[ChristinaD]

I am new with NBE, cycling with PM and herbs for the last three months and have the Mirena IUD. I am not sure what the purpose of checking hormone levels and charting tempertures is for, why it is beneficial. Any help appreciated.

[justalittlemore]

Welcome!
Testing your hormone levels before you begin gives you a better idea of what you personally need to do to increase your breast size. The two hormones primarily involved are estrogen and progesterone. Estrogen grows the milk ducts and pushes the nipples out, giving you growth that shows up when you measure. Progesterone grows the milk glands and alveolae, rounding out the breasts. NBE herbs mostly fall under phyto-estrogens and phyto-progestins. Testing your hormones before tells you if they are balanced or if one is dominant. Testing also tells if your levels are high, normal, or low. Yes, all that affects what you decide to take, and when.

Charting your body temperature helps you determine when you've ovulated. This is important if you adjust your herb dosages to mirror the natural fluctuations of estrogen and progesterone in your menstrual cycle. During the first phase (the follicular), your temperature will be lower, and your estrogen levels will be higher than progesterone. After you ovulate until you get your period (the luteal phase), your temperature will stay elevated.

You already have the Mirena, which releases a form of progesterone. That's something you want to consider as you refine your program. If you are estrogen dominant (higher estrogen levels compared to progesterone), that might work nicely. If you're progesterone dominant, you may want to adjust your program to add more phytoestrogens.

[ChristinaD]

Thanks justaliitlemore for the wealth of info and responding to my post.

I asked my doctor about getting my hormones checked, and she said my hormone levels could not be checked because I have the Mirena: and because it releases a hormone, it would not give me am accurate picture of my hormone levels.

Is this correct, Am I still able to check my hormones levels while on the Mirena, and how would I go about doing this? I found an online questionnaire but don't know how accurate it is and also heard of saliva test?

I am going to start recording my body temp though.

[justalittlemore]

Thanks justaliitlemore for the wealth of info and responding to my post.

I asked my doctor about getting my hormones checked, and she said my hormone levels could not be checked because I have the Mirena: and because it releases a hormone, it would not give me am accurate picture of my hormone levels.

Is this correct, Am I still able to check my hormones levels while on the Mirena, and how would I go about doing this? I found an online questionnaire but don't know how accurate it is and also heard of saliva test?

I am going to start recording my body temp though.

Your doctor is correct. The Mirena is releasing the synthetic progesterone into your system, so it will skew any test you have done now.
If you're referring to the John Lee questionnaire, I have heard it's pretty accurate. You might want to answer the questions using your symptoms pre-IUD to get an idea of your natural levels. Don't know about the saliva test.
Since Mirena doesn't interfere with ovulation, tracking your basal body temperature (upon waking, before getting out of bed) is a good idea.