Prenatal Advice

[cmdshiftdel]

Hi all,

I'm looking to refine my activities and intake protocols as much as possible (within reason and without adding stress) for the next two months, as that is when my husband and I have determined to start trying to conceive.

This is what I currently do:
1. Vitamins (I know RP is not the biggest fan of vitamins, but I have tried recovering with and without them and feel too low energy without them.)

• Morning
  • ProCaps Essential 1 MultiVitamin
    • (I'm concerned about the manganese and chromium in this, RP mentioned these may contribute to autism. Nature's Sunshine Prenatal was a replacement contender because it tested very low for lead content, until I saw the iron content. Any good prenatal vitamin suggestions?)
  • Kirkland Vitamin D
  • BioAstin Hawaiian Astaxanthin 12 mg
  • Kirkland CoQ10 300 mg (Ubidicarenone)
  • trunature Vision Complex Lutein (25 mg) & Zeaxanthin (5 mg)
  • Swanson Olive Leaf Extract, 750 mg standardized to 20% oleuropein
  • Life Extension Skin Restoring Phytoceramides with Lipowheat Liquid Capsules (1x/day)
• Night
  • ProCaps Healthy Hair Skin & Nails (half dose, 1 cap)
  • Pure Encapsulations Magnesium Glycinate (4 caps/day - 480 mg/day total)
  • Now Glycine 1000mg free-form
  • half a Zrytec for chronic allergies
  • half a Cimetidine (for hair regrowth experiment, inspired by Danny Roddy)
  • Swanson Apigenin 50 mg
  • Imagine Dermatology Pro-Relief Progesterone cream @ days 12-26 of cycle

This vitamin regimen has been something I've been faddling with for over a decade. This combo, for me, has produced measurable positives and no negatives as of yet. I have a tricky stomach when it comes to supplements, and many migraine triggers. I have gone through many supplements that I simply could not tolerate (alanine being the most notable - horrific migraines). Twice, just to see what would happen, I have gone off this routine for 9 days and after 2-3 days I feel it. Extremely low energy, constant fatigue, hair starts falling out in the shower. I went back on routine, hair stopped falling out, and energy restored. Months later I tried it again, same results.

To be clear though, when I say I have energy on this regimen I don't mean I have the kind of energy that I would like to have. I only mean I have energy sufficient to get most things done. I have never been "high energy", I partly blame my mothers insistence on cod liver oil supplementation (only mildly kidding). I've had to make peace with this, because thyroid supplements give me serious heart palpitations and couple that with Mitral Valve Prolapse - well, I just can't take thyroid. My energy seems to be linked to mental decision. I have to choose to feel high energy, convince myself I can do it, which in itself is taxing but better than what I've felt the majority of my life. These vitamins seem to give me the choice, whereas without them I don't even ask the question, I'm just too tired.

I suppose I've learned to live with the dysfunction, which is made better by implementing some of Ray Peats principles, but I can say that in my case, trying to go strictly RP is actually too taxing and stressful on me in other ways so as to limit the benefits. I've made my peace with this, but am always seeking suggestions for optimization.

2. Food Intake:
I do not strictly eat Ray Peat anymore - I cannot tolerate orange juice because it gives me migraines. The thought of oysters and seafood in general makes me nauseas. After strictly Peating for awhile, I got sick of cottage cheese. I'll occasionally buy it but end up giving it to my dog. For me it has become more about reducing the stress modern opinion and so-called science has wrapped around food. Learning not to be scared of white sugar, milk, saturated fat, salt, yet being cautious about vegetables and so-called healthy fats (pufas). Over time, I've also learned not to be overly scared of things non-RP, like meat and delicious meals that may have some pufa's in them, as I love to cook. I vary my dinners but keep my lunches similar. I do not want to live eating cottage cheese and oysters for life. Here's my usual daily:

• 2-3 cups 2% milk (one of them will be a latte made with instant espresso powder & white sugar)
• Typical Lunch:
  • Egg salad sandwich (1 egg mashed with 1 T mayo, salt - served on white bread slice)
  • Tart Cherry Smoothie - tart cherries, 1 part milk: 2 parts greek yogurt, white sugar to sweeten
• Dinners can vary wildly, from lasagna to chicken pesto pasta to chili to simple white rice & egg scramble. I moderate portions, and try to reduce pufa as much as possible by cooking with coconut oil and butter, never vegetable oil. I limit beans to maybe a few times per month, but don't eliminate them.
• Occasional linden tea prepared with lemon & honey
• 1/2 - 1 Mexi Cola per day, or Pellegrino Sparkling Water ad libitum

