Posted by Barbara Cat on July 10, 2003, at 19:43:08
In reply to Re: please reply-hormonal ? and meds-BarbaraCat, posted by nmk on July 10, 2003, at 13:37:14
Hi Nicole,
This whole topic of hormones is sooooo confusing, I totally agree. First of all, your progesterone question. As I recall, you have suspected PCOS? It's not something I know very much about. I'll look it up, but in the meantime I wonder if your doc is treating you for estrogen excess, which is a very common malady. Many toxins in our environment act as endocrine disruptors, as if we didn't have enough to deal with already.I had a buildup of my endometrium because I wasn't absorbing progesterone and wound up with an estrogen excess condition. You're right, there has to be a balance between estrogen and progesterone. There has to be a balance of testosterone as well. And testing? It's the rare doc who does testing. They claim that none of them are reliable and, as one admitted to me, they don't know what to do with the data(!). This is simply outrageous! There are reliable tests and a good knowledgable health professional will use them until things are stable. I get very frustrated about the one size fits all unless you hemorrage theory.
It sure sounds like you feel better on more estrogen than you're getting. Progesterone 'opposes' estrogen, so the more you get, the less estrogen your cells uptake. I don't know what your doc has in mind about this. It sounds like his idea that you'd feel better on progesterone alone isn't working. As far as should you go off it, that's something only you can decide. If it makes you feel horrible but it's not medically necessary then I'd question whether it's not needless discomfort. Especially while your doc isn't available for guidance. Is there another doc he's referring to for emergencies? Maybe you could discuss it with them.
I'll look up PCOS and get back to you with some book suggestions. There is one I haven't read but heard raves about, Dr. Christiane Northrup "The Wisdom of Menopause" which extensively goes into hormones. Anything by her is a winner.
poster:Barbara Cat
thread:238742
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030708/msgs/240728.html