why does the Pill help many women?

[ilovethesea]

Peata, do you take thyroid? For me that was the missing factor - I always used to struggle with premenstrual breakouts and the pill did give me perfect skin in the past, same as you. Looking back now I think I must have been hypothyroid since my teens. Anyway now that I am on a pretty good dose of NDT my skin is completely clear... even if I forget to take Nutrisorb A or haven't had liver in a while, my skin is just fine. It was the low thyroid that was causing my problems.

 

[Swandattur]

Peata
Do you eat any starch at all? Just curious, because endotoxin can cause acne, from what I understand. Also, could some food be irritating your digestive tract and causing the acne?

 

[Bluebell]

I'll try those at some point.

Right now I just fried up the can of oysters and I actually love them. I soaked them in milk for a bit, rolled in flour, fried til nice and crispy brown in coconut oil. Well salted. Now this is a taste I can get behind.

I made up a dipping sauce with sour cream and garlic/chili condiment. It tastes and feels almost like I'm eating fried mushrooms. I think next time I'll dip them in ketchup.

I can definitely see adding oysters to my weekly lineup now.

Wow, wanna come for dinner at your house!

 

[Peata]

Peata, do you take thyroid? For me that was the missing factor - I always used to struggle with premenstrual breakouts and the pill did give me perfect skin in the past, same as you. Looking back now I think I must have been hypothyroid since my teens. Anyway now that I am on a pretty good dose of NDT my skin is completely clear... even if I forget to take Nutrisorb A or haven't had liver in a while, my skin is just fine. It was the low thyroid that was causing my problems.

No, I'm not on thyroid.

I also believe now, looking back, that low thyroid was probably my problem, or at least part of it all along, since I was a child. My thyroid has been tested multiple times over my adult years and things were fine, but they only did the basic test that everyone says is worthless.

So many things in the past I wish I had known about that would have saved me decades of trouble. I researched a ton online, tried so many diets and supplements, trying to take care of things naturally. At times resorting back to Rx. Now I finally find the answers in Peat and am starting to understand how all my symptoms fit together.

I'm seeing such improvements from my Peat wol so far - the food, aspirin, red light, progest-e, salt, sugar, etc. that I'm encouraged to keep going. Thyroid would be next, but my plan is to put off supplementation for at least one more menstrual cycle so I can continue to monitor improvement.

I can tell there are changes happening -positive ones, so I want to see where this leads. At first I felt like I was running around stoking fires constantly (trying to keep temps up) and it required a good deal of thought and work, unlike what Peat advocates being stress free. Now I feel like it's becoming even more natural.

Anway, thank you for your input. It does seem like we have similar stuff going on. I will have a lot of research to do on supplementing thyroid if I come to that, and your experiences will be valuable to me.

I'm glad you are clear. I know that alone is such a stress reducer.

 

[Peata]

I was thinking a little bit ago just from my personal experience, I have seen that estrogen in the Pill can't be the reason for good skin while a woman takes it. Otherwise, wouldn't being estrogen dominant result in gorgeous skin? In my experience, ED caused the worst skin possible.

 

[Peata]

And what about the pregnancy glow? That's from progesterone, not estrogen.

 

[Gabriel]

Estrogen can cause abnormal keratinization but it inhibits sebum production. So it can be both deleterious or helpful in acne. Not sure what overweighs.

There is a wide variation in progesterone levels in women with acne, some have higher levels some have lower levels than controls but overall women with acne tended to have higher progesterone levels (Source).

Also one cannot put androgens out of the equation. There is just too much data there showing how androgens and markers of androgen excess are increased in women with acne.

I'd like to see some hard evidence really showing that acne is caused by estrogen excess in women. That might be true for men, but for women, I really dont know.

 

[Peata]

So estrogen is out of balance in estrogen dominance, and causing it's problems, but estrogen can't be blamed for the acne. There is another hormonal problem going on there.

I think ilovethesea said she had high progesterone when her acne was bad, unless I'm mistaken and that was someone else.

