My story is so long and complicated, I don't know where to start!
Please read and advice on what to do, I would forever appreciate it.
I was 16 when developed an eating disorder, and stunted my puberty and messed up my hormones. When I was 19 I fully recovered, and now 3 years later my hormones are still out of whack, barely have any spotting every 4 months or so. My breasts are small and undeveloped, tanner stage 3 or 4. All the females in my family have a full B and above cup.
My stats:
22 years old
124lbs
5'3
34A, but not complete on the tanner stage (conical shape, puffy areolas etc)
Trying to get to 120lbs by eating healthier, high protein meals and good carbs.
I have done multiple labwork, and it looks like I am STUCK in the follicular phase, estrogen in the 50s, high DHEA, progesterone 1 etc.
Doctor suspects PCOS, but no cysts in the ultrasound. I don't know how to balance hormones!! What to eat? What supplements to take to put my body back through puberty?
I am taking amino acids to increase growth hormones and spearmint tea for lowering androgens. I was thinking of imitating the cycle with herbs as in taking PM for sometime, then switch to progesterone. But since the menstrual cycle is so complicated and sensitive I have no clue of when and how do I start???
Among others on the forum, lled34aa and Gogirlanime were in a situation where all symptoms pointed towards PCOS, but no cycsts were visible on the ultrasound. So far, only lled34aa reported how she managed it. Look in her program thread: she indeed used a program like you suggest, with PM in follicular phase, and progestins in luteal phase.
Most women have seen their cycles messed up by PM, rather than normalized. The most reported length is 36 days. Only Run.Rabbit reported a normal cycle length on bc, and GorgeousBlonde got a natural cycle of a normal length by stopping PM completely on day 14. I would try weaker phyto-estrogens, that don't mess up cycles. Certainly because you have conical breasts and too high DHEA: PM or maca will only make that worse.
I think you need to check the other hormones first. If LH is too low, you could try vitex agnus castus (chaste tree berry). If FSH is too high or too low, I don't know which herbs will help, but we could look that up. Too high prolactin is the most common show stopper for regular cycles. If you have too high prolactin, you need to stay away from fennel, fenugreek, goat's rue, black seed, licorice, aniseed, dill, basil, caraway, blessed thistle, and all other galactogogues. PM may help.
You could try BO for more progesterone, but I know too little about that to help. Maybe Mel or Anastasia have an idea.
If you want to start off small, I would suggest progesterone cream for the first cycle only since you are spotting. I did progesterone cream starting on the 2nd week of follicular phase to day 26 of your cycle. If your menses come on with a normal flow then go from there, adding other phytos such as your anti-andros, estros and DHEA(if you are not making enough) based on your needs.
I second Isabellas suggestion on vitex-agnus
just take it slow, and you will be alright, I was in the same boat but once you know how your body responds, you'll know what and how to tweek your program.
Good Luck
Just a quick reference to my bloodwork done exactly one month ago:
Estraidol: 49.6
Low Vitamin D, for which I am taking supplements
FSH: 4.6
LH: 5.8
Progesterone: 1
prolactin: 14.8 (I am doing massages which might increase it)
DHEA: 990 (too high)
What is your opinion after seeing this? i can go take a bunch of synthetic hormones, but I know that would just mask the real problem here. Not only do I want to balance my hormones for breast growth, but for have a baby later in life and creating a family.
(This post was last modified: 09-10-2011, 18:20 by TibetanPrincess.)
Your welcome! Def do not take anything like maca (boosting up DHEA), dont do any birth control. concentrate on cleansing your organs. eat greens to metabolize your hormones and plenty of protien. I never use the microwave to cook my food. I have a hard enough time getting max absorption of nutrients I need. Dont do any phyto estros at this time. get your progesterone up and kill your androgens first.
I added white peony root and pygeum bark from mountain rose herbs(online) within a month I saw a difference. I also add Reishi mushrooms. all of these herbs are anti adrogens.
peony is still considered estrogenic since it kinda works like lic root in stopping the conversion of estrogen-test-androgen. I find it to be more mild as I couldn't tolerate lic root. (take a break after using for 1.5 mo-like a month then do it again.) alternate this one.
pygeum bark has loads of phytosterols which are good in blocking androgen activity. Many men take it for enlarged prostate issues
Reishi is a natural anti androgen plus it fights viruses, bacteria and funguses. I take for my auto immune disease as well.
I will try the progesterone creme like you suggested and see if that helps. I have read on this forum that progesterone stops breast growth and only rounds out the breasts. The rounding would be nice, but I would still like to grow since I am a small conical A at this point.
Another thing, is that I have no clue of where I am in my cycle since everything is so out of control right now. Ugh, I had no idea our bodies were so complex. One thing gets messed up and everything goes crazy!
(This post was last modified: 09-10-2011, 19:47 by nbe_newbie.)
Attached is a picture similar of how my breasts look like the ones to the left, I am too shy to post my actual ones
It is making me lose my confidence and avoiding others because of them. I am patient and willing to do whatever it takes, apart from surgery of course!
(This post was last modified: 09-10-2011, 19:56 by TibetanPrincess.)
I dissagree have you seen my page after 1.5 months of using Progesterone cream? I went from an a/b to spilling out of the B cup. Now I am focused on getting that C cup as I had to throw out some of my 32 B bras!
Mind you, I had not taken any phyto estrogen supplements just a prostaglandin percursor evening primorose oil and that was topical for massage.
Estrogen dominant women need progesterone in order to balance out(in our case grow breasts)
Trust me, I have tried loading up my body with phytoestros, never grew. just swelled.
Progesterone is needed to fulfill breast developement. whoever said progesterone cream stops growth is wrong or half right to say the least. progesterone is what makes BO work so well with many women here on the forum because it contains both hormones your ovaries secrete: Progesterone and Estrogen.
You will only stop growing if you are progesterone dom. and in need of estrogen(rarity in today's world but does happen to some women which is why they respond well to phytoestros when taking them).
hope that clears it up
it's not PCOS, because if it was, LH would be high. It isn't.
Prolactin is a little on the high side, but not enough to cause amenorrhoea.
If the progesterone is in ng/ml, it's not bad.
If you still have high testosterone, there may be a problem with aromatase. The only herbal aromatase blocker I know is flax. But that binds to aromatase 100 times less strongly than testosterone, so it's not really a blocker. I know body builders take synthetic aromatase blockers to prevent growing breasts. Any chance there is, or was, anything like this in your diet or medication?
Aromatase, 17B-HSD and 3β-HSD: that makes three enzymes you may be lacking. How much fresh fruit and vegetables do you eat? I mean fresh off the tree or out of the field? Do you eat fruit that are full of enzymes, like mango? I know lled34aa switched to the caveman (paleo) diet, and it helped lower her testosterone.
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