[NaturalLady31]

Hey all.

Decided to stop taking fenugreek & fennel. Waiting for my milk thistle to arrive (thought it would be here sooner, but apparently it wasn't eligible for Amazon Prime. Go figure.), so in the meantime I am just slowly weaning off of the fenugreek & fennel by taking lower dosages until the milk thistle arrives.

After HappyMe suggested in my "shallow breasts" thread that my breasts may be shallow due to estrogen dominance, I looked into it and I think HappyMe is correct. I really wish I could, but I just can't get my hormones tested at the moment. We just moved & I haven't found a new PCP, not to mention my husband's work is super important right now and I'm not gonna have him take time off just so I can go get my hormones tested so that I can grow boobs lol. Also I have awful TMJ issued and that's going to cost thousands to get repaired.

Anyway, looked into it, and I have a lot of symptoms of estrogen dominance. Not to mention it is SUPER common to be estrogen dominant after pregnancy and breastfeeding. This would explain my pancake boobs after my last pregnancy, also. Probably why MOST women get pancake, deflated, empty sack boobs after breastfeeding and being pregnant (aside from it being from all the growth also). So because of this & really seeing/feeling zero results from the fenugreek/fennel combo, I've decided to be done with it.

I know, I know. Should give stuff at least 3 months. It's been a bit over 2 though and I just FEEL it isn't working or what's right for me. I just know, you know? So I'm gonna do my cleanse, and then start with vitex, EPO, l-arginine, & PM. 

Still pumping. I do 1-2 hours a day on my left breast. Some days I don't pump my right at all. Still not seeing any growth.

Hello, TinyDear!
I just wanted to throw my two cents in here since I'm trying to boost my progesterone levels too. I'd been having some symptoms of E dominance for several months (not severe, but noticeable) and I started using a very small amount of PC during my luteal phase only. That did help a little but  I've recently been trying to come up with ways of getting my body to up its own production of progesterone. So another member on here very generously told me that yarrow herb supposedly helps promote progesterone during the luteal phase, as well as using turmeric. B complex vitamins are also very important for progesterone production as they can help calm and tone the nervous system, reducing stress and fatigue (stress is the arch enemy of progesterone). I've been taking yarrow and b complex for only one cycle and I feel that my progesterone level is already improving some!  You also might want to do some research on iodine/kelp supplementation. Iodine promotes breast tissue health and also feeds the ovaries, which could help with progesterone too. I know there's a lot of controversy surrounding iodine but it is a necessary nutrient for women's health and it is depleted a lot by pregnancy and breastfeeding. There are people nowadays who claim iodine supplementation causes thyroid disease, even though iodine is the main nutrient that the thyroid uses to produce hormones. From my personal research, iodine supplemented along with a reasonable amount of selenium protects the thyroid tissue from any negative effects, and also provides the body with the iodine it needs to function. I'm not an advocate of huge doses of iodine as some recommend BUT a small amount coupled with selenium is very sensible, in my humble opinion. I would think that your body might benefit from any/all of these things, especially post-pregnancy. From what I've read, having a baby (or even more so, having babies in close succession) definitely can tank your progesterone out because there's so much of it being produced during a pregnancy.. which could then shift things toward an E dominant state (i.e not enough progesterone to counter-balance estrogen).

Have you been dealing with TMJ for a  long time?? My mom developed very bad TMJ immediately after her mother passed away (a very emotionally stressful time). She also had started going through menopause at the exact same time. Now I'm definitely NOT saying that yours is related to menopause!! I'm just wondering if the progesterone/hormone imbalance could be partly connected to the TMJ for you.. And maybe improving your progesterone level could improve the TMJ?   Food for thought anyway.

I know I've rambled a lot here and you may already be aware of all this, lol.   But I hope you find solutions to your hormone balance asap so you can feel better, and succeed like crazy with your nbe program!! <3

Best wishes,
Natural Lady
[font="Helvetica Neue",Helvetica,sans-serif]Save[/font]