[timarie]

I'm also high in testosterone. How come you shouldn't take saw palmetto if you are estrogen dominant? I guess I will try spearmint tea then.

Because the truth of it is that Saw Palmetto releases more estrogen than any antiandrogen. Also, Saw Palmetto is not a true antiandrogen, as it would have to be taken in toxic amounts to perform the amount of androgen-blocking that true antiandrogen perform. There are many other much more effective antiandrogens: spearmint, chinese skullcap, white peony root, pygeum bark ... there are other better options. SP got it's reputation because it blocks the stronger DHT which most of us women DON'T have (unless we have PCOS).

Thanks, I guess that is why I didn't feel better when taking saw palmetto before! Is black cohosh or dong quai ok to lower testosterone if you are estrogen dominant? Or better to stick with spearmint and skullcap?

I would stick to the latter two!

[lora]

I am estrogen dominant too and I believe the cause for me is candida overgrowth. Have you tested for that? It's really easy, all you do is spit into a cup of water before you eat anything in the morning and watch it for an hour. If you see strings starting to hang down, you have candida overgrowth. They release toxins that mimic estrogens.

I'm also high in testosterone. How come you shouldn't take saw palmetto if you are estrogen dominant? I guess I will try spearmint tea then.

this interesting, i wanna do this test

[lora]

I'm also high in testosterone. How come you shouldn't take saw palmetto if you are estrogen dominant? I guess I will try spearmint tea then.

Because the truth of it is that Saw Palmetto releases more estrogen than any antiandrogen. Also, Saw Palmetto is not a true antiandrogen, as it would have to be taken in toxic amounts to perform the amount of androgen-blocking that true antiandrogen perform. There are many other much more effective antiandrogens: spearmint, chinese skullcap, white peony root, pygeum bark ... there are other better options. SP got it's reputation because it blocks the stronger DHT which most of us women DON'T have (unless we have PCOS).

this helped me too tim, thanks, i was begin to doubt about chinese skullcap as it's written on the bottle that it's for liver wellness and i was thinking wrongly that the Saw Palmetto is more effective than spearmint.
thanks for correcting my information

[Dynseli]

sooooo bad results ... i really need help now .
although i'm taking vitex for a week ago my progesterone results is low and my estrogen is high .

this is the most bad type of estrogen dominance, i think it will be so hard for me to gain any growth on my breast now .

i really need help girls i'm so down
what to do now ? i didn't expect this result at all, i feel i need a miracle now

i'm in my luteal phase and my test results is :

estradiol (estrogen) : my result 326
normal range (31-274)


progesterone : my result 0.71
normal range (0.8-3)


my thyroid result is normal.

so what should i do now ? and what to do with this 3 bottles of pm and the pm atomizer i bought ? will i not be able to use them at all ?
and is sp suitable for me now ? i heard it's not suitable for estrogen dominant .
i think my gained weight was all in my lower part because of it together with my estrogen dominant case .

i read in a thread here that in such case i recommended to use a weak phyto-estrogen like crushed flaxseed to replace my strong estrogen so, isn't fenugreek suitable for this replacement too ?

are wild yam, dong que and fennel ok for me ?

so what to take and what not to take ? i don't know, i'm really upset and confused now

I was doing research, and vitex increases estrogen. So do spearmint, and white peony. These three herbs help start the luteal phase, but only 1 dose per cycle, at the end of menstruation, is enough. They can be done without for the rest of the entire cycle. Estrogen and LH cause prolactin and progesterone to go down.

Progesterone and Prolactin both cause growth, are compatible with each other, and cause each other to stay. Hops signals both to increase. Asparagus, Fenugreek, and Pueraria also cause growth. The luteal phase might be extended by prolactin and progesterone caused by certain herbs. Lactogogues like thistle might also work.

Saw palmetto seems to have no use.

[Dynseli]

FSH and LH cause prolactin and progesterone to go down.
Prolactin and Progesterone keep estrogen, FSH and LH down.
Correction from above post: I need to recheck if estrogen makes prolactin and progesterone go down.

