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Severe reaction to DIM (Migraine style headache and vomiting) could Progesterone Cream cause same effects??

by Kris
(Minneapolis, MN, USA)

Hello-

I am a 47 year old female and have been in Perimenopause for about 5 years now. I have the basic symptoms like trouble sleeping (mainly due to hot flashes and frequent urination), brain fog, depression, forgetfulness, irregular periods, back aches, irritability, etc...
The hot flashes have gotten pretty bad and disruptive (10-20 /day moderate to intense) and so I was trying new supplements to deal with them.

I stopped taking all other supplements I was on to give DIM a try. I took 1 300MG tablet in the morning and another with supper. I had a slight headache mid-day which I attributed to some back ache.. but by evening the headache was very bad. That night I couldn't get to sleep since my head felt terrible when lying down or sitting and I was nauseous and vomiting. I now understand what people mean by a, "blinding headache," as this one was so intense it was hard to even type on my phone to try and research what could be causing it. I have never had anything like it before and don't want to ever go through it again. It felt a little better when I stood up and walked around and kind of massaged the back and front of my head and eyes with my hands, but it was still little relief.

After I had taken a couple advils and threw up a couple times, I was finally able to get to sleep around 2-3 am and felt a lot better in the morning. My head felt like a sore muscle does, just a low ache, but nothing like the night before.

Anyhow - I am back to just doing black cohosh and vitex, soy extract, Don Quai, soy extract and 5-HTP and these things all help a bit, but I still have most of the symptoms and get about 5-6 hours sleep a night due to restlessness, hot flashes and getting up about 4 times to use the restroom. Plus, the hot flashes are down to about 10-15/day and not super intense, but still very disruptive.

I want to try Progesterone cream, but am worried it will have a similar effect to the DIM, so I am trying to do some research to make sure it will not have the same affect.

Also, I did try a smaller amount (just one pill of DIM) before and found it made me extremely angry with extreme moods, which I attributed to taking it at the same time as 5-HTP, (which is why I stopped all other supplements before trying it again this last time).

Is there any other supplement that should be avoided with Progesterone cream??

Thanks much for any help you can offer.

Comments for Severe reaction to DIM (Migraine style headache and vomiting) could Progesterone Cream cause same effects??

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Aug 22, 2018
 Severe reaction to DIM
by: Joy

Hi Kris

Many people are lead to believe that DIM helps with Estrogen Dominance symptoms, it doesn't. If this is why you are taking it rather use calcium d-glucarate and stop the DIM. A good organic progesterone cream such as Natpro which is a 3% cream will also help you. Between 100-200mg is needed, more if symptoms are severe. Please read How to use Progesterone Cream. When starting progesterone therapy, symptoms can get worse before they get better, time and patience is needed. It can take 2-6 months before things settle down. The aim is to make progesterone the dominant hormone and not estrogen.

Vitex is estrogenic so should be avoided and no one should take soy unless it has been fortified.

You are in Peri-Menopause which can be a terrible time for most women but the correct use of progesterone will help. Hot Flashes usually require 400-500mg progesterone per day for 4-6 days or until they clear, then you can slowly reduce to an amount that suits you, never use less than 100mg.

Vitamin D3 is very important as a deficiency reduces the benefits of progesterone, optimal range is between 70-100ng/mL. Nothing less than 5,000iu's is needed daily. Co-factors are needed when taking D3, magnesium and vitamin K2 with no soy are the important ones.

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