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Will this help me?

I am 29 years old. I have never had regular periods. I started working with a family doctor when I was 21. He put me on birth control and said that after a year, my periods would regulate themselves without the pill.

I stopped taking the bill right before I turned 22. I was going to be getting married and wanted to have a few months off the pill before a pregnancy would occur (hopefully). Wasn't planning on getting pregnant- just thought if it happened- great. No pregnancy occurred. At 25, I started working with a reproductive endocrinologist. He did 1 day of hormone tests and then put me on a few cycles of Clomid which showed ovulation but pregnancy did not happen. He put me on 2 cycles of Metformin and pregnancy did not happen. He recommended IVF. I stopped seeing him.

2 months ago, I started working with a naturopath who specializes in hormone balancing. He did one month of spit tests and found that while my estrogen does the slight dip and spike around time for ovulation, the progesterone just stays the same- very low. He called it Estrogen Dominance and says it is why I am not getting pregnant. So, I am now doing troches calendar days 5-9 and then drops days 16-29. I am on my second cycle. Any thoughts? Has this worked for others?

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Jun 02, 2010
 Will this help me?
by: Wray

Did any of the doctors check for polycystic ovaries, as your symptoms point to it? The Metformin makes me think the endo suspected it, it's often given for PCO. Whether you have it or not, your ovaries are under stress, which is usually a sign of inflammation. PCO itself is caused by inflammation. In case I'm on the right track please see our web page on PCO here. If you are not ovulating you won't be making any progesterone, so you would have an excess of oestrogen. But I don't believe that's the main problem. Did they check LH and FSH too? And vitamin D levels, this has such a bearing on whether the ovaries work or not. Did they check your insulin level, glucose level and whether you had insulin resistance? And CRP levels for signs of inflammation? If I'm correct you need to take large doses of anti inflammatory nutrients. Please let me know if those tests were done. I don't believe troches are the best delivery system either, as some of the progesterone is swallowed. This would be destroyed by the gut and liver, please see here. And for oral progesterone see here. And here. The best delivery systems are injections, vaginal suppositories or gels and transdermal creams. Absorption of progesterone via a transdermal cream has been found to be as affective as injections and to enter circulation rapidly. It has an advantage over all the other systems as it can be used where needed. Please see here. And here.

I don't see the point of giving you progesterone in the first half of the cycle, we make very little then. Unless he's trying to prevent ovulation or suppress the excess oestrogen you have, in which case the amount should be higher. It should be used immediately after ovulation, which is always 12-14 days before we bleed, irrespective of the length of the cycle. The amount should be between 100-200mg/day, although I feel you would need the higher amount initially. I prefer it if the full 14 days is followed too, as this ensures time for the egg to travel down the Fallopian tube, and the endometrium to ready itself for the egg. You might like to read the web page we have on conception and pregnancy here. Take care, Wray

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