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hormone imbalance, no ovulation and many questions!

by Alex
(UK)

Hi Wray, I have read through your entire website and found it fascinating, but I wondered if you might be able to give me some advice please and answer some of the questions I have.

Hope you don’t mind but I feel I need to give you a bit of background info first:-
I’m 31 years old, 5,7”, have PCOS but am not overweight (my BMI is 20). I’ve been having fertility treatment for over a year (tried clomid / femera and started IUI but didn’t get beyond Menopur stage). I’m due to have IVF in late August. I never get periods anymore and don’t ovulate (not even with clomid). I’ve been doing everything possible to balance my hormones naturally for the past 6 months (low GI diet, no alcohol or coffee, drinking lots of water and having acupuncture) but nothing seems to be improving. My BBT chart is all over the place too.

I hadn’t heard about the significance of vitamin D3 or natural progesterone cream until I saw your website, and now I’m wondering if these might provide the ‘missing link’. I would be really grateful if you could answer these questions for me Wray as my head is spinning:-

I eat salmon 3 days a week, I eat 4 eggs a week and take a 1000mg daily fish oil supplement as well – are these likely to provide me with adequate Vit D3 or could I still be deficient? (I will get tested but would like your opinion on this). I should mention I don’t get much sun.

I have just purchased a vitamin D3 2200 UI daily supplement to take – do you think this would mean I’d be overdosing on vit D bearing in mind I get quite a bit from my diet or is it okay to have both?

I am unable to buy natural progesterone cream in the UK but have been told I will be given it as part of my IVF treatment for the first 3 months. They haven’t told me what dose though – do you think it’s likely to be a high enough dose to prevent miscarriage?

If natural progesterone support is given as standard with IVF, why is there still a high miscarriage rate?

Would you recommend I use additional progesterone cream to the dose I get on the NHS for my IVF?

Its so frustrating that we can’t buy natural progesterone cream in UK but I’m still struggling to understand why drug companies can’t make a profit out of it… I know you said it’s because you can’t patent a natural product, but surely that’s the case with all the natural herbs and supplements on sale (e.g. fish oil or calcium supplements – they’re natural too but they still generate a big profit for the suppliers, right?)

Also, isn’t natural progesterone still a mimic of the actual hormone our bodies produce, therefore it is man-made and surely profitable?? (sorry don’t want to sound like I’m challenging your information, just need clarity!)

Bearing in mind that I’m starting IVF in less than 2 months, is it still a good time for me to start using natural progesterone cream now or would it just interfere with my ivf?

If I used Natpro to make my periods come back, would it follow that ovulation would return after a few regular cycles (assuming diet etc was correct too?) I’m still confused about this bit because I know Natpro can suppress ovulation to begin with, but the key thing I need to know is how I can get my ovulation to come back in the future? (especially if ivf doesn’t work etc).

If I was to order natpro to be shipped over to the UK, do you have any idea what the customs charges would be?

Is Natpro one of the creams recommended in Dr Lee’s book? (On another website I was looking at, it wasn’t listed as one of his recommended creams so I just wondered why this was)?

I apologise for asking you SO many questions Wray, I have tried to find the answers in your website, but some things I’m still unclear on. Hope to hear from you soon and many thanks in advance for your time and trouble.

Note from webmaster: Alex, as it may be a day or three before Wray manages to get around to your post... Natpro Support want you to know that Natpro has been supplied to hundreds of clients in the UK for many years. You can order directly from this secure online order page. Shipping to the UK takes 7-10 days by First Class International

Comments for hormone imbalance, no ovulation and many questions!