3. Miscellaneous

1. I have eliminated wifi from my home and basically have my cell phone use down to zero or near it. I am consciously trying to eliminate/reduce emf & rf radiation, particularly where I sleep, where I cook, and where I work.
2. My sleep has been screwed up since I can remember - my natural sleep pattern is 3 am - 11 am. I have tried a lot of things to fix this, red light, melatonin, none have worked. Melatonin makes me insane, literally. Red light helped flush the melatonin, but then did not allow me restful sleep. Because I work from home, I'm lucky I can continue this way without too much problem. Not sure how this would affect a baby, but its out of my control unless something new works.
3. I'm 35 years old, 5'9" and 165 lbs. My ideal vanity weight is 145 lbs, if I wanted to look stick thin. However, because I'm so tall the extra weight is not really apparent. I'd like to lose some weight in the next two months so I don't end up going too much over 175 lbs or so when pregnant. I'm doing a daily 4 minute tabata hiit running in place interval on a mini trampoline (rebounder), some squats, some basic weights with arms, and basic abs. I'm not going super intense or anything. I seem to enjoy it and have not had bad effect from it yet (no lower temps or severe soreness like when I used to run and go to physical trainer).

What do you guys think? Any tips/advice for me (or my husband!) would be greatly appreciated. He is not RP or health enthusiast in general, but will go along with whatever I encourage, for the most part.

 

[InChristAlone]

If you can't fall asleep before 3 am, life with a child is going to be extremely hard. Some kids will sleep til 8 or 9 (mine do, but it wasn't that way when they were little) and some kids wake up at 6 am every morning! The sleep deprivation nearly killed me with my 2nd and I slept whenever I possibly could! So you may want to figure out how to care for a baby without getting sleep deprived, will you have lots of help from your husband? My husband worked so I could only nap when my kids napped and on the weekend.

If it were me I would not be taking any of these while pregnant:

• Morning
  • ProCaps Essential 1 MultiVitamin
  • Kirkland Vitamin D
  • BioAstin Hawaiian Astaxanthin 12 mg
  • trunature Vision Complex Lutein (25 mg) & Zeaxanthin (5 mg)
  • Swanson Olive Leaf Extract, 750 mg standardized to 20% oleuropein
  • Life Extension Skin Restoring Phytoceramides with Lipowheat Liquid Capsules (1x/day)
• Night
  • ProCaps Healthy Hair Skin & Nails (half dose, 1 cap)
  • half a Cimetidine (for hair regrowth experiment, inspired by Danny Roddy)
  • Swanson Apigenin 50 mg

Multi vitamins are too high in retinol and beta carotene. If you feel you need them get them from food. If you are worried about anti-oxidants then take more vitamin C, if you are worried about b-vitamins again eat more good food. Vitamin D should be got from the sun or a UVB lamp.

 

[schultz]

Thyroid and progesterone would probably be the most important and basic supplements for pregnancy. Beef liver as a food would be helpful, not only for the micronutrients but also the protein. Lots of light. Vitamin K2.

I would be surprised if that progesterone is doing anything given the solvent used. I would consider progesterone in vitamin E. The E will be beneficial for pregnancy as well. It does afterall come from the Greek words for "to carry child" or something close to that (not that that is a good reason in itself considering things are improperly named sometimes)

 

[jzeno]

First thing I noticed is no aspirin and salt level.

You mentioned salt briefly, but I would be getting lots of salt. Studies have shown women who are pregnant increase their demand for salt (source: Taste changes during pregnancy. - PubMed - NCBI), hence the weird cravings like PB + celery sandwiches, and if you are not actively fighting for enough salt by liberally salting foods to taste, I would say that lack of supply and sudden appetite for large amounts of salt might throw you for a loop and surprise you and maybe even shock what you understood about what is healthy or not to the point you might fight the cravings instead trying to be "healthy". Being aware of that craving for increased salt is totally normal and should be expected--and--low sodium diets have been shown to produce smaller brains, bones, and muscle mass in rats. Low sodium in humans may lead to poor neural outcome in the 2nd decade of life (10-20--important developmental years).

