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uk chiro

by UK Chiro
(London UK)

Dear Wray, firstly i apologise for this very lengthy clinical history, but i get the feeling you would rather more information than less? And secondly, I MUST THANK YOU for an outstanding website, i have thorougly enjoyed reading and learning from it these past few weeks. it really is excelent.

I am 36 years old and have always suffered with PMS. My family history has thyroid diseases throughout both my parents female lines (both parents' mothers and grandmothers). My father has type 1 diabetes, my mother and sisters all suffered with PMS too. I have a 26-28 day cycle. My PMS symptoms and general symptoms include; 7 days before menses severe mood swings of anger, denial, depression, poor body image, water retention (all body), increased appetite and cravings, blood sugar imbalances, low libido. Menses duration is 7 days, heavy and crampy if I dont exercise or take magnesium salt baths. I am a practising chiropractic doctor in the UK, and therefore have a very good understanding and keen interest in alernative, complementary and natural health and resultingly I have managed my sypmtoms naturally as best I can. For the last 15yrs I have taken adrenal support supplements, multi vits and minerals, omega 3 oil. More recently i have added magnesium, P5P, iodoral and l-tyrosine (for thyroid) and occasional amino acid blends (for sleep and low mood). I exercise daily, meditate and try to follow the Western Price Foundation diet; high protein inclduing offal, all meats and pulses, low carb, moderate fat (mostly fish or nut/olive/plant oils, organic butter) high veges but minimal fruits due to their high GI and my sensitive blood sugar balance. I try to buy and eat organic where possible but this is often very difficult with a busy life. Approximately 1 year ago i managed to source a private GP who prescribes bio-identical hormones in the UK (we are unable to purchase bio-id hormones in the UK and GP's unless private and educated in bio id hormones will not prescribe them). i was prescribed 200mg/day oral progesterone from day 10/28 until menses and after 2 weeks had extreme bloating, extreme water retention, tearful (but not angry or low mood)! & sleep was improved. I continued with 200mg/day until i could not tolerate the water retention discomfort (none of my clothes started to fit comfortably)! I lowered the dose to 100mg/day orally. I took this for 1 year (original PMS symptoms reduced but I still experienced extreme mood swings, anger - all the mental/emotionanl symptoms remained) until 2 months ago things changed when i started to take P5P, and a liver support blend of cysteine, molybdenum, artichoke, dandelion, etc. as i realise I have a slow phase 2 liver pathway. At this time I started to get exactly the same symptoms as when i was taking 200mg/day. I spoke to my rather unhelpful private GP who said STOP taking it all! I stopped taking the progesterone and the water retention reduced immediately but some still remained until menses, my sleep disturbance got bad again, and my cravings started again and predominanntly for sugar. I decided to start the 100mg oral progesterone again on day of ovulation (day 11) and then found your site (hooray)! I have just got the your progesterone cream and have avidly read all your pages of excellent advice (thank you, i have really enjoyed this journey as a result)! I havent started using the cream and remain on 100mg/day oral progesterone (now on day 16) but i am still struggling with the water retention and sleep disturbance and mood swings (intolerance turning to anger) and really poor body image, low libido, the cravings have reduced. My question to you is what do you think happened when i started getting the constant water retention symptoms approximately 3 months ago? did i have too much progesterone or was i metabolising oestrpgen/progesterone better or worse as a result of the liver support? how much progesterone shall i take now? Of the 100mg oral progesterone - i wonder how much i am actually getting? I feel totally confused about my levels and how i should be stabilising them now! Please help me work all this out so i can hopefully not feel at the mercy of my hormones for the rest of my life!! Thank you very much. E

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Apr 23, 2012
 UK Chiro
by: Wray

Hi E Thanks so much for the kind words! You couldn't be doing more to help yourself by way of food, supps etc. I so agree with you about fruit, which we're encouraged to eat. To me modern fruit is a bag of sugar water, nothing more. I fully endorse the Western Price way of eating, but prefer the Paleo Diet…no grains, no legumes and no dairy. Although I must confess I use lots of butter, plus cream in my coffee, my one concession! A link to the Paleo Diet can be found on our Nutrition page. So pleased you take cysteine, I must get through about 2000mg/day. Two things stand out for me, one is a lack of progesterone since puberty, the other is a lack of vitamin D. First the progesterone, this can help the thyroid as it speeds metabolism slightly. In fact some of the symptoms of low thyroid function are also those for low progesterone, feeling cold, cold hands and feet, hair loss, tiredness. It does help depression and Anxiety, as do a number of nutrients. It helps libido, in fact we have many men using it for this. Dopamine is essential for a normal sexual response, stress drops dopamine, a lack of protein, in particular tyrosine the precursor to dopamine too. I'm pleased you're taking this, it's one of the most important aminos. It's the precursor to the neurotransmitter dopamine, and the stress hormones adrenaline and noradrenaline. It's also the precursor to the two thyroid hormones T3 (triiodothyronine) and T4 (thyroxine), plus melanin, the pigment found in hair and skin. It's part of the enkephalin peptide involved in regulating and reducing pain, and increasing pleasure. Stress depletes it, and as most people are now stressed, I don't think we get enough of it. Progesterone helps raise dopamine as it's a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, plus reducing the stress response. High oestrogen causes prolactin to rise, this suppresses dopamine. Progesterone suppresses both oestrogen and prolactin. The heavy bleeding is also stopped by progesterone, there's info about this on our Menstruation page. The anger is explained on our Aggression page. The water retention is caused by excess oestrogen, see here, here, here and here. Continued below.
Apr 23, 2012
 UK Chiro Part 2
by: Wray

