• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Glutathione affecting hormones/menstrual cycle?

tootsieroll

Senior Member
Messages
122
Hi all! I am new here and I hope I can find solutions to my issues with my treatment. Through genetics testing it was indicated that I have low glutathione levels and addressed that with an oral liposomal glutathione. First it gave me massive cramps and diarrhea when I was taking two doses per day. Then I reduced to half a teaspoon every other day. That resolved the diarrhea issue but unbeknownst to me it was going to cause a complete delay in my monthly menstrual cycle.

The first month I started the glutathione 2x a day, my period came and it was super light and was flowing for 2 days and then trickled away for the rest of the week. I was ecstatic cause this is coming from someone who had horrendous periods and would need to change almost every hour, so this was a miracle in my eyes. Come 2nd month on a reduced glutathione due to the painful diarrhea, my period did not come on day 28. It did not come day 30..it did not come day 40. I decided to stop glutathione cause it was the only change I made in my diet.

My period finally came a couple days after as a surprise and then slowed down to nothing day 2-5 and then day 6-8 it's as if a faucet was turned on. I'm now going onto day 9 and it's very concerning and I'm a little worried. I may have considered what I had before as heavy flow but this is a little more significant than that. Does glutatione affect hormones and delay the monthly period? How will I be able to supplement for my condition if it creates a flood every month once I cease the glutathione? And also I have arthritis and a massive flare of arthritic pain of the spine and neck coincided with the use of glutathione. I literally cannot hold up my back or head. Sitting up hurts and lying down hurts with numb pressure everywhere. The only benefits I experienced from glutathione was some clarity in my brain fog and deeper sleep IF I managed to fall asleep.

The side effects don't really seem worth it but I'm afraid of the consequences of not dealing with the low glutathione. Would NAC be a better choice?? The NAC is a part of a custom supplement package ordered by a genetic specialist and that has yet to come in the mail. My naturopath who is working with the specialist decided to start me on the glutathione himself since it was confirmed my glutathione is low. Was this a poor decision on his behalf? Any insight? thank you.
 

tootsieroll

Senior Member
Messages
122
Can anyone help? I don't understand what it did to me. Been bleeding heavy past 30 days. Went to ER twice and they just throw tranexamic clotting meds at me and it only postpones the bleeding. Finally saw Gyno and first put me on progesterone and that caused me to wake up overheated and nothing could cool me down and I still bled. Now I'm on a low dose birth control and took it today 7 hours ago but my bleeding is suddenly heavier? it either isn't working or It's making it worse but maybe I should give it a week? Not sure if I can take tranexamic while I am on it. God dam it! I'm in this predicament all due to glutathione which was suppose to be innocuous. What the hell did it do to me?
 

Lalia

Senior Member
Messages
127
Location
Australia
@tootsieroll I’m so sorry I don’t have any advice for you, I also don’t understand why glutathione would have this effect.

Were you able to find any relief? I’m having a bad experience with NAC at the moment, which is how I stumbled across your post. I need it to help detoxify, which helps my digestion, but I’m intolerant to sulfur so it also makes me feel super wired and tired.
 

tootsieroll

Senior Member
Messages
122
@tootsieroll I’m so sorry I don’t have any advice for you, I also don’t understand why glutathione would have this effect.

Were you able to find any relief? I’m having a bad experience with NAC at the moment, which is how I stumbled across your post. I need it to help detoxify, which helps my digestion, but I’m intolerant to sulfur so it also makes me feel super wired and tired.


Hi nope still bleeding as of today. Im on birth control which is holding the bleeding in a spotting state. I think what my doc didn’t take into account is that for a female, the uterus is a channel for detoxing. I’m going to give the birth control some more time so my body can calm down. Honestly after all this I’m going to avoid reaching for any external substance to detox me. I’m going to strictly keep it diet and maybe some infrared saunas.
 

Eastman

Senior Member
Messages
526
@tootsieroll

I don't know how glutathione would cause the heavy bleeding but I know someone who resolved her heavy bleeding with ashwagandha.

Does Ashwagandha Help Balance Estrogen Levels?

Other suggestions on how to increase progesterone in the following article:

Natural Supplements to Increase Progesterone

Ironically enough, the latter article suggests detoxing the liver (a good suggestion in my opinion), and glutathione is probably good for that.

Efficacy of glutathione for the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: an open-label, single-arm, multicenter, pilot study
 

Lalia

Senior Member
Messages
127
Location
Australia
@tootsieroll our bodies are all so complex and weird, so hard to understand our reactions. You didn’t try anything else around the same time? I take Yucca for ammonia clearance and heard that can mess with your estrogen and cycle. Just can’t believe glutathione would have that effect, but like I said earlier, we have such weird bodies, everything’s possible.
 

place

Be Strong!
Messages
341
Location
US
Did you do a pregnancy test? I say this as, I just had a natural miscarriage and I bleed for 12 weeks straight. My body could not take care of it normally. It took that long to get rid of the tissues and whatnot. Do you have heavy clots?

Just a thought.
 

tootsieroll

Senior Member
Messages
122
@Lalia @place Hi guys, sorry for the very delayed reply. For some odd reason I didn't get a notification or my notification email got buried somewhere. Well it's better off I message now since I was still bleeding at that time.

By August 30th I got so frustrated because the birth control was making me go mad. I had emotional/anger outbursts out of nowhere. In a fit, I stopped it and made an appointment with an acupuncturist. They were able to stop my bleeding in about 7-10 days. It was a miracle!

@place no miscarriages or pregnancies here. I've been single for last 5 years. I wish it was that as a cause lol. No this is definitely glutathione. I have a very rare genetic makeup and I think glutathione was too strong and tipped my body axis. I don't have the best of health right now having had to endure benzo withdrawal healing for last 5 years. All my brain/bodily functions are still trying to come back online. But it still doesn't explain why glutathione of all things would cause me to bleed out.

I bled for 3 months and probably would have continued if I didn't find acupuncture. and this was massive bleeding! It probably would have become dangerous if birth control didn't hold it in a light period state but when I tried to go down a dose, i would bleed out again so I knew birth control was not going to cut it. It was a scary experience cause it was never ending.

But the scary part is more the fact that glutathione could do this to me. It either effected my thyroid, my hormones, or my liver and it kept detoxing through my womb. I don't know what my next cycle will be like yet. I have my acupuncturist on standby for next month but I hope this is the end of this. Though because I don't detox at all as per my genetics results, I'm not sure what I can use to help my body better detox.
 
Last edited by a moderator: