Posted by BarbaraCat on October 21, 2003, at 20:20:55
In reply to Re: female hormones » tealady, posted by EscherDementian on October 13, 2003, at 1:52:23
To those who have confusions and concerns about hormones, you are right, they are confusing and of great concern. Please do yourself a favor and get tested. You won't get these tests from your primary care doc and will probably have to go to a naturopath. My saliva tests pointed out a very imbalanced hormone profile, even though I had been taking oral 'natural' estiol and progesterone. Yes, yes I know that Elizabeth Vliet doesn't believe in saliva tests, but I don't have confidence in her conclusions either. Both she and Dr. Lee are on opposite ends of the spectrum, and even though I appreciate the work Dr. Vliet has done on the connections between estrogen and neurochemical synthesis, I believe she is doing potential harm in pushing estrogen. Dr. Lee's views are one-sided and evangelistic but I do agree with him that we're not paying enough attention to the dangerous fact of estrogen dominance. Progesterone excess can make us depressed and fat, but estrogen excess can kill us - and make us anxious and fat. Our world is full of xenoestrogens - just look at the poor male 'gators in the Florida swamplands morphing into female 'gators. Maybe that's a natural checks and balances for over-population in a toxic world, who knows. Our bodies at perimenopause are estrogen dominant, a wrong balance of hormone therapies can make our estrogen/progesterone ratios too high.
Happened to me and I spent 2 miserable months in a drastic precancerous endometrial hyperplasia shedding fright because my cookie cutter standard dose of oral natural hormones were way off - too high a ratio of estrogen. Even after this happened, my ob/gyn would not order tests for my baseline levels or to monitor me henceforth, saying the blood tests weren't accurate.
My naturopath, bless her heart, is working miracles on my mind and body. She takes the time and treats my unique medical issues with great knowledge and wisdom and she knows her stuff. I am firmly convinced that the majority of managed care physicians sadly do not and are doing many of us great harm.
I'm now taking transdermal bi-est (estradiol and estriol), progesterone, DHEA, and testosterone. As far as the estrogens not absorbing, my compounding pharmacy recently switched to a new carrier cream and it no longer sits on my skin like the other goo. Something is getting where it belongs since my levels are balancing nicely.
With something like hormones it's like playing with a loaded gun trying to spec out what we may or may not need. We want to believe the research and ads about DHEA, we want to try the progesterone cream from the health store. We just want to feel better so we do the research and try to sift through the many opinions. We may hit it right with our self-trials, but more often we don't and end up sicker and poorer. For example, DHEA sounds so promising but DHEA can be converted to estrogens or testosterone depending on many factors, one of which is cortisol level. Estrogen influences thyroid hormone and vice versa, and ALL of it is controlled way upline by the hypothalamus/pituitary. Oral estrogen unfortunately interfere with the production of Human Growth Hormone, which is produced by the pituitary and is a major part of the signalling hormonal feedback loop of the HPA-axis. Such a tangled web.
With all the info out there it's easy to get lost. My experience, notwithstanding Dr. Vliet's opinion, is that saliva tests are very sensitive and will put you on the right track. Perhaps you want to go solo and monitor things on your own while undergoing your own regime. Consider monitoring your levels and progress by getting saliva tests sent to your home. You don't need a doctor's prescription (unless you live in California). You might be surprised at what you find out. Visit http://www.salivatest.com. Its the lab my naturopath uses. There's alot of real good info on the site about hormones in general. Even if you are receiving the standard formulary dose of hormone replacment and not getting your levels monitored, might be worthwhile shelling out the bucks and being proactive about your progress. There's too much at stake here, not only the cancer connection, but our hormonal balance is the missing link in our mood disorders. Why the medical profession at large isn't getting this is mind boggling. Take care, y'all. - BCat
poster:BarbaraCat
thread:256950
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20031003/msgs/271628.html