Complete Menopausal Peat

[messtafarian]

So I did not sleep at all last night.

Not a wink. I've been awake for almost 24 hours. This morning my temp was 97.9 and my pulse had dropped to under 70 bpm.

The only thing I can think of that I did differently was yesterday I did not take progesterone because I am trying to mimic my cycle. I am trying to decide if I should just forget that and do progesterone every day; even though I just skipped a day.

I also noted that yesterday my calories were lower than they had been in a couple days and I was happy that they were under what I had burned for the day according to bodymedia. Didn't matter though because then I ate through the night, getting up every couple hours. The raving hunger is gone but the restlessness was enough to keep me up literally all night.

Man I am messed up. I was on the verge of taking a valium but didn't. I've decided to just roll with it and let myself pass out whenever that happens today. I hate it when my sleep schedule gets disturbed like this.

Still trying to decide about the progesterone. One reason I stopped was because I was getting really uncomfortable with PMS symptoms I should not even have. I thought I was doing too much or that I should be doing dosing it in cycles. Now I don't know what to do.

 

[4peatssake]

So I did not sleep at all last night.

Not a wink. I've been awake for almost 24 hours. This morning my temp was 97.9 and my pulse had dropped to under 70 bpm.

The only thing I can think of that I did differently was yesterday I did not take progesterone because I am trying to mimic my cycle. I am trying to decide if I should just forget that and do progesterone every day; even though I just skipped a day.

I also noted that yesterday my calories were lower than they had been in a couple days and I was happy that they were under what I had burned for the day according to bodymedia. Didn't matter though because then I ate through the night, getting up every couple hours. The raving hunger is gone but the restlessness was enough to keep me up literally all night.

Man I am messed up. I was on the verge of taking a valium but didn't. I've decided to just roll with it and let myself pass out whenever that happens today. I hate it when my sleep schedule gets disturbed like this.

Still trying to decide about the progesterone. One reason I stopped was because I was getting really uncomfortable with PMS symptoms I should not even have. I thought I was doing too much or that I should be doing dosing it in cycles. Now I don't know what to do.

I know this hell of not sleeping.

Approaching menopause precipitated my big crash so I understand a lot of what you are going through although my "symptoms" are different.

Do epsom salt/baking soda baths help you relax? Ray Peat recommended I take milk with sugar before bed to help with insomnia. I understand the "fighting sleep" that you wrote about. It's really messed up.

In my case, I was hypothyroid for nearly 50 years before I found out what was wrong! I did not know that most of my lifelong physical, mental and emotional suffering were all interrelated with the cause being hypothryoidism. By the time, I did find out, I was in the throes of very serious hormonal imbalances with a thoroughly screwed up metabolism.

Eating every hour or two may be very helpful for you. Make sure to get a mix of protein, fat and carbs. You can do this! Monitoring temp and pulse and the Achilles Tendon Reflux Test are good indicators of thyroid function. Labs can be confusing and are often wrongly interpreted by doctors, most of whom, unfortunately, don't understand thyroid dysfunction.

Rayser and Petarian's posts on the forum about progesterone and estrogen dominance are extremely helpful.
I am currently dosing progesterone through my cycle as I'm not concerned about missed periods. Rather, I am determined to correct the estrogen dominance that has caused me so many problems.

Within 3 days of my using it, Progest E caused my periods to go from horrible heavy and clotted to normal and light. It is powerful stuff.

This is post from a thread on Progest E

Peat also suggest aspirin to me when I wrote to him about my situation. I sent him a detailed medical history from childhood and he took one look and told me I'd likely been hypothyroid from the time I had chronic nosebleeds in childhood. I confirmed this through temp, pulse and the Achilles Reflux Acid test.

Once I got my diet about right, I began supplementing Progest E, thyroid and aspirin. I also take niacinamide and pregnenolone. Getting the diet right is always the first step but if you are seriously hypothyroid as I was you may need to supplement thyroid. Coffee and aspirin act like t3 as you know.

This is just my opinion but I have no problem sourcing thyroid from Mexican pharmacies online. I have had no problems and customer service has been great.

