My Experience: Hormonal imbalance and erosion of health

4 month later

Looking back, many anomalies I experienced through the years seem to fit the pattern of progesterone deficiency and estrogen dominance symptoms described in the Dr. Lee's book. Here is the list of symptoms I suspect related to hormonal imbalance. I roughly grouped symptoms that seem related by placing them close together. The gray sections indicate the worsening symptoms before progesterone and white indicates good recovery with 4 months of progesterone. Click the link for a detailed description of the symptom. I hope this will give you some data for comparison for yourself, for your patients, or for your research, whichever may be the case. If you wish to share your experience with progesterone cream on Internet, please email me your story at eueda@hiwaay.net

Symptoms

20's

30's

early 40's

after surgically induced menopause and estrogen pills/patch

4 months of progesterone cream

Skin and muscle tone
good
good
?
weaker muscle and thinner skin
much improved
Dry skin
no
no
in cold seasons
rough fingers, dry hair
much improved
Brittle nail
no
no
no
yes
no
Diarrhea triggered by over eating and exhaustion
no
once in a while
more
frequent
much less
high blood pressure
no
no
no
yes
getting better
Low stress resistance
?
seldom got sick
seldom got sick
got sick returning from trips
not getting sick
Exaggerated stress reaction
no
no
?
started to avoid intense scenes in movies, got shaky in intense situations
changing for the better? can endure more, but still get shaky
poor sleep quality
some
yes
yes
got worse with suffocating feeling
getting better? no suffocating feeling
Libido
normal
normal
normal
started to decline
no improvement
Facial hair growth
no
no
yes
yes
yes
Hypoglycemia
no
no
yes
no
no
Intolerance to cold
?
yes
yes
less
?
weight gain
no
size 8 to 10
size 10 to 12
no change
no change
Low energy
?
yes
yes
got better?
?
Tender breasts and abdomen
occasional
occasional
occasionl
Tender breast with high estrogen level
breast fullness with high estrogen level
Strange itching with red swollen scratch marks
no
no
yes
on switching pill to patch to pill, restarting estrogen after a break
on switching pill to patch to pill, restarting estrogen after a break
Fibroid growth
no
no
grew small to large in one year
not applicable
not applicable
Occasional heavy bleeding
yes
yes
yes
not applicable
not applicable


Skin and Muscle tone: It was getting increasingly difficult to keep my back straight without conscious effort. After about 2-3 weeks of progesterone cream, I noticed I was standing straight without conscious effort, and my entire body including skin and muscle feel firmer and supple. I also feel my joints are better protected and endure impacts better.

Dry skin: My skin on legs and arms gets dry and flaky in winter. It got worse after menopause and estrogen replacement therapy. Because my breasts started to sag at the same time, I concluded I was getting less sensitive to the estrogen patch I was using. Switching to estrogen pills restored my breasts but did not fix dry skin problem and it was getting worse. After 2 years, I noticed my finger tips get rough very easily by doing little bit of dishes and my hair stayed dry for days. After 2 weeks of progesterone, I noticed my finger tips do not easily get rough, and my hair gets oily in 2 days like it used to. My hair indicates progesterone cream works from inside, since I never put the cream on my skull.

Brittle Nails: After hysterectomy and estrogen replacement, I was constantly clipping and filing my nails to deal with cracked nails. After progesterone cream, my nails do not crack easily any more. Probably indicating better regeneration of bone tissue.

Diarrhea triggered by over eating and exhaustion: I think it probably happened in 30's and became more frequent in 40's, especially after menopause and estrogen replacement therapy. To my delight, it stopped almost completely since I started progesterone cream. It comes back during the week I am off progesterone.

High blood pressure: After about a year and a half since menopause and estrogen replacement, coffee started to bother me. After 4 months of progesterone, regular coffee does not bother me most of the time and my blood pressure seems to be doing better.

