Fascia Issues, Worse During Menstruation

[alywest]

Hello! I have noticed that leading up to and during my period I have a really painful tightening in certain areas of my fascia, and also when I started taking progesterone my knee bent sideways which after doing some research seems to be a fascia related issue as well. I have looked into trigger points and I'm starting to massage some of my knots out because apparently this can take some time, but it seems that since I've been following some of Ray Peat's advice and changing up my hormones my fascia has been reacting in a strange way. I don't know if it's healing and therefore toxins are moving out and therefore causing temporary pain. I'm hoping this is the case, and that this is just part of the healing process. I have also heard that fascia is the cause behind cellulite, something I have had since I was a teenager even though I was always quite thin. If this is true, then is fascia something that is "weaker" or more prone to having issues in women than men? Thanks in advance for any insight you may have.

 

[artist]

I have issues with trigger points/fascia pain as well, it's been ongoing since my teens. For me it seems to correlate with endotoxin and gets a lot worse when I increase my starch intake. Coffee is another big trigger for me but not caffeine in general (caffeine powder is fine for instance). Stress is also a big one. When all of the above are in play the pain in my eyebrow area and forearms is killer and I have to massage trigger points around my elbows, forearms, forehead, eye area etc multiple times a day for things to normalize. I didn't notice any interaction with progesterone during the times I've taken it, if anything it made it better. (I am female btw) Are you doing the progesterone dose the way it's usually recommended around here, starting with a big dose and then moving to a more normal dose later? Sometimes people get estrogen increase from progesterone if they don't start with a big enough dose, the body does this weird compensatory mechanism that results in more estrogen production.

 

[alywest]

I have issues with trigger points/fascia pain as well, it's been ongoing since my teens. For me it seems to correlate with endotoxin and gets a lot worse when I increase my starch intake. Coffee is another big trigger for me but not caffeine in general (caffeine powder is fine for instance). Stress is also a big one. When all of the above are in play the pain in my eyebrow area and forearms is killer and I have to massage trigger points around my elbows, forearms, forehead, eye area etc multiple times a day for things to normalize. I didn't notice any interaction with progesterone during the times I've taken it, if anything it made it better. (I am female btw) Are you doing the progesterone dose the way it's usually recommended around here, starting with a big dose and then moving to a more normal dose later? Sometimes people get estrogen increase from progesterone if they don't start with a big enough dose, the body does this weird compensatory mechanism that results in more estrogen production.

Thanks artist, I haven't taken an unusually high dose of progesterone, about 300 mg during the latter half of the month. What do you think would be a big dose? I have noticed when I start the progesterone I seem to have some sort of reaction so I held back on taking a larger amount, but I do wonder if it's the estrogen reacting. I just started taking the progesterone a couple of months ago and at first I felt almost postpartum levels of irritability.

 

[LUH 3417]

Hi, Do you have any updates on this?
I also became very irritable/emotional taking large doses of progesterone. My cellulite seems to have worsened during that time too.

 

[alywest]

Hi, Do you have any updates on this?
I also became very irritable/emotional taking large doses of progesterone. My cellulite seems to have worsened during that time too.

I have just started taking Progestene instead of the pharmaceutical bioidentical progesterone which was dissolved in peanut oil. I will let you know if there are any improvements.

 

[lollipop]

I have just started taking Progestene instead of the pharmaceutical bioidentical progesterone which was dissolved in peanut oil. I will let you know if there are any improvements.

Hi @alywest! Make sure that Progestene is not synthetic. I think it is. I ONLY know of USP progesterone not causing problems. The three companies I know of do a good job of having the good form: Progest-e, Idealabs, Health Natura. Check toxinless.com for a great review of products.

Best of luck to you

 

[alywest]

Hi @alywest! Make sure that Progestene is not synthetic. I think it is. I ONLY know of USP progesterone not causing problems. The three companies I know of do a good job of having the good form: Progest-e, Idealabs, Health Natura. Check toxinless.com for a great review of products.

Best of luck to you :)

Thanks, Lisa, Progestene is the Idealabs supplement. I am not sure what the dosage should be for me, though. It says 20mg/day but I think I need a lot more. I'm guessing that transdermal application requires a lower dose than oral, but I don't lnow

 

[lollipop]

Thanks, Lisa, Progestene is the Idealabs supplement. I am not sure what the dosage should be for me, though. It says 20mg/day but I think I need a lot more. I'm guessing that transdermal application requires a lower dose than oral, but I don't lnow

Yeah, dosing is sooooooo tricky. I went on a serious experiment using Progest-e: first-low dose 10-20mgs a day. Felt better at first, then this caused huge estrogenic symptoms. Read and researched a TON to feel confident to radically bump that up to 200-400mgs a day (two doses daily or more as needed) for maybe six, seven months. IMMEDIATE relief from the symptoms. Then at a certain point, I intuitively felt it was time to taper off. I slowly over months went down step by step to maybe 40mgs a day. After that, I then I stopped continuous usage to 3 weeks on, one week off, same ~40mgs a day. Then to where I am now, 14 days on second half of cycle, 14 days off first half of cycle.