 

[4peatssake]

I came across this just now as I was researching something else.

"Increased body temperature improves sleep, especially the deep slow wave sleep. A hot bath, or even warming the feet, has the same effect as thyroid in improving sleep. Salty and sugary foods taken at bedtime, or during the night, help to improve the quality and duration of sleep. Both salt and sugar lower the adrenalin level, and both tend to raise the body temperature."

 

[messtafarian]

Thanks for your answer. I guess I'm going to go back to dosing normally -- I do not have Progest-E -- I have another dropper bottle called Progestelle. I could tell it was working because I suddenly grew a chest out of nowhere.

Like I need this.

I stopped for a day, intending to stop for at least a week because I was reading that progesterone can backfire on you and build up in tissue, eventually causing the severe nausea of pregnancy. I don't have my cycles as a real guide anymore, I thought I would just mimic one to make sure I wasn't getting too much. 24 hours later, the hot flashes are back. It's always something. I can't believe I'm still awake, sheesh.

I'm sure you read my other posts re hypothyroidism. My endocrinologist insists I am not hypothyroid because my TSH is.226. I told her I had been more than a hundred pounds overweight before, had fibroids, high blood pressure and this little detour in my life came five years too early. She said, well, there are other causes for all those symptoms. I said, really? What are they?

 

[4peatssake]

Thanks for your answer. I guess I'm going to go back to dosing normally -- I do not have Progest-E -- I have another dropper bottle called Progestelle. I could tell it was working because I suddenly grew a chest out of nowhere.

Like I need this.

I stopped for a day, intending to stop for at least a week because I was reading that progesterone can backfire on you and build up in tissue, eventually causing the severe nausea of pregnancy. I don't have my cycles as a real guide anymore, I thought I would just mimic one to make sure I wasn't getting too much. 24 hours later, the hot flashes are back. It's always something. I can't believe I'm still awake, sheesh.

I'm sure you read my other posts re hypothyroidism. My endocrinologist insists I am not hypothyroid because my TSH is.226. I told her I had been more than a hundred pounds overweight before, had fibroids, high blood pressure and this little detour in my life came five years too early. She said, well, there are other causes for all those symptoms. I said, really? What are they?

It sounds to me that the progestelle was working. I am not familiar with it but a forum member said she found it helpful but not as powerful as Progest E.

Here is a terrific post by Peatarian - the entire thread may be helpful to you.

Progesterone info from Peatarian

Personally, I don't put much stock in what doctors say about thyroid and yours does not sound very helpful. I've taken responsibility for my own health, it's my body and I'll take what I feel is best. Doctors do not have a good track record and their education is funded by Big Pharma.

That is the culture we live in but there are ways to heal our bodies, one step at a time. I'm sorry you are feeling so unwell. I understand your frustration. Maybe get off the computer and have a soothing bath, listen to some music you enjoy and sip on sugared milk.

We have to be very careful what we read. It takes time to get a solid grasp of things but any talk of "dangers" of progesterone and promotion of estrogen and my hair stands up!

You will get this figured out. You have found the place to truly heal.

 

[messtafarian]

:). Thank you, 4Peatssake.

 

[4peatssake]

I wanted to quickly add that I recently scaled right back on dosing Progest E because I was running out and it was on back order.
This resulted in a cascading series of hormonal issues I am still recovering from.
Thankfully, my resupply has arrived and I'm once again mega dosing it to correct the imbalance.
Lesson learned but not fun. I'll be sure to keep myself well stocked.

 

[messtafarian]

I know what you mean. It's really hard to know what's going to happen with your dosing, even day to day.

In other news, due to progesterone supplementation, my bra is filling up even though I haven't really gained any weight since I started Peating. I woke up this morning -- oh hi there, I remember you two.

 

[HDD]

I know what you mean. It's really hard to know what's going to happen with your dosing, even day to day.

In other news, due to progesterone supplementation, my bra is filling up even though I haven't really gained any weight since I started Peating. I woke up this morning -- oh hi there, I remember you two.