Lowered stress resistance:After 2 years of menopause and estrogen replacement therapy, I started to get sick every time I came home from a trip.

Exaggerated stress reactions: I feel shaky when I encounter intense situations even when it is a movie and started to avoid intense scenes in movies. This seems to have started after the menopause and estrogen. Also, certain types and level of stress started to trigger panic attack like reactions, which included racing heart beat, cold sweats, and deep exhaustion afterward. These things still happen after 4 months of progesterone cream, but I feel less exhausted afterward and can endure more.

Libido : Dr. Lee reports that a restoration of "libido" is commonly seen with progesterone cream therapy. It's been 4 months and I have not yet noticed any change.

Poor sleep quality: I wake up early (after 4 to 5 hours of sleep) feeling tired, but cannot go back to sleep. This started in my 20's and got worse over the years. After about 3 years of estrogen, I started wake up with suffocating feeling which lasted until I got up and moved my bowels. This suffocating feeling disappeared soon after I started progesterone cream.

Facial hair growth : Around my chin, there are a few spots where stiff hair grows. I pull them out when I notice, but they come back. This probably started in late 30's. Dr. Lee explains that estrogen dominance slows down testosterone clearance, allowing it to linger in body, while progesterone facilitates its clearance. After 4 months of progesterone cream, the number has decreased, but it comes back during the week I am off progesterone.

Hypoglycemia: Early 40's before hysterectomy and estrogen, I used to get shaky when staying hungry too long. I cannot recall when I had it last.

Intolerance to cold : I cannot tolerate room temperature below 72 F. If lower, I start to tense up and sweat. If prolonged, I catch cold. My feet felt cold in bed, but after menopause, my feet got cold less in bed. After progesterone cream, I worked in a very cold air conditioned office (kept below 72F) for over 2 weeks and did not get sick.

Weight gain : My waist size changed from size 8 to size 10 during late 30's and size 10 to 12 in early 40's. After menopause, there has been fluctuations, but not changed overall. A person who started progesterone cream shortly after I did lost 18 lb. in one month with increased exercise.

Low energy: It took major effort to do anything other than routine. I attributed low energy and lessening of it after menopause to anemia. If estrogen's interference with thyroid hormone was also a factor, will I see more improvement with progesterone? It is not clear at this point.

Tender breast and abdomen: Started at around ovulation and always accompanied by constipation and pimples which disappeared a couple of days before menstruation. Occurred every 3 to 4 months in late 20's, became less frequent after child birth, became more frequent as fibroid grew larger. By then a fluid discharge with trace of blood was seen at the time of ovulation. After menopause, I experienced tender breast with high estrogen level which seems to occur when switched between estrogen pills and patches or resumed estrogen after a break.

Strange itching with red swollen scratch marks: This started in early 40's. I had no clue what was causing it. It disappeared soon after the surgery, so I thought it had something to do with the fibrode. However, it returned whenever I switched from estrogen patches to pills and again to patches or I restarted estrogen after a break. I suspect switching desensitized my body to estrogen and caused sudden rise of estrogen level. It may have been some kind of allergic reaction to a fluctuation of estrogen level, which tend to happen when ovaries do not respond.

Fibroid growth: It grew from small to large in a year. Estrogen blocker ($400 a shot/month) did not shrink it. It ended with hysterectomy and removal of ovaries. I wish I knew about natural progesterone cream which could have shrunk it, then. I experienced hot flashes while using estrogen blocker. My OB/GYN doctor told me I can take estrogen for my surgically induced menopause and prevention of osteoporosis, and it is safe. When I asked about progesterone, he said it is only for those who still l have uterus to prevent uterine cancer, besides it has side effects one of which is increased risk for breast cancer. Obviously, he did not know the difference between natural progesterone and synthetic progestins.

Occasional heavy bleeding: My periods were generally heavy, but some were heavier than others. I did not notice any obviouse correlation between heavy bleeding and other symptoms, although that does not mean there wasn't.


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