Low Progesterone, Wacky Hormones and Out of Control PMS Symptoms

[taniaaust1]

Also, do you, girls, have heavy and very painful menstruation like I do? That is horrible, too. I agree with TheMoonIsBlue that it feels like extra torture on top of the CFS.

That seems to be another symptom of ME/CFS .. Ive spoken to several with severe ME over the years (bedriddens) and they all had extremely bad period pain. I dont thou know if its a symptom that the sicker we are the worst it is.. or if its just a common symptom in CFS/ME patients. The ones Ive spoke to before about it.. they apparently were fine with their periods before they got CFS/ME.

The kind of extreme period pain we were discussing was the kind which goes right throu the abdomen, radiating throu the back and right down the thighs to the knees. I actually one time went almost completely fainted or may of for a moment while driving (I pulled over the side of the road unable to drive more as it was so bad). I was driving to try to get treatment for it.. as I was crying with it even after taking two different kinds of pain killers together and the hot water bottle wasnt helping either.

Amazingly this guy who was a chiropractor on that occassion helped it. He grabbed this large area of my abdomen, inside my pelvis very deeply (it hurt) and pulled and stretched it.. it brought in instant relief which lasted for a few hrs or so. I've tried to replicate what he did but have never been able to grab myself deep like that and pull.

 

[taniaaust1]

Lala, I tried evening primrose oil for quite a while. It was prescribed by the gynacologist who examined me when I had my "porn star bust explosion" episode. I found it totally useless, it did nothing at all. But since he prescribed it, it must work for some.

ohh lol at how you put it.. I had that too. My breasts were swelling up so big and getting really hard and painful (Ive forgotten the proper name for it.. doctor gave me a fact sheet on it which I still would probably have somewhere). I ended up on three different things for my breasts including the primrose but nothing seemed to work. The issue ended up going away by itself but hit me on and off over a year (then has gone away and hasnt come back... I wonder why we suddenly get issues and a year or so later.. they are gone). Ive never related this one thou to the CFS/ME as it isnt something ive really heard others talking about over the years.

The calcium is necessary for nerves which control the level of muscle tension/blood vessel dilation in the uterus, which determines the rate of flow. The uterus has to maintain an incredibly fine balance to keep the blood trickling out at the right rate without shutting off completely or flowing too fast. For this reason calcium helps with period cramps as well as too heavy flow.
...

Thanks for that explaination of the calicum.. I knew it worked but didnt know why it did.

 

[taniaaust1]

Another thing - mint tea can be used to lower testosterone (not men's tea!) and many sources mention it helps with polycystic ovary syndrome. In general the warmth of the tea was my savior against pains and cramps, but it also increases the flow - and I was constantly anemic.

I have PCOS but like many with CFS/ME I have low testosterone (it seems to be a very common CFS/ME symptom). actually near nil. So thou I have PCOS I was given a testosterone implant.

I havent really heard of ones with CFS/ME (well ones who've had it for a while) having high testosterone thou I must of had before I got CFS/ME as Ive had to have electrolisis sessions to try to get rid of a beard. My gyno said that if ones testosterone was high in the past.. it activates that male like hair growth and once activated its like permanent and hair keeps on growing unless you do something about it even thou my testosterone had gone almost nil.

So just be aware anyone here who has PCOS before getting CFS/ME, that your testosterone may now be actually too low. (I dont recommend thou treating the low testosterone as us ME females dont tend to do well with that supplemented anyway).

 

[Sallysblooms]

I take testosterone, 7 Keto DHEA, Progesterone, Tri Esterone, Prenenolone and Thyroid. Testosterone is good for strength among other things but the doctor is the key as well as the blood tests. I found the best doctor for hormones. Tried quite a few before finding him.

Yes, the minerals have to be balanced as well. But thankfully I had a hyster. so no worries about many things now. Just need to keep taking my supplements.

 

[Athene]

I have to get this thread out again to report something truly bewildering and amazing. For the last 2 months, I have felt dramatically, spectacularly BETTER for the week before my period instead of like death warmed up. After 26 years of feeling like a walking corpse, this change is absolutely astonishing. I don't just mean that I feel better than I used to do in that week, I mean for that week I actually feel better than I have in ages, better than I do the rest of the month, well enough to want to go out for walks and shop for clothes, really amazing stuff like that.

The only thing I have changed is adding in a few supplements. I bought the book called "Adrenal Fatigue" by Dr. Andrew Wilson and found out that all the nutrients he says you need for your adrenal gland to work properly, I was already taking, except for vitamin E. Some of the others I was taking were in a tiny fraction of the dose he tells you to take. So I increased some dosages and added vitamin E.

One of the things he says is that, if your adrenal gland is not managing to make enough hormones (your own top-up female ones, and the male ones) then your period blood is dark or brownish rather than bright scarlet, which it should be. I vaguely remember having red periods when I was a teenager but they have been dark for so long I thought that was normal. Well, this month, I am scarlet.

Another indication, according to him, is that your period is very heavy, then fizzzles out after about 4days or so, sometimes even stopping altogether for a half day, then starts up again. This used to happen to me some months.

He says in the book that the amount of female and male hormones the adrenal gland makes is very small compared to what is made in your sexual organs, but that the medical profession is beginning to think the fine tuning it carries out makes a huge difference to how well things work. The adrenal gland is the sole source of male hormones in females, and vice versa, and this role is extremely important. He says this is an area where there is still a lot of resdearch to be done.

This made me wonder if this could be why some of us have tested within normal range on hormone tests, yet there really seems to be something wrong with our hormone balance?
I also wonder if this could be why some of us feel awful when taking hormone supplements: Maybe taking more hormones just makes it even harder for the adrenal gland to fine tune the the exact right level, rather than helping it?

If anyone is curious to try something else, another test he says which is a certain indication your adrenal gland is under producing all its hormones (this includes cortisol etc as well as the sexual hormones) is this:
Go into a darkened room with a mirror
shine a torch sideways across your eyes (not into them)
You will see your pupils contract.
If your adrenal gland is underactive, the pupils will dilate again within two minte, instead of staying contracted as they should.

Mine re-dilated instantly and constantly went in and out like yo-yos when I first did this.
After two months of his treatment, today, I tried again and they stayed contracted for about six seconds, then slowly expanded, then contracted rapidly, slowly expanded, etc. So they are still not normal, but holding out better then before.

 

[Fred Smith]

how is ur test lvls 20 and ur a female? are u on trt??
the range 10-35 is for males i have 15 so how the hell do u have more test than me unless ur on trt