View Post
Thank you Lori! I'm totally going to look into this.
Great! I honestly didn't think just seed cycling and adding vitamin D would help me, but it has in a short amount of time. I also add flaxseeds for the first half of my cycle too (just about a tablespoon a day) in addition to the pumpkin seeds, and also sesame seeds (again about a tablespoon) in the second half of my cycle in addition to the sunflower seeds, and these make me feel really good.

I'd tried everything, and this just seemed too simplistic to work, but within the first month my night sweats disappeared and my horrible PMS was nonexistent. The vitamin D high doses really helped my sleep pattern.

I hope you find something that works for you!
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Old 01-07-17, 01:17 AM  
beyond.omega
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Quote:
Originally Posted by beanpeanut View Post
I've run the gamut.

I've tried over the counter Estroven, it only helped my hot flashes, but it made me swell like a bloated fish and I gained weight.

Bioidentical: Added more problems than it resolved, I have a list (somewhere around my house) that I made when I was on it. And it was always dose changing because no dose was ever effective, upping the dose was not working but the Pharmacy wanted to keep going, I just had it! I was rubbing that stinky cream everywhere, they offered suggestions to try putting it on different areas of the body but still nothing, and I thought by the time they figure out my dose, I'll be done with menopause! (He, he!)

Horse urine: My daughter describes me as being a rabid horse out of the running gate! I can't even remember this because I was so....Crazy!
This all sounds awful!
Quote:
Originally Posted by beanpeanut View Post
I was told that getting a blood test was not so accurate, your hormones change throughout the month, I was told that the saliva test was more accurate but even that can be indifferent due to the ever changing hormone levels in the body from day to day.
This isn't exactly true. Here is an article that discusses various options for HRT (and also goes into some of the problems you have described.) At the end, the list target values for various hormone values, based on time of month.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beanpeanut View Post
Nothing has worked for me, I've gone through more hell to make me feel whole again, all It's done is made the journey longer.
What I discovered just from charting alone (and for free) has been so valuable to me in healing my various symptoms, I would strongly recommend you check out the books I listed in my earlier post. It sounds sort of backward to use techniques for fertility to deal with perimenopause, but it has really helped me.

If Toni Weschler's books seem like too much, Garden of Fertility by Katie Singer might be more approachable. It doesn't have as much info at TCoYF, but is more approachable, and her focus is more on paying attention to cycles. And if you don't want to start charting the Period Repair Manual doesn't need you to. In addition, some of the other books about the endocrine system posted in this thread might be helpful to you.

I hope you find something that helps you.
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Old 01-07-17, 10:19 AM  
ncl
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Western North Carolina
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lori_Michigan View Post
I am in my mid-40s and I struggled with this for a few years -- I then started taking vitamin D (about 6,000 IUs a day) and also started seed cycling (pumpkin seeds and cod liver oil in the first part of my cycle, and then sunflower seeds and evening primrose oil in the second part of my cycle) -- here's a link: https://theherbalacademy.com/seed-cy...monal-balance/

I didn't have much hope for this, as I thought it was too simplistic to make such a change, but it's actually much improved the symptoms I had that sound similar to yours. And it was actually quite quickly, not months, that I started to feel better.

I had a full panel of bloodwork done, and everything seemed normal. I just felt quite estrogen heavy, and I knew something needed to change, and biosimilars made my symptoms even worse. Just an idea to try!
Hey Lori. I am curious why you do cod liver oil instead of flax. The article you linked seemed to recommend flax. However, I don't tolerate flax and am concerned as I am estrogen dominant and flax contains phytoestrogens so I generally stay away from flax. Cod liver oil sounds better for me anyway and still full of omega 3s.

How much of the oil did you use?
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Old 01-07-17, 11:24 AM  
Lori_Michigan
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncl View Post
Hey Lori. I am curious why you do cod liver oil instead of flax. The article you linked seemed to recommend flax. However, I don't tolerate flax and am concerned as I am estrogen dominant and flax contains phytoestrogens so I generally stay away from flax. Cod liver oil sounds better for me anyway and still full of omega 3s.

How much of the oil did you use?
I am really estrogen dominant too, and too much flaxseed oil causes mine to get worse too. So, I eat about 1 teaspoon of ground flaxseeds (not the oil) and about 1 teaspoon of cod liver oil -- only from days 1-16 (or 17/18 as I ovulate late) and then switch to evening primrose oil only from ovulation to the start of my period, so it looks like:

Days 1-16 (17-18ish): 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds/twice per day (I just eat these as a mid-day snack and afternoon snack), 1 teaspoon ground flaxseeds (not the oil, make sure they are ground), 1 teaspoon cod liver oil --> in addition to about 6,000 IUs of vitamin D

Days 18ish-30/31: 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds and 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (I buy in the grocery store oddly enough)/twice per day (again, as a snack), about 500 mg evening primrose oil (sometimes I take two of them if I don't get a headache) --> and in addition to the 6,000 IUs of vitamin D

