Posted by dreamboat_annie on October 13, 2006, at 19:22:39
In reply to Re: Thyroid Expert Please » dreamboat_annie, posted by Phillipa on October 13, 2006, at 18:54:26
I don't know how well it works. When I was looking into progesterone cream, I had read that you need to make sure that you get a brand that says USP or something like that not something that simply says wild yam cream. I think Progest is supposed to be good. I had bought some called Awakening Woman which is, apparently, physician recommended, through Alternative Medicine Network Inc. They have a website. Whether the cream would be strong enough for someone who has gone through menopause, I don't know. And, I think it is important to balance it with estrogen as well. Too much progesterone can, as I understand it, cause lethargy and depression, so you have to be careful. I don't do well on progesterone for those reasons. And, I don't think that just because a woman has stopped having hot flashes, hormone replacement is no longer necessary. Hormone replacement does a lot more than control hot flashes and night sweats. My doctor was telling me that hormone replacement therapy is neuroprotective and helps protect against osteoporosis, keeps teeth strong, and some other things I can't remember right now. Symptoms of menopause are not restricted to hot flashes and night sweats, there are all kinds of other things happening to a woman's body when they are in perimenopause and go into menopause. Personally, I think your doctor did you a diservice having you stop the hormones. My mom had a hysterectomy when she was about 40, and she couldn't tolerate the hormones, and boy did she suffer (and it wasn't just from hot flashes). I think her quality of life would have been much better if she had been able to take them. I visit a menopause forum sometimes, and there are women there, some like me who are in perimenopause (mid-40s) who have or are going to start hormones and others who have gone through meno and still take hormones. One woman joked about her sister who is 60-something who said that they will have to pry the hormones out of her cold dead hands before she will stop taking them. It's about quality of life.
Anyway, I hope things work out and you find some relief soon.Cheers.
> Thanks for answering you're perfectly correct. I have T4 from lab work done that shows it is at very lowest level. Don't know the T3 but he tested that too. And my antibodies aren't very high for me right now as my ANA is 1:160. I have a neice who knows a great deal about thyroid and I did e-mail with her and learned a few things. As she went hyper recently from hypo and does see an endocrinologist. He told her that anxiety can be at the low end and high end of TSH. Mine was 22 during perimenopause and caused my first hospitalization as anxiety out of control. But I never knew low TSH could cause anxiety too. The doc lowered the dose by one notch. Hopefully this will help. Until a l1/2yrs ago I took bioidentical hormones. The OB-GYN I was seeing said if no more hot flashes no need to be on them. I disagree. As when I stopped them I started to visably age more. So I'm wondering if the progesterone cream you buy in the health food store is a good quality and if that could take the place. Do you know? Love Phillipa
poster:dreamboat_annie
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URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20060818/msgs/694571.html