Watch 8:38 to 9:38 I can't find all the articles with unlimited access, otherwise I would link them



So, prenatal or natal, I would suggest adding lots of salt to taste--you and your husband. At least 3 to 6 g of sodium / day if not more though you'll find Ray and others suggest more in some cases. That suggestion of 3 to 6 g of sodium / d is based off this video and their research: Watch 8:28 to 9:01 (whole video is worth watching as well)



Aspirin is good, so I recommend aspirin--also because it is so cheap. Everyone can afford it and it is great! I take 11 325 mg tablets per day roughly. I would say pop a few aspirin per meal and give it a shot. If you are taking aspirin it is recommend that you take 1 mg of Vitamin k per 325 mg tablet of aspirin. So I would recommend getting a nice Vitamin K supplement, too.

Regarding sleep: I used to have bad sleep too. Salt can improve sleep. Others have reported that here on the forum. Otherwise, 2 aspirin right before I lay down helps me rest tremendously. So, if you want a good way to convince yourself that aspirin is safe and healthy to take, try starting with just 2 right before you lie down for sleep. Also, I exclusively sleep while grounding. Grounding has been shown to reduce cortisol and provide all sorts of benefits. I noticed you mentioned reducing wi-fi etc, so I thought I should mention that because I have benefited from grounding and I do recommend it for those looking to reduce stress from electrical and radiation pollution. The way I ground is I bought some electrically conductive socks and then made a makeshift alligator clip to a plug that goes to a plug. My house is grounded, so any plug will ground automatically. Feel free to tag me (@jzeno) or message if you have questions. I usually don't follow threads that I don't start.

Other than that, I would recommend trying to not be too strict. Having a baby is going to be somewhat chaotic and so if you are not ready to be flexible, then you might feel upset or frustrated. So, go easy on making sure the diet and everything else is super strict and try just listening to your body a bit more. It should be good practice to get all the theory stuff out and just listen to your body for a while. Our bodies are pretty good when it comes to natural cues: Hunger, thirst, bathroom, salt appetite, rest, sleep, activity, etc. So I would recommend trying to resist the temptation to overthink it all. Your body will tell you to take in more salt--that's natural. You'll probably want to eat more, sleep more, eat different things, so I wouldn't be alarmed by all of that. Just remember to get enough salt and try to avoid PUFAs for sure and give aspirin (and Vitamin K) a try, is what I would recommend.

Edit: there is evidence that salt can also help you to lose weight as well. So there's an extra incentive in that you might lose that little bit of fat to get you closer to 145:

More Dietary Salt Increases Urea Synthesis And Energy Requirements

 

[somuch4food]

Other than that, I would recommend trying to not be too strict. Having a baby is going to be somewhat chaotic and so if you are not ready to be flexible, then you might feel upset or frustrated. So, go easy on making sure the diet and everything else is super strict and try just listening to your body a bit more. It should be good practice to get all the theory stuff out and just listen to your body for a while. Our bodies are pretty good when it comes to natural cues: Hunger, thirst, bathroom, salt appetite, rest, sleep, activity, etc

That, exactly. Nothing is perfect with a baby. Try to tune in to yourself more and find how to work with your body.

With my baby, I was nervous and always looking for external advice from the Internet since I didn't know much and was scared to do the wrong stuff. Most of what I looked was not useful. I started to see real progress when I actually just used my own intuition to try and find solutions and I learnt that babies are pretty good at staying alive no matter how many scary stories or statistics is put out there.

Also, since I'm pretty much doubful of any research that has been done on nutrition. I won't be recommending anything specific for pregnancy except increased calories (sugar makes smart babies according to Peat) and maybe salt, as I had some problems with swollen feet after a day of sitting at work.

Don't worry about weight at all, eat to satiation. I'm the same height as you and weighed 150 before pregnancy and 180 or more at the end. I wore the same clothes all the way I just had to use a waist band, change bra size and use my longer shirts. I had lost all the additional weight in a few months. Thigh size might be the best indicator whether you put on fat or needed weight.

About the supplements, I would try to reduce your stack as much as possible. I would also drop anything with vitamin A or beta carotene in it, especially if you eat colorful vegetables/dairy regularly. I'm suspecting the prenatal I took made my son allergic to eggs and he seems sensitive to carotene. I must have loaded with A. Too much vitamin A as been shown to have teratogenic effects.