I'm extremely sensitive to bioidenticals and anything estrogenic usually makes me much worse, but for some reason, this simple and small amounts has made such a difference for me. Hope this helps!!
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Old 01-07-17, 03:01 PM  
ncl
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Western North Carolina
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lori_Michigan View Post
I am really estrogen dominant too, and too much flaxseed oil causes mine to get worse too. So, I eat about 1 teaspoon of ground flaxseeds (not the oil) and about 1 teaspoon of cod liver oil -- only from days 1-16 (or 17/18 as I ovulate late) and then switch to evening primrose oil only from ovulation to the start of my period, so it looks like:

Days 1-16 (17-18ish): 1 tablespoon pumpkin seeds/twice per day (I just eat these as a mid-day snack and afternoon snack), 1 teaspoon ground flaxseeds (not the oil, make sure they are ground), 1 teaspoon cod liver oil --> in addition to about 6,000 IUs of vitamin D

Days 18ish-30/31: 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds and 1 teaspoon sesame seeds (I buy in the grocery store oddly enough)/twice per day (again, as a snack), about 500 mg evening primrose oil (sometimes I take two of them if I don't get a headache) --> and in addition to the 6,000 IUs of vitamin D

I'm extremely sensitive to bioidenticals and anything estrogenic usually makes me much worse, but for some reason, this simple and small amounts has made such a difference for me. Hope this helps!!
Thanks, Lori, this is great. I love food experiments. I have done many including vegan (worked for 2 weeks then felt weak for the 2 weeks afterwards), have gone gluten free (and still gluten free 1 year and a half later), paleo, etc. I love trying things to see if they help me feel better. I love the simplicity of the seed cycling, so I will give a try. Now off to order some cod liver oil!
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Old 01-07-17, 07:39 PM  
Lori_Michigan
 
Join Date: Feb 2014
Quote:
Originally Posted by ncl View Post
Thanks, Lori, this is great. I love food experiments. I have done many including vegan (worked for 2 weeks then felt weak for the 2 weeks afterwards), have gone gluten free (and still gluten free 1 year and a half later), paleo, etc. I love trying things to see if they help me feel better. I love the simplicity of the seed cycling, so I will give a try. Now off to order some cod liver oil!
I bought my cod liver oil at my local health food store, but I like Nordic Naturals w/lemon rosemary oil, it completely covers the fishy aftertaste. I only take 1 teaspoon a day, otherwise I get kind of estrogenish and get too much of a headache. But combined with the other seed cycling, having for just 16-17 days out of my cycle works well for me.

I can really feel when I fall off track and miss some days (like with the holidays), so I feel it's been really beneficial for me (in addition to the high vitamin D).
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Old 01-07-17, 08:02 PM  
beanpeanut
 
Join Date: Nov 2015
Quote:
Originally Posted by beyond.omega View Post
This all sounds awful!
This isn't exactly true. Here is an article that discusses various options for HRT (and also goes into some of the problems you have described.) At the end, the list target values for various hormone values, based on time of month.

What I discovered just from charting alone (and for free) has been so valuable to me in healing my various symptoms, I would strongly recommend you check out the books I listed in my earlier post. It sounds sort of backward to use techniques for fertility to deal with perimenopause, but it has really helped me.

If Toni Weschler's books seem like too much, Garden of Fertility by Katie Singer might be more approachable. It doesn't have as much info at TCoYF, but is more approachable, and her focus is more on paying attention to cycles. And if you don't want to start charting the Period Repair Manual doesn't need you to. In addition, some of the other books about the endocrine system posted in this thread might be helpful to you.

I hope you find something that helps you.
beyond.omega, thank you, thank you! I appreciate the advise and recommends, I'm going to look at the books you mentioned tonight!

After trying different things in the past I just thought I'd ride it out and hope it is over soon, right now I'm just taking vitamins, drinking lots of water and trying to get back to exercising on a regular basis.
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Old 01-07-17, 08:54 PM  
cherimac
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Georgia
Quote:
Originally Posted by beanpeanut View Post
beyond.omega, thank you, thank you! I appreciate the advise and recommends, I'm going to look at the books you mentioned tonight!

After trying different things in the past I just thought I'd ride it out and hope it is over soon, right now I'm just taking vitamins, drinking lots of water and trying to get back to exercising on a regular basis.
I had a nightmare time on bioidenticals too. Yuck. At 51 (not having had TTOM in 7+ months), I take vitamins., watch my diet, and exercise. I have symptoms, especially hot flashes at night, but nothing like others do. The symptoms were much worse on the bios.
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Old 01-08-17, 04:51 PM  
beyond.omega
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Quote:
Originally Posted by beanpeanut View Post
beyond.omega, thank you, thank you! I appreciate the advise and recommends, I'm going to look at the books you mentioned tonight!

After trying different things in the past I just thought I'd ride it out and hope it is over soon, right now I'm just taking vitamins, drinking lots of water and trying to get back to exercising on a regular basis.
You're welcome! Just to clarify though, the FAM method was helpful in the sense that it gave me more resolution into symptoms, and it just so happened that addressing some fertility related patterns happened to help me. Of course, YMMV. I do believe that the general awareness you can get from doing FAM can help every woman in some way though.

Having said that, riding it out can work if you are actually approaching menopause. You can find that out by doing the AMH test and the FSH test (FSH must be done at day 3 of your cycle.) Another clue about this date is when your mother and grandmother went into menopause. Personally, based on that datapoint alone, I still have a long ways to go, so I realized I had better start addressing the symptoms I'm experiencing.

Good luck!
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