It is really about experimenting and finding your way. I know this is not a simple easy answer, but I am not sure there is one.

I am not able to speak about oral or transdermal with idealabs product as I have no personal experience. With Progest-e, I did both, on skin and rubbed on gums.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[alywest]

wow, than

Yeah, dosing is sooooooo tricky. I went on a serious experiment using Progest-e: first-low dose 10-20mgs a day. Felt better at first, then this caused huge estrogenic symptoms. Read and researched a TON to feel confident to radically bump that up to 200-400mgs a day (two doses daily or more as needed) for maybe six, seven months. IMMEDIATE relief from the symptoms. Then at a certain point, I intuitively felt it was time to taper off. I slowly over months went down step by step to maybe 40mgs a day. After that, I then I stopped continuous usage to 3 weeks on, one week off, same ~40mgs a day. Then to where I am now, 14 days on second half of cycle, 14 days off first half of cycle.

It is really about experimenting and finding your way. I know this is not a simple easy answer, but I am not sure there is one.

I am not able to speak about oral or transdermal with idealabs product as I have no personal experience. With Progest-e, I did both, on skin and rubbed on gums.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Wow, thanks Lisa, that helps a ton!

 

[lollipop]

wow, than


Wow, thanks Lisa, that helps a ton!

 

[ecstatichamster]

I think progesterone can free stored estrogen and cause worse symptoms for awhile. The solution may be high doses at first.

I know ray does not approve but taking Lugols or Ioderal for a month or so may help. I think low iodine stores can cause worse symptoms when starting progesterone.

 

[mujuro]

You may want to look upstream. Tight forearms can be related to tight biceps, brachialis, medial tricep. The biceps converge into a single large tendon sheath that attaches to the forearm. I get golfer's or tennis elbow if one forearm agonist dominates the other. Sometimes weakness is the cause of pain.

 

[alywest]

Thanks everyone for the information! This month I have been taking high doses of Progesterone (200-300 mg) and it seems to be still not enough to completely knock out the estrogen. I have had issues of high estrogen since I was a teenager, and what it feels like is the estrogen is coming out of the tissue and it is probably filtering out through the fascia because that is part of the body's detox system if I'm correct. It has been a rough month but I finally am feeling like maybe the progesterone is starting to take hold and get an edge on the estrogen. I truly feel like I'm going through detox, with all of the moodiness and physical discomfort that can sometimes bring. All i can do is keep taking the progesterone and hope that it will eventually change up the dominance that the estrogen has long established in my body. If this works, I will be so grateful. PMS through menstruation (basically half the month) has been a nightmare for me for the past 24 years of my life. I want to be healthy and not be a psycho mom/wife/person during my cycle. I am also taking EstroBan, PanSterone, Energin, lots of aspirin, homemade eggshell calcium, coconut or mct oil, Diamant, and lots of t3. Maybe drinking a bit more water would be good right now, even though I know that is not usually desirable. I was dealing with edema yesterday so I almost completely cut out water, but woke up this morning feeling dehydrated. I think I need to be more careful with that as a lot of toxins are moving through me. I have also been eating carrots and taking cascara sagrada mixed in OJ to help with Estrogen removal. And consuming a lot of salt. Magnesium would be helpful, too, but I'm hoping I'm getting enough from the tons of OJ and milk I'm drinking everyday. I am really going full blast here and hoping that I start feeling much better.

 

[LUH 3417]

Thanks everyone for the information! This month I have been taking high doses of Progesterone (200-300 mg) and it seems to be still not enough to completely knock out the estrogen. I have had issues of high estrogen since I was a teenager, and what it feels like is the estrogen is coming out of the tissue and it is probably filtering out through the fascia because that is part of the body's detox system if I'm correct. It has been a rough month but I finally am feeling like maybe the progesterone is starting to take hold and get an edge on the estrogen. I truly feel like I'm going through detox, with all of the moodiness and physical discomfort that can sometimes bring. All i can do is keep taking the progesterone and hope that it will eventually change up the dominance that the estrogen has long established in my body. If this works, I will be so grateful. PMS through menstruation (basically half the month) has been a nightmare for me for the past 24 years of my life. I want to be healthy and not be a psycho mom/wife/person during my cycle. I am also taking EstroBan, PanSterone, Energin, lots of aspirin, homemade eggshell calcium, coconut or mct oil, Diamant, and lots of t3. Maybe drinking a bit more water would be good right now, even though I know that is not usually desirable. I was dealing with edema yesterday so I almost completely cut out water, but woke up this morning feeling dehydrated. I think I need to be more careful with that as a lot of toxins are moving through me. I have also been eating carrots and taking cascara sagrada mixed in OJ to help with Estrogen removal. And consuming a lot of salt. Magnesium would be helpful, too, but I'm hoping I'm getting enough from the tons of OJ and milk I'm drinking everyday. I am really going full blast here and hoping that I start feeling much better.

