Holistic Dr not Holisted lol. Noth the best typing skills. Darla

Hi Darla,
I know the elementary implications of hormone replacement, merely based upon my own history & experience. I've been trying to 'bribe' my docs into giving me the go ahead for some/any type of hormonal replacement - denied! I know I can't take anything of the sort, but since I am always so darn tempted & in desperate denial, I need continual reinforcement. So, for what it's worth, here are my thoughts & scant basics of the hormonal process:

Your holistic may have very well made a wise decision, at least for the moment. Since you have several symptoms, he probably wants to get to the primary cause, before treating your 'female' hormonal imbalance. If he treats symptoms alone, it could make things worse, rather than better.

If you are (likely) perimenopausal AND have adrenal problems, progesterone production is impaired, much more significantly. When progesterone is reduced, so is cortisol. Progesterone also play a role in aldosterone regulation. To add to this confusion, with a decline in progesterone, estrogen increases (they have an inverse relationship). Excessive estrogen exhausts the adrenals further & estrogen dominance can occur.

Estrogen dominance causes glucose, protein & electrolyte imbalance, BP/cardiac dysfunction, chronic fatigue, joint pain
(?fibromyalgia?), thyroid probs and exacerbates hormonal imbalance even further. Then there is good ole testosterone, which has a direct regulatory relationship with the HPA Axis. It just goes round & round, exhaustingly so.

Summarizing my too many words, he may not want to see an Estrogen Dominant situation occur. Better safe, than sorry.

Good luck with today's test!

Lunarphase thanks so much . So you dont take anything fro your hormones. holisitc Dr told me if I take Dhea and testetorone it might make things worse down the road but internist had me on both. Im tired of trying to figure it all out you know Im not balanced for sure. I know if you need mor cortisol body will still progesetone and convert it. So its guessing game to figure out what you need I hate that. I dont think I could make it without taking anything because I wouldnt sleep with hot flashes and night sweats well its a very complicated thing isnt it. But on the other hand if yoyr body is not producing the hormones seem like you would feel better by replacing them. Ive been suffering with estrogen dom. Im doing a saliva test today so that will show me where my hormone levels are hope that will help. I have had a few saliva test already but despite me taking the horm. still a big mess. I will keep praying. So you have a lot of symptoms too. Why doesnt he want you to take anything???? Thanks Darla

ISometimes I think I continue to feel bad is from the female horm. imbalance because you just named lot of my symptoms. IDK but wow its not easy to fix is it. Il get there eventually Thanks Again Darla

Darla,
AHA! So, you are Estrogen Dominant??? This could be the answer to many of your unresolved problems. I'm not quite sure, but believe HRT is contraindicated in Estrogen Dominant women. They can suppress estrogen, IF you opt to go that route. Your Endo (IF he/she is knowledeable) can certainly help, or at least give you options.

Re: Hot flashes. I think there was a prior discussion on this. Red clover, black cohosh, etc. helps, but you must be careful. Although some 'natural' supplements relieve smptoms, they can elevate your estrogen. You don't want that. The trick is to keep your estrogen low, yet alleviate symptoms.

I just had to ride out my storm, let nature take her course...very tough, but made it, I think?

My hormones were really out of wack also, I was very estrogen dominate and felt it too! So I was put on a small amt. of progesterone and bio-identicle testosterone and DHEA and things are better now.

Tanya

Hi thank you Tanya for your reply. I was on dhea and testerone they took me off kinda wondering if I might need the two the bio-identical progesterone helps some but stil have lot of symptoms. Thanks im glad your better.

stupid question:

how do they test your hormones? blood test?

as far as i know, my endos have never done this.
i am SO beyond frustrated, as i KNOW they are all whacked.

thanks!
xo, misa

The more accurate way to test your hormones is by saliva test so Im told. You can do a blood test but its not as accurate. Your endo probably dont do saliva test, I go to a internist who does it. You can even order a saliva test on line.www.zrtlab.com. This is the co. my doc uses. You probably wil get very little help from endo. in this area. That is how I found out my cortisol levels were low was a saliva test and it checks your levels 4 times through the day. Its ashame we have to be our own DR in so many ways. Maybe you can find a dr. in your area specializes in hormones(bio-identical) ect. Im waiting for results from saliva test now. Still having a time balancing it out though but will get there eventually. Best wishes. Darla

Hi its Darla again just to vent when I went to endo and told him all my symptoms he said oh I suspect you have AD he did blood work had the nurse call me back and tell me it was my thyroid well my thyroid was low but I surly knew better then that you can imagine how frustrated I was. So after going to 6-7 drs, I went to the one Im going to now a internist tok a while to ge a appt. then had to wait weeks to do saliva test then had to wait 3 weeks for resutls by then I was having crisis symptoms then finally put on Coref so the journey has been hell and though my Dr is trying there is so much she doesnt know so thank God for the computer I spent a lot of time trying to figure all this crap on my own. Anyway ha-ha had to get that off my chest feel better now ha-ha. Darla

i am very interested to hear the progesterone/cortisol play. noone ever told me about this. I do have a priscription for progesterone to take in the 7 to 10 days leading to my period, but I forgot to take it the last 2 months because of all the problems I have been having.(have been diagnosed ,by myself i might add but confirmed by docs, with Behcet disease, so I know how you feel about being your own doc!). I will definetly start saliva testing if it helps, and I will do my best to figure out when to take the progesterone! thanks for the posts yall!