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Jun 29, 2011
 hormone imbalance, no ovulation and many questions!
by: Wray

Hi Alex Thanks for the kind words about the site! It doesn't surprise me you have PCOS living in the UK. It's an inflammatory disorder, the most likely cause is a lack of vitamin D. It's critical for ovulation. There's too little sun in the UK to make much, besides we live most of our lives indoors now. So to answer your first question, no..... Dr Cannell is a vitamin D expert, with a sense of humour too. He says we'd need to eat 8 salmon a day to get enough D3! Eggs contain little to none, and he's very against any fish liver oil. It contains too much vitamin A which inhibits vitamin D. Do you take this or the omega 3 fish oil? This is good, but again little to no vitamin D. 2200iu's is far too little, particularly as you're getting very little in your diet. The minimum dose is 5000iu's per day. It's extremely safe, toxicity is rarely encountered, see here. I see the webmaster has replied about progesterone in the UK. We supply hundreds of women, and there are no customs problems. Progesterone given in IVF treatments is either in the form of daily injections, or suppositories. We do have more info on ingredients and dosage on our page Delivery systems. Plus we have a page on Pregnancy, which explains how to use it, plus there are many papers on miscarriage too. 200mg/day and over are used to prevent them. The high rate could be explained by insufficient progesterone. I've read many papers, not just on miscarriage, where the authors have stated progesterone doesn't help, but the amount they've used in the study has been laughable! Dr Dalton would use 800mg/day for her patients, up to 2400mg/day for those with post natal psychosis. I always advise starting progesterone well before conception to give the body a chance to settle down. Oestrogen Dominance often occurs when first using it, and it can be disconcerting. It wouldn't hurt to use extra progesterone, although I must add I've helped many women with just progesterone cream. It's absorbed effectively, see here. I'm running out of space so will start a new comment below. Take care Wray
Jun 29, 2011
 hormone imbalance, no ovulation and many questions!
by: Wray

Hi Alex Drug companies need to be able to patent their product, which you can't do with progesterone. It's only then can they make the astronomical profits they do. Supplement companies do make profits, they have to to survive, but they are not obscene profits. See here and here. Natural progesterone is synthesised in a lab, but it's the identical molecule as found in our bodies. And yes there is profit in it, none of the manufacturers would stay in business if it wasn't! Progesterone is vital for normal ovarian function, and if you're not ovulating, and therefore not making it, supplementing would be essential. But vitamin D is to my mind even more important, a lack leads to anovulation. Interestingly a lack of vitamin D reduces the benefits of progesterone, the two work hand in hand. Progesterone will only suppress ovulation if high amounts are used, and it's started before ovulation is due. It can act as a contraceptive. Dr Lee's book was published in 1996, just before we started making Natpro. We do know it works as a naturopath in the UK runs Saliva Tests for us. She's been prescribing the cream for 15 years now and is always delighted at how well the cream is absorbed. Please have a vitamin D test done, this is so important. For more info see the Vitamin D Council and GrassrootsHealth websites. And as you live in the UK see here. Take care Wray
Aug 03, 2011
 NOT vit D deficient...confused
by: Alex

Hi Wray, first of all thank you for replying to me. I went and had a vitamin D test 3 weeks ago (convinced a deficiency would explain my problems) but it turns out I have a good level of vit D - 95 in fact so pretty high. Now i'm confused as to why I can't balance my hormones if it isn't vit D I'm lacking in. Is there anything else I could be lacking? As mentioned previously, I have a really good diet (low GI etc)I am eating / avoiding all the right things and seeing a top fertility acupuncturist but still can't bring back periods or ovulation. Have been through all fertility treatments except ivf which I'm due to have later this year, but was really hoping to avoid this and sort my body out naturally. I'm also panicking majorly because I've been having night sweats now for 5 weeks which makes me wonder am I peri menopausal? This has started out the blue and I can't understand why, I'm really worried. I hope I can still have ivf...please can u offer me any more advice on how to re-gain my fertility now I've ruled out a vit D deficiency?? Any advice appreciated, thank you, Alex
Aug 08, 2011
 NOT vit D deficient...confused
by: Wray

