Ember
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Deborah Waroff interviews Dr. De Meirleir: ME/CFS Alert, Episode 44
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Sushi
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Thanks Ember!
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Oh estrogen...always causing problems. 
Oh estrogen...always causing problems.
Made me wonder if women shouldn't expect to get better after the menopause.
Erm that'll be a no. or a NO.
bertiedog
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From my experience women seem to be worse after menopause and not better. That is certainly my own experience but I don't think I ever had a high amount of estrogen. I have been menopausal for over 11 years and just take a small amount of bio-identical estrogen daily because I don't want all the bad stuff that can happen to your bones, heart, inability to sleep properly, etc once a woman looses all her natural estrogen.
Sorry to hear that. Dr de Meirleir said that more women than men (post-puberty) got ME probably due to their higher estrogen but when Deborah asked whether it would be a good idea for women to supplement with testosterone, he said it wouldn't. Clearly it's a complex thing. He said that pre-puberty, equal numbers of boys and girls get ME. Perhaps higher estrogen predisposes people to onset but once you've got it, lower estrogen doesn't help.
Sushi
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He did mention using low doses of DHEA to give a testosterone boost though.
Sushi
Sushi
He didn't seem to think it had much effect, though. Mind you, that's no the same as no effect.
Sushi
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Right! Like so many supplements, may be supportive but not breakthroughs.
Sushi
Sushi
bertiedog
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I get Estrogel from my GP but I am having a battle at present for her to continue to prescribe it for me because I am 65 years old and the NHS doesn't believe we should be using this. However I have researched this and there is no question there are benefits for your bones and heart health and personally I believe the benefits are greater than the risks. I might well end up having to get it over the Net like I do my dessicated thyroid.
Pam
bertiedog
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The problem with DHEA is that it opposes cortisol and for those of us with very poor levels it makes us worse. I only have to take tiny amounts of DHEA for a few days and it will put me into a crash. I think this is because it will be partly blocking the steroid I take for my non-functioning adrenals.
FYI Before I started taking steroids for my adrenals I had very high over the range DHEA and not a lot of cortisol during the daytime when it was needed. My private doctor interpreted this as the pituitary was asking for more cortisol but the adrenals could no longer produce this in adequate amounts and instead they were throwing out high levels of DHEA. This caused horrendous panic attacks whenever I tried to do anything physical. There is a PubMed study somewhere showing people with CFS who had high levels of DHEA benefited from low dose hydrocortisone.
Pam
FYI Before I started taking steroids for my adrenals I had very high over the range DHEA and not a lot of cortisol during the daytime when it was needed. My private doctor interpreted this as the pituitary was asking for more cortisol but the adrenals could no longer produce this in adequate amounts and instead they were throwing out high levels of DHEA. This caused horrendous panic attacks whenever I tried to do anything physical. There is a PubMed study somewhere showing people with CFS who had high levels of DHEA benefited from low dose hydrocortisone.
Pam