 

[schultz]

I would be surprised if that progesterone is doing anything given the solvent used. I would consider progesterone in vitamin E.

I didn't expand upon this because I was on my phone. Here are some quotes from Ray. There may be errors in the quotes because I copied it from a PDF and it sometimes changes the letters... I tried to check the accuracy though.


"Progesterone is extremely insoluble in water, and, though it is vastly more soluble in vegetable oil than in water, it does not stay in solution at room temperature even at the low concentration of 1 part in 1000 parts of a typical vegetable oil."

"Progesterone is barely soluble in ordinary vegetable oils, and publications rarely mention that the formulations which contain 250 mg/ml also contain the "bacteriostatic" benzyl alcohol, which is the actual solvent, but which is so soluble in water that the progesterone crystallizes immediately after intramuscular injection. (I have previously written about the history of medical progesterone, and the fraudulent claims and doctrines that have shaped its use.)"

"Although progesterone will dissolve in warm vegetable oil, when the oil cools nearly all of the progesterone crystallizes out of solution. This is why vitamin E is necessary as the solvent, for transdermal use as well as oral use."

Below is from the Townsend Letters, and from many years ago I think.
"...but the studies of topical progesterone, by Papa and Kligman, showed that progesterone had a local effect, but no detectable systemic effect. This is because of its low solubility in ordinary oils. The progesterone·vitamin E combination, which I patented, is stably dissolved so that it can be absorbed by any route - transdermal, oral, rectal, or vaginal, but I have not licensed my patent to any of the companies such as Yamcon/Phillips Nutritionals or Pro-Gest/Transitions/Professional & Technical Services, which advertise creams for the treatment of menopause. Some creams contain progesterone, some creams contain vitamin E, some contain neither. The patented progesterone-in-vitamin E products are sold only in Eugene, Oregon.

The order in which ingredients are listed on the label must be in the order of their quantity in the product. Pro-Gest's advertisement claims that "For over 17 years, physicians have recommended Pro-Gest to their menopausal patients," but I participated in the design of some of the original progesterone lotions which were sold by Professional and Technical Services (while I was "President" of that corporation), and those early formulations (I still have copies of the various brand-name labels) essentially had no effective shelflife, because of their poor formulation; the progesterone was crystallized by the time it arrived from the factory."

 

[cmdshiftdel]

Thanks all for the helpful advice/comments!

I love salt - I salt freely and often (to the horror of the masses around me that don't know any better). I think my liberal salt use may have even saved my life as I had an undiagnosed heart condition that salt makes 1000% better. I tried to go low salt once, before Ray Peat, and actually fainted. Never again.

I don't take aspirin unless I'm treating a migraine because it makes me get red dots on my face and random places throughout my body. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens. Like hundreds of tiny freckles - except they're tiny blood spots under the skin - they go away on their own after a few days. It's not a rash, but its concerning enough that I just stay away.

My biggest concern are the vitamins I've been taking for awhile now. I have two months to make changes, and I'd *like* to take a prenatal since vitamins have helped so much with my energy (not all vitamins, many made it worse - especially fish oil before I found RP). I'm worried about taking these, but I'm also worried about not taking these.

As far as my sleep, nothing I can do about it. Have had delayed sleep phase shift disorder since puberty. Husband also works from home, and his sleep is normal after we changed to separate bedrooms for the sake of sanity (after not sleeping for a year). So, hopefully, he'll help.

@somuch4food You mentioned thigh size indicating fat/needed weight put on during pregnancy...never heard of this. Do you have any more details?

@schultz Wow, this may explain why my cycle changed so much suddenly. I just switched to this progesterone a month ago, after using Progestelle for awhile. I had tried Dr. Peat's Pro-Gest in the past, but found it inconvenient to buy and to use and was concerned about oral absorption since I read that he got oral cancer, if I'm not mistaken, at some point. He was able to reverse it...nonetheless that scared me. What do you think of Progestelle and has anyone hacked Pro-Gest to make it easier to apply to skin?

 

[InChristAlone]

Thanks all for the helpful advice/comments!

I love salt - I salt freely and often (to the horror of the masses around me that don't know any better). I think my liberal salt use may have even saved my life as I had an undiagnosed heart condition that salt makes 1000% better. I tried to go low salt once, before Ray Peat, and actually fainted. Never again.