[msnewboobies]

I didn't read through all of the comments so sorry if someone else already mentioned this!
But I became estrogen dominant from PM and combining either bcp or estrogenic herbs and foods with the PM.
I did not do any tests, but I know for sure there was a change in my body and I was experiencing a LOT of obvious symptoms of estrogen dominance that I had never had before starting the PM!

I stopped taking PM and started taking chaste berry tree pills and massaging a lot more! Then I added nettle leaf tea and started seeing some really great growth and my estrogen dominant symptoms started to subside. When I was on the PM before, I would see a lot of swelling in my luteal phase, but then towards the end of my period, my boobs would shrink down a large amount. But this time on my period (after being on the chaste and nettle), my boobs only shrank a tiny bit and I kept the majority of the growth I gained from the chasteberry and nettle leaf!
So I might suggest trying nettle leaf or reading up on it

[Dynseli]

It might be the nettle. I'm not sure about chasteberry.

[peggy]

I didn't read through all of the comments so sorry if someone else already mentioned this!
But I became estrogen dominant from PM and combining either bcp or estrogenic herbs and foods with the PM.
I did not do any tests, but I know for sure there was a change in my body and I was experiencing a LOT of obvious symptoms of estrogen dominance that I had never had before starting the PM!

I stopped taking PM and started taking chaste berry tree pills and massaging a lot more! Then I added nettle leaf tea and started seeing some really great growth and my estrogen dominant symptoms started to subside. When I was on the PM before, I would see a lot of swelling in my luteal phase, but then towards the end of my period, my boobs would shrink down a large amount. But this time on my period (after being on the chaste and nettle), my boobs only shrank a tiny bit and I kept the majority of the growth I gained from the chasteberry and nettle leaf!
So I might suggest trying nettle leaf or reading up on it

Well that is really interesting. How much nettle (nettle root?) and how much chasteberry do you take? You take both throughout your cycle?

[groentje]

Hey,

Sorry to hear that you are feeling bad;

I don't know if this is mentioned before, but exercising is a really good way to fight estrogen imbalance, and hormonal imbalance in general.
It is even so good at lowering estrogen levels that women who exercise excessively are at risk of having too little estrogen.(due to lowering body fat percentage and increasing estrogen metabolism) Besides, exercising is a really good way to tone and curve your body by building muscle. And above all it is just overall really good for your health and mood :-)

Could you maybe mention a bit more about your lifestyle ? Do you take vitamins and minerals ? They are also really important for hormone balance. I would def suggest taking calcium and magnesium supplement they are so important for your hormones (also often subscribed for PMS) And zinc and iron are also super important. Here a post on zinc for estrogen imbalance http://www.raypeatforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2443

I have also read quite often that going to bad early preferably 22 o'clock is very important for hormone balancing. I have some articles somewhere in my internet history I will look them up and post them here later.

[Jeannie]

hi there,

quite interested I was reading through this post. At the very end you do mention a phase of feeling ill. I have gone through Estrogen dominance, too. When checking your meds I noticed the liver cleanse and I have got some experience to share with you. Estrogen dominance can cause gall stones! Maybe these meds just got your stones into action sort of? Please read sympthoms of gall stone problems at the www. I have had to deal with it, too. So the meds or herbs might not have been bad. Maybe your gallbladder was trying to get rid of stones. Just a guess or different point of view to look at your problems.

I am taking agnus castus (Vitex) and in most german researches they say that AC lowers the prolactin production which is good because that way your body can produce more progestrone again. I am taking AC throughout all my cycle and I have "swelling attacks" (that´s how I call it) all over the day in my follicular phase now.

Here some translation: Elevated prolactin levels interfere with central release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH); in the sequence, this means a reduced emission of luteinising hormone (LH) and of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). In addition, disabled prolactin progesterone production in the corpus luteum directly. The feedback to the hypothalamus is done by prolactin itself, and indeed at elevated prolactin levels dopamine is increasingly distributed, which inhibits prolactin secretion. Dopamine is therefore identical to the prolactin-release-in-hibiting hormone. Due to the dopaminergic activity of Vitex agnus castus the prolactin release from the anterior pituitary lactotrophen cells is inhibited. The lack of negative feedback, the release of GnRH from the hypothalamus normalized. Thus, the progesterone levels may increase again and make up the preponderance of estrogens.

tata for now,
Jeannie