Should I supplement thyroid or progesterone first? Or both at the same time?

[curious_anthro]

In the same boat as you, 28yo/f. Been battling with similar stuff and I would like to share some of my experiences and thoughts with you which may help you.

First thing I want to give you a hint of: focus on your gut and liver. Eat regularly, and eat anti-inflammatory foods. This can be different for everyone. This means you still have to experiment which can take a long time and many attempts to find the right spot for you. You will have to also find the perfect macronutrient ratios for you in every meal. Again, this can look very different, but it is best to learn to listen to your body.

Second, you may have to regulate your glucose metabolization. When going down the rabbit hole, the root cause for hirsutism is a disturbed glucose metabolization. This means you will have to look for missing pieces (=nutrient deficiencies) in glucose metabolization and counteract those. This can also mean many things besides your current hormonal status, like b vitamin deficiencies. Also, do you experience hirsutism intermittently or only during certain days of your cycle? This can say a lot too, besides knowing the fat distribution in your body.

Adding T3 therapy to T4 made a huge difference for me. It really took the burden off me on cellular level and I could also get huge effects from smaller doses which made me think that it could be too much for usually healthy people without hashimotos. That is why I would advice to maybe try other approaches first for some time, but consider T3 as the last resort maybe? If you could get your body to produce progesterone innately through proper glucose metabolization and enough T4 to T3 conversion, you would start to ovulate again and some time after, the hirsutism and other symptoms would also be gone, as it did in my case.

Hope this helps :)

Thank you so much for sharing! While I am sorry for your shared suffering, it is nice to hear from someone who is in a similar boat.

I am taking all vitamins apart from vitamin E (high quality liquid B, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium) and eat lots of dairy fat. I have also really been trying to work on my gut! But still figuring out the right macronutrient ratios for my body. I spent many years dabbling in low carb and zero sugar diets so I know that my body still might not be tolerating carbs and sugar well. I seem to get a surge of acne/hirsutism around the time I am meant to ovulate and in the luteal phase...

I had elevated thyroid antibodies at one point during my low carb days and suspected hashimotos... but I had that tested again recently and it was normal. From what everyone has said, it sounds like there is wisdom in continuing to work on the foundations a bit longer before attempting thyroid supplementation. Out of curiousity, did you take T3 and T4, or just T3? And what brand?

 

[curious_anthro]

By the way, what is your doctor's diagnosis when he sees the test results you posted?

I am working privately with a naturopathic practitioner and she thinks severe gut dysbiosis/malabsorption brought on from emotional trauma and the long list of other stressors is the root cause of the hormonal and thyroid issues. My primary care doctor thinks I am perfectly healthy

 

[Makrosky]

I am working privately with a naturopathic practitioner and she thinks severe gut dysbiosis/malabsorption brought on from emotional trauma and the long list of other stressors is the root cause of the hormonal and thyroid issues. My primary care doctor thinks I am perfectly healthy

Ah! What a "surprise", primary care doctors.... :)

Malabsorption could be an issue yes. Have you tried a course of let's say 2-3 weeks of digestive enzymes at each meal? If you accompany them with highly nutritious food (both macro and micro) can do a lot of good. Check with your ND but I think she might go more the route of candida and no dairy no gluten etc...?

Might not even be malabsorption "per se" but just low digestive power so to speak. Which of course creates malabsorption and dysbiosis. But they might not be the root cause.

I am always too lazy to try this but I remember a post of a user some years ago saying chewing A LOT his food before swallowing got rid of many of his chronic problems. Chew Like until it is baby food.

Dunno. Just giving you some ideas.

 

[NodeCerebri]

I am taking all vitamins apart from vitamin E (high quality liquid B, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium) and eat lots of dairy fat. I have also really been trying to work on my gut! But still figuring out the right macronutrient ratios for my body. I spent many years dabbling in low carb and zero sugar diets so I know that my body still might not be tolerating carbs and sugar well. I seem to get a surge of acne/hirsutism around the time I am meant to ovulate and in the luteal phase...

Yep that is the typical sign that your body still needs to adjust. I can speak from my experience that progesterone will not do anything here. You will really have to get your body into the right direction first. I am also of the opinion that progesterone should be used as rather something supportive than therapeutic. Just my two cents :)

I had elevated thyroid antibodies at one point during my low carb days and suspected hashimotos... but I had that tested again recently and it was normal. From what everyone has said, it sounds like there is wisdom in continuing to work on the foundations a bit longer before attempting thyroid supplementation. Out of curiousity, did you take T3 and T4, or just T3? And what brand?

Great to read that you dont have hashimotos! Because I was diagnosed with it with 12 yo and have been treated with loads of T4 ever since which was not optimal. It is a prescription drug from one of the big pharmas and there are no nasty exipients in it, so I do not bother as also my insurance pays for the most of it. I recently started with T2, after peating for almost 2 years and feeling "ready" for it. It is some generic brand which also does not have anything nasty in it, I also seem to react to it very good. It made a difference for me together with proper glucose metabolization, so that I started to have proper menstruations again without almost dying every time. Hirsutism reduced greatly, without progesterone supplementation. You can read a little more about my problems with estrogen etc in the past in my thread here: Can’t seem to come out of estrogen dominance. Tried everything already
There is some great advice when it comes to balancing hormones :) I cannot stress enough the importance of a balanced gut and frequent bowel movements. Game changer.

Please update us on your successes and learnings along the way! :)