I don't take aspirin unless I'm treating a migraine because it makes me get red dots on my face and random places throughout my body. It doesn't happen every time, but it happens. Like hundreds of tiny freckles - except they're tiny blood spots under the skin - they go away on their own after a few days. It's not a rash, but its concerning enough that I just stay away.

My biggest concern are the vitamins I've been taking for awhile now. I have two months to make changes, and I'd *like* to take a prenatal since vitamins have helped so much with my energy (not all vitamins, many made it worse - especially fish oil before I found RP). I'm worried about taking these, but I'm also worried about not taking these.

As far as my sleep, nothing I can do about it. Have had delayed sleep phase shift disorder since puberty. Husband also works from home, and his sleep is normal after we changed to separate bedrooms for the sake of sanity (after not sleeping for a year). So, hopefully, he'll help.

@somuch4food You mentioned thigh size indicating fat/needed weight put on during pregnancy...never heard of this. Do you have any more details?

@schultz Wow, this may explain why my cycle changed so much suddenly. I just switched to this progesterone a month ago, after using Progestelle for awhile. I had tried Dr. Peat's Pro-Gest in the past, but found it inconvenient to buy and to use and was concerned about oral absorption since I read that he got oral cancer, if I'm not mistaken, at some point. He was able to reverse it...nonetheless that scared me. What do you think of Progestelle and has anyone hacked Pro-Gest to make it easier to apply to skin?

Yes bvitamins do help energy. The problem is there aren't many supplements with only good b vitamins. They also add in the other fat soluble vitamins or beta carotene. Completely unnecessary and harmful. Haidut makes one with the B's called Energin. Might want to look into that one. Energin - Liquid B-Complex Vitamin Mix

 

[somuch4food]

You mentioned thigh size indicating fat/needed weight put on during pregnancy...never heard of this. Do you have any more details?

Just some personal experience. Despite weighing 30 pounds more, my pants still fitted my thighs. Obviously because of the belly during pregnancy, visceral fat cannot be used as an indicator, so thighs are second best. I still weigh myself, but I find physiology a better indicator of mass.

Visceral fat is a big indicator that something is amiss metabolically.

 

[schultz]

Too much vitamin A as been shown to have teratogenic effects.

I looked at the research regarding this a while back and it was not convincing to me. From what I remember this information is based of a New England study which used a questionnaire asking women how much vitamin A they were getting in their diet (or the authors calculated the amount based on which foods and supplements the women were using), but didn't differentiate between synthetic vitamin A like isotretinoin and other forms. It's been a while since I looked at the research though so it's possible that regular vitamin A in high doses could also be problematic. I wouldn't supplement with vitamin A during pregnancy, but I don't think I would avoid something like liver because of the vitamin A.

Edit: This is the New England study I was thinking of (here)

Here is a study which discusses this stuff. SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class journal research

In that paper they say...

"Buss et al. [4] examined the serum levels of potentially teratogenic metabolites of vitamin A in 10 nonpregnant women, when consumed as dietary retinyl palmitate, both in the form of liver and as a supplement. Dietary retinol in the form of liver produced a smaller and delayed rise in serum retinol levels than vitamin A consumed as retinyl esters. This suggests that the latter form of vitamin A may have a more marked effect in producing teratogenic metabolites. Therefore, not only must pharmacokinetic properties of vitamin A metabolites be considered, but also the dietary form in which vitamin A is consumed.

In healthy nonpregnant female volunteers, dietary intakes of 10,000 IU of vitamin A resulted in serum retinoic acid and 13-cis-retinoic acid levels similar to the physiological range of these metabolites observed in pregnant women [3, 6]. Even at dosages of 30,000 IU, minimal differences in physiological levels were detected with mean serum levels at the upper limit of the physiological range [3]. These findings suggest that, on physiological grounds, the dosages required to produce teratogenic effects might be expected to exceed 30,000 IU."

Since 4oz of beef liver contains on average 20,000 IU I think it is perfectly safe to eat during pregnancy, especially since it is consumed only once a week. In the above quote they are talking about 30,000 IU per day. You would need to eat 6oz of beef liver a day to get that amount.

