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Need help with labs and symptoms....

by Laura
(Washington, DC)

Hi, I've been on progesterone cream (good quality over the counter) for some time (20 mg/day) with some positive affects. I started getting hot flashes and vaginal dryness recently and was prescribed estradiol gel (0.25 mg per packet) but I only do 1/2 the packet daily. I doubled the progesterone to 40 mg of cream recently (half in morning and half at night). I now have very uncomfortable bloating which literally makes me look 7 months pregnant and breasts are swollen and sensitive. My blood serum labs are E2: 36.5 pg/mL E1: 96 pg/mL and progesterone: 0.5 ng/mL. After browsing this website I'm sure I am not on enough progesterone but every time I try to dose up, I have headaches and digestive issues. Any advise on my labs and my doses would be so extremely helpful.

Comments for Need help with labs and symptoms....

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May 18, 2016
 want to see what advise you receive
by: Letitia

want to see what advise you receive I have similar issues
May 18, 2016
 Need help with labs and symptoms
by: Joy

Hi Laura

Sadly you have not been advised on how to use progesterone correctly. The commonly suggested 20-40mg per day is not enough. This amount adds to the already Estrogen Dominance symptoms that you are experiencing, 100-200mg per day is needed, more if symptoms are severe. You do not give your age, but hot flashes and vaginal dryness suggests that you are in Peri-Menopause/ Menopause. Hot flashes required 400-500mg per day for 4-6 days, longer if they persist!
Your symptoms are also being made worse by taking estradiol. No women needs to take extra estrogen. There are well over 100 estrogen mimics in our environment as it is, why take more? Please read Our Stolen Future.

What is your Vitamin D3 level? A deficiency reduces the benefits of progesterone as is connected to every single functioning cell in our bodies. What Magnesium are you taking? Both oral and transdermal is needed, it is also an important co-factor for vitamin D3.

Please read the following pages:
How to use Progesterone Cream
Estrogen Dominance
Peri-Menopause
Menopause
Environmental Toxins
Progesterone Cream
Vitamin D3
Magnesium
May 19, 2016
 magnesiium
by: letitia

how much magnesium should one supplement with
May 19, 2016
 Need help with labs and symptoms
by: Laura

Thank you so much for responding. I am 54 and in menopause. The day I posted my question and after browsing this website, I stopped the estradiol cold turkey and used 60mg of progesterone cream that night and 40mg the next morning so I've been on 100mg for a couple of days. I did bleed a little but have stopped and I noticed the soreness/red spots under my arms are not there anymore.

I have tried to take more progesterone in the past but I would get mainly a bad headache and digestive issues (acid reflux) and just wasn't informed enough to keep going with it so I would stop and go back to my usual low dose because that made the headache, etc go away. My dr recently checked my iodine level and it looks low so I've been taking Iosol for about a month now to bring it up. I'm also hypothyroid and take a compounded T3. I was expecting to get the headache, etc when I upped the progesterone to 100mg. It is rather bizarre but this time, I didn't get ANY adverse symptoms at all. I wonder if it's because of the iodine?? I have struggled for about 15 yrs with mineral absorption and I've had to have iron infusions in the past. At the moment, minerals are as follows:

serum ferritin: 56ng/mL (ref. range 15-150) (I've been as low as 8 in the past)
iodine: 40.5ug/L (40.0-92.0)
magnesium, rbc: 5.1mg/dL (4.2-6.8)
vit d, 25-hydroxy: 59.4ng/mL (30.0-100.0)
zinc: 82ug/dL (56-134)
selenium: 128ug/L (79-326)

I don't think the labs are bad this time but still are in the low ranges.

I currently take Floradix daily for iron and 6,000iu/day Vit. D3 and I've taken different magnesiums but don't absorb them well. The only one that I can absorb is magnesium taurate and I take 500mg/day. I also take extra zinc and selenium with my multivitamin.

I think my problem is that I have always been afraid of dosing up on progesterone because of the adverse symptoms and the fact that I just was not informed enough that those symptoms are happening because you have to take enough progesterone so it can dominate the estrogen. In my head, the progesterone was the problem because that is what I was taking more of and, because of my misinformation, I've been suffering.

I want to thank you and this website for helping me figure it out and I will be passing this website on to friends and also my daughter so that they can be an informed advocate for themselves. I will also check into the transdermal magnesium. Thank you again! :)

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