Definitely, androgens fit in there. I've tried to fix that problem without the pill since puberty. One of the many things was using DHT blockers in the past, saw palmetto, but it did nothing. Really, as far as the Pill, I think it's like messtafarian put it earlier, I think it's because the hormones you were taking took over your natural cycle and rerouted the intersection at which your system was producing androgens. It wasn't the estrogen -- both hormones just stopped the cascade that was creating too much testosterone.

 

[ilovethesea]

Peata, do you take thyroid? For me that was the missing factor - I always used to struggle with premenstrual breakouts and the pill did give me perfect skin in the past, same as you. Looking back now I think I must have been hypothyroid since my teens. Anyway now that I am on a pretty good dose of NDT my skin is completely clear... even if I forget to take Nutrisorb A or haven't had liver in a while, my skin is just fine. It was the low thyroid that was causing my problems.

No, I'm not on thyroid.

I also believe now, looking back, that low thyroid was probably my problem, or at least part of it all along, since I was a child. My thyroid has been tested multiple times over my adult years and things were fine, but they only did the basic test that everyone says is worthless.

So many things in the past I wish I had known about that would have saved me decades of trouble. I researched a ton online, tried so many diets and supplements, trying to take care of things naturally. At times resorting back to Rx. Now I finally find the answers in Peat and am starting to understand how all my symptoms fit together.

I'm seeing such improvements from my Peat wol so far - the food, aspirin, red light, progest-e, salt, sugar, etc. that I'm encouraged to keep going. Thyroid would be next, but my plan is to put off supplementation for at least one more menstrual cycle so I can continue to monitor improvement.

I can tell there are changes happening -positive ones, so I want to see where this leads. At first I felt like I was running around stoking fires constantly (trying to keep temps up) and it required a good deal of thought and work, unlike what Peat advocates being stress free. Now I feel like it's becoming even more natural.

Anway, thank you for your input. It does seem like we have similar stuff going on. I will have a lot of research to do on supplementing thyroid if I come to that, and your experiences will be valuable to me.

I'm glad you are clear. I know that alone is such a stress reducer.

Well do you measure your temperatures and pulse? Are they low/slow? You're right, doctors will never tell you you're hypothyroid. They have a fanatical fear of making you hypERthyroid though, so they under-medicate.

Honestly, I don't mean to push thyroid on anyone but if you're really struggling and have emotional/social stress from dealing with acne, and you know that your thyroid function is low, then it's going to make a much faster and bigger difference than diet. I can't emphasize that enough.

You know that thyroid supplementation doesn't have long-term effects, right? This is from http://www.dannyroddy.com/main/2011/12/ ... tandi.html
Experimenters using isotopes gave large doses of thyroid until the subjects' glands were completely shut off, and when they stopped giving the doses, everyone's gland returned to normal activity in just 2 or 3 days. The gland is extremely quick to adjust its activity, both up and down, except when it's inhibited by stress, or PUFA, or estrogen, etc. [TAKING THYROID WILL HAVE LONG-TERM EFFECTS]

Also, there is a Lita Lee Ray Peat quote about the "12 grain woman" who didn't feel better until she reached 12 grains of thyroid, but over time as her body healed she was able to cut down to I think 4 grains.

So, what I'm saying is thyroid can be safely used as a short term healer - it's not like a life sentence that you have to stay on it :)

 

[ilovethesea]

So estrogen is out of balance in estrogen dominance, and causing it's problems, but estrogen can't be blamed for the acne. There is another hormonal problem going on there.

I think ilovethesea said she had high progesterone when her acne was bad, unless I'm mistaken and that was someone else.

Definitely, androgens fit in there. I've tried to fix that problem without the pill since puberty. One of the many things was using DHT blockers in the past, saw palmetto, but it did nothing. Really, as far as the Pill, I think it's like messtafarian put it earlier, I think it's because the hormones you were taking took over your natural cycle and rerouted the intersection at which your system was producing androgens. It wasn't the estrogen -- both hormones just stopped the cascade that was creating too much testosterone.