The study does say that... "The drugs isotretinoin or 13-cis-retinoic acid (Accutane, Roaccutane) and etretinate have been shown to be highly teratogenic in humans"

It also references the New England study I was talking about above and says this...

"The median dosage of retinol among cases was 50,000 IU per day (interquartile range, 25,000–60,000 IU per day). The prevalence rate in the cases relative to the control group exposed to retinol later than the first trimester was 0.28 (95% CI, 0.06–1.23). A prevalence rate of 0.5 (95% CI, 0.14–1.76) was also observed when women exposed to nonteratogenic agents were used as controls. These findings suggest no apparent relationship between total retinol dosage during the first trimester and birth defects. In this study of 120 infants exposed to more than 50,000 IU during embryogenesis, no abnormalities were observed. The results of this study do not support the teratogenicity of doses of retinol supplements of 10,000 IU or greater and contrast with the findings of Rothman et al. [26]."

"Because liver varies in vitamin A content, and frequent liver consumption could result in intakes above the recommended limit of 10,000 IU, van den Berg et al. [60] suggested restricting liver consumption to no more than one serving per day"

So don't eat liver twice a day lol

"Given the findings that many women who do not consume liver may have vitamin A intakes below the RDA, these researchers cautioned against campaigns aiming at the avoidance of vitamin A–rich products. Some evidence exists that low-dose supplementation may be protective during pregnancy, particularly in populations with vitamin A deficiency; however, further confirmation of these findings is required."

 

[somuch4food]

@schultz Thanks for bringing up numbers.

With dairy, some fishes and seafoods, colorful fruits and vegetables, fortified flour (US) and supplements including multivitamins, someone can easily get into toxic levels.

Some links I've found interesting:
The Teratology Society suggests pregnant women restrict Poison/"Vitamin A" MORE than non-pregnant women!
[Health risks related to high content of vitamin A in liver]. - PubMed - NCBI

 

[schultz]

@schultz Wow, this may explain why my cycle changed so much suddenly. I just switched to this progesterone a month ago, after using Progestelle for awhile. I had tried Dr. Peat's Pro-Gest in the past, but found it inconvenient to buy and to use and was concerned about oral absorption since I read that he got oral cancer, if I'm not mistaken, at some point. He was able to reverse it...nonetheless that scared me. What do you think of Progestelle and has anyone hacked Pro-Gest to make it easier to apply to skin?

That progestelle product looks a lot better than the cream product. It appears to be just progesterone and MCT oil. I am not sure how soluble progesterone is in MCT without vitamin E. That's interesting that your cycle changed after you switched products. It makes sense that that's what caused it.

Ray talked about getting leukoplakia in his mouth, which a dentist told him was precancerous. Ray says they are from getting dental x-rays (maybe x-rays destroy vitamin A in the body?). This was in his 20's and 30's, long (looong) before he developed his progesterone product. Taking Progest-E orally is the best way to take it. Ray has said that you'll absorb a lot more this way (He said, paraphrased, that it's cheaper to take it orally). I can find the quotes about absorption if you would like to read them. I posted them somewhere else on the forum.

Here is where he mentioned the leukoplakia, which is from the kmud episode "Cancer Treatment"

"Dentists a couple of times when I was about 30 or so, told me with a very grave expression that I had a precancerous leukoplakia and they should have it biopsied but since I had already experienced that lumpy development inside my cheeks whenever I was deficient in vitamin A instead of going to a cancer specialist and having a biopsy, I took vitamin A and each time the dentist told me that I cured this in a week and then since I knew that leukoplakia of the cervix is biologically almost indistinguishable from leukoplakia inside the cheek, I told women who had..."

and this is from another podcast....

"A low thyroid person can get symptoms of Vitamin A poisoning from just a very small amount like 5000 units. When I was in my teens and twenty's, I found that I needed 50-100 thousand units to prevent having acne, or even leukoplakia following dental x-rays."

 

[baccheion]

Naturelo makes a highly rated prenatal, as does Zahler. Out of line with Peating, DHA is recommended from conception until the child is 2 years old. If you had 2 years before conception, I'd have recommended iodine protocol.

Effectiveness/Necessity can be estimated via lab work (a comprehensive hormone panel, thyroid panel, nutrient test like NutrEval, etc). You can also look into genetic testing to catch any relevant mutations in both yourself and any future offspring.

MSM lotion is likely to prevent stretch marks and loose/sagging skin.