I hope you do too! Please keep us posted. I also restarted progesterone because I too really want this to work. I notice it makes me nauseous the next morning tho. Wondering if anyone has advice for the nausea?

 

[alywest]

I hope you do too! Please keep us posted. I also restarted progesterone because I too really want this to work. I notice it makes me nauseous the next morning tho. Wondering if anyone has advice for the nausea?

Salt has been really important for me. Making sure I'm putting salt in my oj and water has helped to restore sodium because I know I was losing it too quickly causing edema and possibly hypertension (I haven't been getting my blood pressure checked, but I felt as though it was high.) If you are hypothyroid and the progesterone is not balancing the estrogen in your body yet, you are going to have more free fatty acids in your blood which I would assume is part of the reason we get pains and nausea. Lots of sodium and calcium and then taking some aspirin at night before bed because the dark of night induces stress and more free fatty acids should help. This is all from Ray Peat's article: When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc. Have you tried making eggshell calcium yet?

 

[LUH 3417]

Salt has been really important for me. Making sure I'm putting salt in my oj and water has helped to restore sodium because I know I was losing it too quickly causing edema and possibly hypertension (I haven't been getting my blood pressure checked, but I felt as though it was high.) If you are hypothyroid and the progesterone is not balancing the estrogen in your body yet, you are going to have more free fatty acids in your blood which I would assume is part of the reason we get pains and nausea. Lots of sodium and calcium and then taking some aspirin at night before bed because the dark of night induces stress and more free fatty acids should help. This is all from Ray Peat's article: When energy fails: Edema, heart failure, hypertension, sarcopenia, etc. Have you tried making eggshell calcium yet?

Thank you. I haven't made eggshelf. How do you do it?

 

[alywest]

Thank you. I haven't made eggshelf. How do you do it?

You clean out some eggshells (I save them until I have at least a dozen, I just keep them in the fridge), you can try to remove the membrane but you don't have to. Then you boil them for about 5 minutes, skimming off the foam as you go. Then bake them on a cookie sheet at 220 for 20 minutes to dry them out. These steps sterilize them so they're safe. Then just grind them in a coffee grinder. I have one that I use just for herbs and stuff so I use it for the eggshells now more than anything else! Once it's a fine-ish powder you can take 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon 2-3 times a day. It depends how much dairy you consume. Oh and I put it in a spoonful of coconut oil or something liquid. You can't just take it right out of the spoon, it's too dry. I've also mixed it with a big spoonful of applesauce. (This recipe is from Tom Brimeyer on forefronthealth.com)

I find that even if I drink what seems like 100 cups of milk a day it's not enough calcium. This is like a super calcium boost and you can almost feel it remineralizing your teeth! I love it!

 

[LUH 3417]

You clean out some eggshells (I save them until I have at least a dozen, I just keep them in the fridge), you can try to remove the membrane but you don't have to. Then you boil them for about 5 minutes, skimming off the foam as you go. Then bake them on a cookie sheet at 220 for 20 minutes to dry them out. These steps sterilize them so they're safe. Then just grind them in a coffee grinder. I have one that I use just for herbs and stuff so I use it for the eggshells now more than anything else! Once it's a fine-ish powder you can take 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon 2-3 times a day. It depends how much dairy you consume. Oh and I put it in a spoonful of coconut oil or something liquid. You can't just take it right out of the spoon, it's too dry. I've also mixed it with a big spoonful of applesauce. (This recipe is from Tom Brimeyer on forefronthealth.com)

I find that even if I drink what seems like 100 cups of milk a day it's not enough calcium. This is like a super calcium boost and you can almost feel it remineralizing your teeth! I love it!

Great thank you so much! Do you store it on the fridge or the cabinet? Also do you think it goes bad after a certain amount of time?

 

[alywest]

Great thank you so much! Do you store it on the fridge or the cabinet? Also do you think it goes bad after a certain amount of time?

It stores in the cabinet. I don't know how long it stays good for sure but it doesn't seem like something that would go bad since it's totally dry. Plus unless you make a ton of it you'll go through it pretty quickly.

 

[Sonybaloney]

I'd be interested to know the progress you've made. Have you continued with higher dosages? Did it improve your fascia? My fascia feels stretched, tight and lumpy. I also feel like my lymph nodes are sore in my inguinal triangle and under arms.