[Maz]

hello

I wanted to save something from another post that Isabelle told me about some of the herbs I am/was on in my program and why they were a bit of a problem. I thought I would copy and paste the facts in here for safe keeping on my profile page. (I’m at a loss when it comes to quoting posts into other areas of the site rather than in reply) it was so nice being told by an expert what went wrong rather than me doing some iffy reasearch and drawing the wrong conclution.


RE: liquorice tea
Hi Maz,

I don't think you have a hormone imbalance between estrogen and progestins. The only thing that happens is that your testosterone goes through the roof whenever you change something. That too is perfectly normal, and adding an anti-androgen to your routine should take care of it.

Congratulations for still growing on 3660 mg/day of FG! Most women cannot take more than 3000 without growth stalling. Wahaika explains what happens in this thread:
http://beboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?b...hread=3029
Your body reacts to the FG by making more estrogen, which makes your breasts grow. However, when your body makes estrogen, it makes it from testosterone. This means your body cannot decide to make more estrogen without increasing testosterone first.

When your testosterone increases, more of it will also inevitably be converted to dihydrotestosterone (DHT), which is what causes the breakouts. An anti-androgen stops the conversion of testosterone to DHT, and stops the breakouts. The most popular anti-androgens on this forum are saw palmetto berries (in the Greenbush kit), and the combination of barley, vitamin B12, and zinc (in Wonderup and Eve M's program).

There are also alternatives:
licorice tea
spearmint tea
peppermint tea is also an anti-androgen, and more estrogenic too
stinging nettle root
pygeum bark
pumpkin seed oil
borage oil (against hair loss, probably not so effective agains breakouts)
Secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG), the main lignan in flax seed (linseed)
Beta Sitosterol (the fytosterol in stinging nettle root)
Which anti-androgens help best against breakouts, is discussed on the acne forum:
http://www.acne.org/messageboard/Natural...27437.html
Stay away from oats and maca root without taking an anti-androgen: they boost testosterone.

About bcp. Microgynon 30 and Yasmin are both combination pills, which means there is a progestin in them, and an estrogen. The idea is that they should not disturb your natural hormone balance that way. Only, your body appears to respond extremely well to subtle hormonal changes, so you should be careful. The estrogen in both pills is 30 micrograms of ethinylestradiol. At this dose, it appears to trigger your body to produce even more estrogen, much like the FG does. Hence the dark moods, the breakouts, and the breast growth. The progestins in both pills are different. Progestins have a tendency to stop NBE. Apparently, for you, the one in Microgynon 30 doesn't, and the one in Yasmin does. Consequently, you don't have dark moods, breakouts, or breast growth on Yasmin. The fact that two pills, the only difference between which is the progestin, have such different effects, suggests you might try licorice, which is both anti-androgen and progestin. If it makes breakouts worse or stops NBE, don't worry, and try another anti-androgen from the list above.

Kelp stimulates the thyroid, which helps weight control. That's probably why your body responds so well to exercise and diet changes. Don't worry or beat yourself up about not doing enough: certainly as long as you take the kelp, a little will do.

Fennel makes your breasts grow by stimulating your body to make more prolactin, which stimulates milk production. This does not affect estrogen or testosterone, which is why it doesn't cause breakouts. FG also stimulates prolactin, but at the same time the right dose (3000-4000 mg for you), it will also stimulate your body's own estrogen production. If you don't want to go through the trouble of balancing estrogen and anti-androgens, you may want to try other herbs that work in the same way as fennel: aniseed (like Onicemile), blessed thistle, basil, dill, wild cumin, nigella sativa.


Having this new information makes me look again at my program and that maybe I will go into the world of herbs again.

It is at this point that I have to say thank you to Onicemile and Periwinkle12 for making me rethink my decision to lose the thread and keep it as I’m doing a U turn and thinking about herbs again. Although that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop pumping. I have forgotten what my boobs used to look like! It’s going to be sad when I am forced to take a brake and they shrink.

Wow...Isabelle explained that so well..Oh hi..sorry just blow me away that finally someone explained what was on my mind.. thank you for posting this..it was extremely helpful, I so understand.. I kept wondering if I take SP will it reduce or raise estrogen etc...so on ... and thank you because I thought anise wasnt good for women..but wrong..so I can go make a cup of tea cause my dad has fennel and anise mixed..whoo hoo..

So Maz are you taking SP.. I am not sure if I want to continue either, if anyone could tell my why I get a leftside heaache that runs up the left side of my neck to the base of my scull and if I put presure on the base of the scull (I believe there is a massage spot there) it relieves it..

anyway..thank you very much

Hello.

I’m glad the post by Isabelle helped. I found it so informative, which was why I copied it to my program page it has to stay near me.

No I’m not taking SP but it is something I will keep in mind and may do in the future. I am likening the sounds of peppermint and liquorice tea.

I am also going to get some anise. I found some in a shop near me. Can I simply boil the seeds in hot water to make a tea?

I hope someone can answer your question about the pain on your left side, I really don’t know why that might be but some things to think about:

-Are you dehydrated?
-Do you have poor circulation?
-Have you slept funny/pulled the muscles in your neck?

Perhaps be careful about poking your head to much I think that there are very sensitive point around your neck don’t do any damage.

I wouldn’t think that this was related to herbs you are taking.