 

[InChristAlone]

That progestelle product looks a lot better than the cream product. It appears to be just progesterone and MCT oil. I am not sure how soluble progesterone is in MCT without vitamin E. That's interesting that your cycle changed after you switched products. It makes sense that that's what caused it.

Ray talked about getting leukoplakia in his mouth, which a dentist told him was precancerous. Ray says they are from getting dental x-rays (maybe x-rays destroy vitamin A in the body?). This was in his 20's and 30's, long (looong) before he developed his progesterone product. Taking Progest-E orally is the best way to take it. Ray has said that you'll absorb a lot more this way (He said, paraphrased, that it's cheaper to take it orally). I can find the quotes about absorption if you would like to read them. I posted them somewhere else on the forum.

Here is where he mentioned the leukoplakia, which is from the kmud episode "Cancer Treatment"

"Dentists a couple of times when I was about 30 or so, told me with a very grave expression that I had a precancerous leukoplakia and they should have it biopsied but since I had already experienced that lumpy development inside my cheeks whenever I was deficient in vitamin A instead of going to a cancer specialist and having a biopsy, I took vitamin A and each time the dentist told me that I cured this in a week and then since I knew that leukoplakia of the cervix is biologically almost indistinguishable from leukoplakia inside the cheek, I told women who had..."

and this is from another podcast....

"A low thyroid person can get symptoms of Vitamin A poisoning from just a very small amount like 5000 units. When I was in my teens and twenty's, I found that I needed 50-100 thousand units to prevent having acne, or even leukoplakia following dental x-rays."

I think that last quote needs context. I don't think he would ever advise someone to take that amount, and I think he meant he took one large dose. We have people on this forum using 50,000 everyday! He wouldn't ever recommend that.

 

[schultz]

I think that last quote needs context. I don't think he would ever advise someone to take that amount, and I think he meant he took one large dose. We have people on this forum using 50,000 everyday! He wouldn't ever recommend that.

I imagine it was 1 large dose.

The only context needed is to understand that vitamin A can be problematic in a low thyroid state. I think most people who frequent the forum understand this. Ray has said it several times.

Ray has suggested that high intakes of vitamin A can be beneficial, and certainly people with a vigorous thyroid need a lot more vitamin A than a low thyroid person. He mentioned a gentleman named Emanuel Cheraskin a few times and talked about high doses of vitamin A.

From "Milk, Calcium and Hormones" Interview
"I found that in proportion to my light/sun exposure, if I increased the vitamin A, I could prevent acne. And it turns out to be protective in other ways. The nutrition researcher dentist Emanuel Cheraskin did surveys where he found that health complaints and symptoms decreased in a nice linear relation to increasing vitamin A, all the way up to 100,000 units per day. But anyone who is on the borderline for thyroid function, sometimes even 20,000 units will make their symptoms worse by suppressing their thyroid. So you just have to be very cautious and probably starting with 5,000 units and watching for allergic symptoms, and checking your temperature to see if it’s inhibiting your thyroid. Very often people have to get up to 20 or 30 thousand units a day, before their acne improves."

"And have you ever heard of Emanuel Cheraskin? He was a dentist who did nutrition research. In one of his surveys, he plotted the number of symptoms people chronically had against the amount of vitamin A in their diet or supplements and he found that from very low vitamin A intake all the way up to 100,000 units a day, the symptoms and complaints decreased very consistently as the vitamin A increased. And I think that's because of its role in making the anti-stress hormones and the immune factors. Josh Rubin: Right. Dr. Ray Peat: And if your thyroid is low, too much vitamin A will suppress your thyroid. They have to be exactly balanced. And so some people who take big doses of vitamin A get symptoms of vitamin A deficiency as well as thyroid deficiency and the higher your metabolic rate the more vitamin A you need and can use... Acne is a good indicator that you are doing something out of balance but it's hard to guess without blood tests."

As I mentioned above, he seems to be suggesting that a person with a high metabolic rate may need a lot of vitamin A, so I wouldn't say that he would "never recommend" 50,000 units per day.

Anyway, I wouldn't avoid vitamin A in pregnancy. It is needed to produce progesterone, so being deficient could be very problematic. If you cannot consume very much vitamin A because of a deficiency of thyroid hormone, the solution is not to lower the amount of vitamin A you consume but to increase your thyroid.