As they dont know why some improve while pregnant, it may be hard to replicate artifically the why of it.
Pregnancy not just changes hormones but as Sushi said, alters blood volume. That may be the whole reason why some of us improve during pregnancy as nearly all of us do get POTS with the ME/CFS.
Ive also read that our improvement may be due to extra blood filtration we get during pregnancy as the placenta acts like a filter.
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I cannot take progesterone because it literally makes me suicidal. Strange.
Liz
Me too. I ended up in a mental hospital for a whole week, just after I started taking a progesterone only pill for birth control, (I nearly killed myself and almost took my childs life too as went to throw myself over a bridge into a river with her in my arms but was stopped. This pill made me believe I needed to kill my child too)... and got better when I stopped it the hormone. They wrongly diagnosed post natal depression but I know it wasnt that due to the timing and I was good again once stopped (so didnt even end up having to take any drugs for PND).
The progesterone pill started to make me feel strange after less then 24 hrs after taking it and with every day on it I got worst and within 5 days of starting it I was a real mess and within 2 weeks was extremely depressed and feeling completely crazy and in hospital under a 24hr watch due to it, due to it all.
Ive since come across 4-5 others at a medical site who had severe mental health reactions to progesterone pills too so it seems this may not be an uncommon issue at all but one doctors dont realise is going on. Fortunately one goes back to normal fast when one stops taking it.
(No doctor after that was willing to have me on progesterone again till 20 years later when I tried this time natural progesterone which the compounding chemist made up.. the natural form rather then the synthetic form.. seems to be okay in my case and didnt cause any bad symptoms at all. (Thou didnt help any symptoms either. I tried natural progesterone as I have an issue with estrogen dominance so have Polycystic ovary syndrome and the progesterone was to try to balance up my hormones)
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I dont suggest for anyone to mess about with hormones unless tests show low levels or to correct hormonal imbalances tests are showing. They can have extreme bad effects on some. (I didnt even have ME/CFS back then when I got that bad reaction).