[djt-d]

Hi
Sorry for asking this, and I feel extremely stupid & thick as everybody on the forum seems to understand it all, apart from me.

I am wanting to look into taking herbs, and everybody talks about the effect it has on your Testosterone, Oestrogen and Progesterone. But I don't understand fully what these mean or do, or what is the right level, etc. I understand testosterone is a male thing and oestrogen is a female thing, but that's about it.

Please can someone be kind enough to type out and explain what each one means and what it does in relation to you/your body, and how much we should have of each, how do we know what we've got in our bodies already, etc, etc.............

Once I understand it will help me understand what each herbs do and which I feel will be best for me, cos at the moment I'm just totally lost.

Thank you so much

[AbiDrew85]

Actually, both men and women should have all three to be healthy. Women need a very small amount of testosterone to counteract estrogenic effects on their blood and bones, and to be able to grow enough muscle to support their bodies.

Men need a small amount of estrogen for the same, but opposite, reasoning. They need it to be able to counteract the androgenic effects of testosterone on their hair, both body and scalp, blood and bones, and to be able to put on enough fat to protect their internal organs.

Both men and women need a certain amount of progesterone for mood and other balancing effects against the androgens and estrogens.

The "typical" ranges for these hormones are, for women:

Well... I'm just gunna link to another forum for this:

http://www.pcoscommunity.com/showthread.php?t=6360

Women are very complex creatures hormonally.

Men on the other hand, are quite a bit simpler. And of course all google wants to talk about is testosterone. But basically, take the absolute lowest females T should ever be, that's where male's E should be. And males P should be about mid-range of female P.

The effects are very synergistic. You don't necessarily need to worry about elevated E and P as long as both are elevated together and in the correct balance ratio for your given point in your cycle.

In other words. You actually SHOULD be progesterone toxic for a short time each month, and estrogen dominant for a short time each month.

Of course, if you don't want to have periods and get pregnant, theoretically, it may be possible to use supplementation to perpetually keep them perfectly balanced and at the high part of your cycle... Without really hurting anything. Normal ovulation should resume as soon as you cease the supplementation. Though it may take a few cycles before truly normalizing and it'd be better to ease back into a regular period rather than quitting outright.

For the interests of BE, the higher your E and P and the lower your T, the better. So you essentially want to aim for the minimum healthy T levels and as high as you can get your E and P during the high point of your cycle, tapering off for the low part.

MtF transsexuals can choose to try to emulate a normal female cycle or just keep things perpetually high.

[hopefulgrowing]

do we need testosterone in our NBE programs? I was just wondering if our bodies can produce that small amount or we should supplement?

[AbiDrew85]

You really shouldn't need to supplement testosterone... if anything, sometimes what we do can wind up elevating it, that's why some use T-blockers...

And of course, some of us use T-blockers because of other reasons why our T is naturally too high.

[Doll]

You are so good at explaining all this hormonal mumbo-jumbo.

I know I definitely need to start taking more saw palmetto to lower my T-->DHT conversion. I'm still way too high to start getting more growth. Having high T is great for building muscle, but for NBE, it really is killer on everything...

[djt-d]

How do you know if you are too high/low or T, or E, etc? Is there a test and how do you go about getting it done?

Also, what is DHT?

Thank you

[AbiDrew85]

There are ways of just feeling it out, and there's also blood and saliva testing.

For the formermost: http://www.johnleemd.com/store/resource_...etest.html

That test is a pretty good guide.

For the lattermost: http://zionpharmacy.com/hormone-saliva-testing/

That test is the cheapest I've seen.

DHT is dihydrotestosterone, meaning testosterone with double hydrogen atoms on the final carbon in the chain.

It's formed in the body from the reduction of regular testosterone using the enzyme 5-alpha-reductase. It SHOULD only be found in men. Any women who have DHT are suffering from a hormonal abnormality, often PCOS, sometimes it's a consequence of NBE herbs.

Of the two forms of T, DHT is the stronger, and is what most often causes hirsutism and is the sole cause of male-pattern hair loss. Hirsutism can also be caused by PHA and HA. Pseudo and real hyperaldosteronism.

DHT, when present in females, often causes acne and hirsutism. Excessive aldosterone receptor flooding by either aldosterone or the cortisols can also cause hirsutism, but not acne.

Doll... really? I think I more likely just cause more confusion...

[lled34aa]

your explanation was very helpful and easier to understand than what I've read in the past. thank you!

[AbiDrew85]

Thanks lled