Hi Alex As you live in the UK, the chances are your vitamin D was done in nmol/L and not ng/ml. This makes a big difference to your level, ng/ml are 2.5 times greater than nmol/L. So, if I'm correct, your level is 38ng/ml, which is very low. It should be 70-100ng/ml or 175-250nmol/L. The lab or doctor undoubtedly told you your level was fine, as they use the cut off point of 30ng/ml or 75nmol/L as normal. Please see Dr Cannell's Vitamin D Council website again. He explains what our levels should be, plus this chart from GrassrootsHealth showing Disease Incidence. Please come back to me, as I could be wrong about the nmol/L. I don't think you should panic about the night sweats, it's probably your blood glucose dropping too low overnight. You said you eat salmon 3 days a week, and 4 eggs a week, but what else do you eat? As to my mind you are not getting enough protein, I'm assuming the remaining food is made up of veggies, fruit and grains? All grains should be avoided, see here, here, here, here and here. And all starchy or sweet fruit and veggies should be avoided too. They convert too rapidly to glucose, this causes the pancreas to panic and send out too much insulin. This drops blood glucose too quickly which can cause hot flushes, night sweats, shivering, cold clammy skin, headaches, racing heart and more. Unfortunately modern fruit is just a bag of sugar water. Unless organic, they have little nutrients left too. I suggest you try taking 4000-8000mg/night of glutamine. This can be converted to glucose, but being an amino acid it occurs very slowly. I also suggest you have a protein meal at night, a piece of fish, eggs, meat etc, with only green leafy veggies, broccoli, cauli etc, and see if that helps. Take care Wray
Aug 14, 2011
 vitamin D
by: Alex

Hi Wray, thanks very much for your message - turns out you were absolutely right about my vitamin D level - it was measured in nmol/L and not ng which means that my level is much lower than I thought. I feel very frustrated that my doctor thinks 95nmol (38ng) is a 'high' level and therefore won't prescribe me supplements to allow me to increase my level. I really want my vitamin D level to be right before IVF and therefore I am appealing to you again for advice on dosage please!! As mentioned previously, the highest dose vitamin D3 tablets I can find are 2200IU so I have just begun taking 2 of these a day (even though this goes against what my doctor said, it seems like you know your stuff) - therefore my current dose is 4400IU per day, which I have been on for about a week (prior to this I had been taking 2200IU for about 3 weeks). However I have no idea how long it takes to build up the level in th blood. Please could you put my mind at rest and tell me if 4400IU is an appropriate daily dose and in partular how long do I continue on this dose? At what point will I reach a healthy level in my blood and when should I reduce my dose if at all? (I have tried finding this out from Vitamin D council website and Gressroots but I can't find any guidance on amending doses according to current levels in the blood). I also wondered if I should take 3 tablets a day (to make it up to 6600 IU per day) but I am wary about overdoing it and I read somewhere that you have to be careful with taking too much in supplement form because it can build up as a dangerous fatty deposit unlike when you get it from the sun. Please advise, thank you again for your help!
Aug 17, 2011
 vitamin D
by: Wray

Hi Alex Well I'm relieved I was right about the ng/ml and the nmol/L. It's unfortunate most labs and doctors are still in the dark ages when it comes to vitamin D levels. The 4400iu's is not a bad dose, but it will take longer to raise your level than say 5000 or 10,000iu's per day. I really feel it's necessary for you to get your level up fast, it could this is the only thing preventing you from ovulating. Please contact Jo via her website, she stocks vitamin D in the right doses, see here. Plus she can advise you on using it etc. Please would you look at these videos too, I can't imagine why I didn't give them to you! See here and here. It's generally recommended to have a vitamin D test done every three months while bringing the level up. Thereafter every six months. To avoid having to ask your doctor, Birmingham Hospital are now doing tests for £20. I don't agree with the levels they recommend, far too low. And don't be wary about overdoing it, it doesn't build up, as the body converts it into first 25OH vitamin D, then into 1,25OH vitamin D. Toxicity is not reached until levels reach 200ng/ml or 500nmol/L, see here and here. Jo has some excellent info on her site, plus links to other sites. Take care Wray

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