Hi E Progesterone is an excellent diuretic, see our page on Traumatic Brain Injury for more info on this. The increased appetite/cravings are a result of excess oestrogen. It's actually caused by progesterone withdrawal prior to bleeding, but can occur throughout the luteal phase if insufficient progesterone is produced. I'm intrigued by the increase in symptoms when starting the liver support. I can only assume it was clearing more oestrogen out of the system, like any detox you get worse before better. Finally oral progesterone is the least effective Delivery system. Much of it gets destroyed by the gut and liver. I recommend 100-200mg/day, or more if symptoms are bad. I find the cream the best route, as it does get absorbed well. We run Saliva Tests on it, please have a look through them. It's more versatile too, in fact I suggest you open the caps you have left and add the contents to a natural skin cream, and rub that on. I do feel you'll probably need the 200mg/day, maybe more, certainly for the heavy bleeding. I've found 400mg/day is needed to stop that. And now the vitamin D….all the symptoms you have could also be due to a low level. You live in the UK where levels are usually very low. It affects the thyroid badly, see here, here and here. A lack reduces the benefits of progesterone, plus causing depression, and a disturbed blood glucose. In fact it can lead to Insulin Resistance and excess weight, see here, here, here, here, here, here and here. Continued below.
Apr 23, 2012
 UK Chiro Part 3
by: Wray

Hi E A lack of vitamin D has been directly linked to the cause of Type 1 diabetes, see here, here, here, here, here and here. Please have a test done. Birmingham Hospital send out test kits for £20, but ignore their 'adequate' level of 50nmol/L, far too low. Even the FDA give a higher value of 75nmol/L. For more info on vitamin D levels, etc see the Vitamin D Council, and GrassrootsHealth. Blood levels should be 175-250nmol/L and not the 75nmol/L most labs and doctors regard as adequate. The minimum daily dose should be 5000iu's per day, although the latest research indicates it should be 10,000iu's per day, see here.
Take care Wray
Apr 23, 2012
 PMS
by: Uk chiro

Thank you so much Wray, your knowledge and attention to detail is outstanding! I forgot to mention I do take 5000iu daily of Vit D and avoid all dairy and gluten. I rarely eat grains unless I am travelling and always opt for gluten free. I do think you may be right with regard to the detox reaction and my symptoms changing with the liver support. I do think I need to take some tests to find out what is going on. 3 months ago I was going to do a 28day, 11 sample saliva test and started it but realised I had loads of travel (in a different hotel nearly every weekend for 8 weeks)! And so freezing the sample whilst abroad was impossible as you can imagine. I will do a Vit d and hormone profile now my travel has calmed down.
I will increase the progesterone to 200mg daily until my water retention calms down and the cysteine and look into the paleo diet (which I have heard of but have not looked into). I may also increase the tyrosine, add a little melatonin too. I will of course keep you updated. Thank you once again. In health, E
Apr 25, 2012
 PMS
by: wray

Hi E So pleased the info helped. Although you are taking a good dose of vitamin D, it could be you're not absorbing it. Plus of course stress drops levels, and it seems you have a pretty hectic travel schedule! Please have a test done, it's a good starting point to how much you should be taking. An oestrogen, testosterone and progesterone saliva test would be of interest too. Genova Diagnostics in Surrey do them. One thing I forgot to mention was copper levels. If high these can cause PMS, PND, depression and psychosis too. High copper goes hand in hand with high oestrogen, which raises copper levels. Plus high copper/high oestrogen depress zinc and progesterone levels. Maybe you could look into this. Safe Harbor is an excellent site, scroll down the menu till you see copper/zinc. Let me know how you do on the increased progesterone, but please watch for oestrogen dominance symptoms. I'd be interested in your thoughts on the Paleo Diet too, having had experience with the WP diet. Take care Wray

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