I don't know if I said that here, but I did have a blood test that came back as high progesterone during the time that I was supplementing with Iodoral - iodine. (I don't take it anymore.) I don't know how but iodine does boost progesterone. It also allowed me to lower my thyroid medication dosage, at least according to blood tests. (Back then I took Synthroid and NDT.)

However, now I know that was all bull**** because I didn't feel any better and I was STILL severely hypothyroid, and I was still getting premenstrual acne. So really - getting on the right ratio of T4/T3 from NDT, and in a higher dosage, was what I needed to fix my hormones. I have no idea where my progesterone level is now, but I'm taking Progest-E as well.

 

[Peata]

Thanks, I'll definitely consider it if things don't improve more with this next cycle. I'm not really worried about taking it long term. It's just that everything is going so well now, less stress, moods better, hair even fuller, sleeping great, warmth, looking and feeling better, etc. The only major thing left is the acne, though it's less than what I had actually, so I'm not doing too bad emotionally with it. (From summer 2010 to fall 2012 - that's when it was really bad.) I've made another dietary adjustment in the last couple days, that I think could make a difference. Anyway, I'm going to give it one more cycle. I could tell there have been big changes in the last 2 periods, so I'll see this through a little longer. Thank you for your post on it, ilts. I appreciate it. I'll definitely read more about supplementing.

 

[ilovethesea]

Thanks, I'll definitely consider it if things don't improve more with this next cycle. I'm not really worried about taking it long term. It's just that everything is going so well now, less stress, moods better, hair even fuller, sleeping great, warmth, looking and feeling better, etc. The only major thing left is the acne, though it's less than what I had actually, so I'm not doing too bad emotionally with it. (From summer 2010 to fall 2012 - that's when it was really bad.) I've made another dietary adjustment in the last couple days, that I think could make a difference. Anyway, I'm going to give it one more cycle. I could tell there have been big changes in the last 2 periods, so I'll see this through a little longer. Thank you for your post on it, ilts. I appreciate it. I'll definitely read more about supplementing.

Makes sense :) What do you think has made the biggest difference with your improvements?

 

[Peata]

Thanks, I'll definitely consider it if things don't improve more with this next cycle. I'm not really worried about taking it long term. It's just that everything is going so well now, less stress, moods better, hair even fuller, sleeping great, warmth, looking and feeling better, etc. The only major thing left is the acne, though it's less than what I had actually, so I'm not doing too bad emotionally with it. (From summer 2010 to fall 2012 - that's when it was really bad.) I've made another dietary adjustment in the last couple days, that I think could make a difference. Anyway, I'm going to give it one more cycle. I could tell there have been big changes in the last 2 periods, so I'll see this through a little longer. Thank you for your post on it, ilts. I appreciate it. I'll definitely read more about supplementing.

Makes sense :) What do you think has made the biggest difference with your improvements?

-a basic diet of dairy, fruit, coffee, sugar, salt, OJ, coconut oil, gelatin, carrot salad, weekly liver, seafood
-supplementing aspirin, E, zinc, progest-E, b vits, red light
-low PUFA, low starch, high carb, try to keep fat below 50g and usually below 40 g., higher calcium than phosphorus, at least 80g protein, low muscle meat

That's what I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Peata]

I just bought and cooked oysters in the shell for the first time. I scrubbed them under running water, put them in a baking pan (on scrunched foil so they would have something to sit on) and baked. Pried open shell, put them back in pan on half shell...added some butter, salt and chili garlic sauce to each one and baked some more. Probably baked about 20 - 25 min all together since they started out on ice. Really good.

 

[Peata]

Something I said in the post about shellfish & chocolate:

All this zinc in the last 5 days is doing me a world of good. I supplemented too, because I didn't have more oysters and didn't want to burn myself out on them. I figure I need to get my zinc levels up this time in my cycle and maybe I won't have to supplement (or do it as much) after a while.

I really can't believe how much better everything is with this zinc in me. I would have never thought I was deficient, but apparently so. No use looking back in anger or regret that I didn't discover it sooner. At least I have it now.