Dang, I must not be taking enough.

 

[4peatssake]

Haagen Dazs + Progest E = a knock out!

 

[HDD]

Need to get that BJ's size HD vanilla again!

 

[j.]

pics or it didn't happen

 

[messtafarian]

Lol you guys.

I've read it's because my body is "resensitizing" to estrogen. It's not my favorite side effect; i just feel kinda fake pregnant. But there are worse things :).

 

[Swandattur]

What is meant by resensitizing to estrogen? I tried Progest E a few times, but had some unpleasant effects. So, I am trying to sort out why, and if I should try again at some point.

 

[messtafarian]

The problem is that progesterone isn't just inert in your body. It can be converted to estrogen or testosterone, and initially if you are estrogen dominant you have a tremendous number of extra estrogen receptors. Challenging estrogen with progesterone usually takes at least a couple months to work because you need time for estrogen receptors to downregulate. This is what I understand but it's still a bit mystical to me. In the meantime, I might need new bras.

 

[Swandattur]

Oh, thanks for the explanation. Maybe that would explain the nausea and moodiness that most women have in the first three months of pregnancy.

 

[Peata]

Once we get all this hormone stuff under control, will our breasts reduce in size again or does anyone know?

I had to buy new bras the other day. I wouldn't mind being a little smaller again.

 

[messtafarian]

So after two weeks of doing this, I'm kind of not sure if anything I am doing is working very well. I've tried a number of things that almost instantly lowered my blood pressure, sometimes actually too low, but then I'll get occasional spikes. I've been sticking with natural progesterone cream and I've just ordered Peat's progesterone for the next round.

Problems and curiosities:

1. I can not tolerate milk and fruit together. Milk and OJ is impossible. The only way to work it without severe intestinal issues seems to be to drink my coffee and then wait *numerous* hours before I try fruit or OJ. If I do not take them together though, the weather in my stomach calms down.

2. I tried nutrimeds thyroid hormone with ill effects. After getting my blood pressure under reasonable control one half cap of a 130 mg dose put my diastolic pressure into the hundreds. No no no, this is bad. Scared me actually. High blood pressure damages the heart and I only have one that will not, like my poor liver, regenerate itself. At the moment -- at age 48 -- I consider this a serious health condition. I won't make it to 60 at this rate, seriously.

3. Though I'm convinced I need thyroid supplementation my symptoms are mixed. My resting pulse is coming up into the 80's and my temp starts in the morning at rest at 98.1 ( orally) to a daily 99.4 ( yay). But my feet are still freezing, my sleep is weird and I'm still craving sugar over salt. I have to believe my thyroid function has improved but I'm not entirely sure *how* -- whether its TSH suppression, increased thyroxine secretion or T3 uptake. I can ask the docs for a test to find out but I'm pretty sure they won't let me have one. I'm not sure what to do again, given the blood pressure issue.

4. I am having major symptoms of estrogen dominance that I suppose is an improvement over menopausal hot flashes and brain fog. My belly and breasts are swollen and I'm not sure what to do about that either. I'm considering some kind of aromatase inhibitor but I have to research this a bit more.

5. Despite frightening amounts of sugar I have not gained a pound. This is despite eating up to 2700 calories some days with no exercise whatsoever. In fact, according to bodymedia my calorie burn is up by two hundred calories. On the other hand, I feel kind of swollen and bloated due to the bra and belly issues.

6. My head is clearer, my memory is better by far. Less alcohol, more glucose for fuel, removal of soy from the diet.

7. I miss artificial sweetener and diet soda terribly. I don't like that everything I drink is caloric and I can't help thinking that if I was eating this way without the cokes and the sugar in my coffee I'd be on the way to dropping twenty pounds. :)

 

[messtafarian]

Peata: It's kind of like puberty; your hormones are rearranging your metabolism; including fat and water storage. Honestly I think the breasts stay unless you lose weight :)

 

[Peata]

I was wondering what your diet is like on a daily basis. If you've already posted it somewhere, can you give me the link?