[mochaccino]

It's day 28 of my cycle, so I thought I should post an update. So far, I'm completely convinced that this program is having a much stronger effect on me than anything else I've tried. I've had consistent swelling and pains for the full week leading up to today. That has NEVER before happened in my whole last year of NBE. They've also been sore to the touch, which has never happened before now. Only time will tell if the pains will translate into growth, but I'm feeling very optimistic about this program right now. Hopefully by the end of my next cycle, there will be enough growth to justify posting pics .

[Helena St]

Yay! It sounds like it is working, I really think the consistent swelling does amount to something with the PM (at least for me it did). Can't wait to see pics!

[Doll]

Congrats on the sore boobies! I'd take it as a very good sign! That's crazy that this is the first thing to actually give you these results! I think all your hard work and researching is going to pay off. :3
Maybe I should look into trying a PM cream as well.

[TibetanPrincess]

That is awesome news! How long are you going to continue to take glamour? Is it the first ten days? or are you doing the last ten in follicular or all month long?

I bought 8 months worth a few months ago and I am saving it to use as soon as my UB program is done!

[mochaccino]

Thanks Doll, but I wouldn't get too excited just yet. I don't know if it is giving me results, only that it is finally having noticeable physical effects, including the BBT shifts and the weird vaginal pains I had for a little while. TMI? Back when I was on herbs they were like sugar pills. Most of the time they had no effect on me whatsoever, even at very high doses. I found myself wishing for side effects, just so I could prove to myself that they were doing something (anything) to my hormone levels. I'm amazed that I am getting these effect from such an incredibly low dose of pills. During follicular phase I only take two, tiny, baby aspirin sized pills per day. During luteal I take 3 pills, that are also fairly small.

Tibetan, I took glamour four 5 days during menstruation, and then took PM for 7 days until day 12. I won't be taking Glamour next cycle, because my period is already 3 days late. Hopefully, if I skip the Glamour, my cycle will normalize. I explained my program earlier in this thread, but you can also see it by looking at my profile.

[mochaccino]

I'm on day 3 of my new cycle. I was 5 days late .

I thought about my last BBT chart, and I think it's just not valid. I should have been more careful. There were a lot of days where I drank a big glass of freezing cold glass of ice water before remembering to take my temperature. I didn't mean to, but It's so easy to forget while I'm still groggy and confused.

Now that I know that I'm just gonna have to toss my BBT chart,
I'm questioning my opinion of Glamour. I don't think it had an effect on me that was any different than what low dose PM would have had done. The pills are just so darn tiny. I don't see how it's possible that they contain an effective dose of any of the ingredients other than PM. I'm beginning to think that Glamour is a lot like StHerb, a PM pill padded out with a small amount of other herbs for no good reason. If I hadn't already bought two boxes, I would get a super low dose PM pill like Thanyaporn instead.

I also decided that I'll be taking SP all month, at least until I run out. Mayusakimilk's method of cycling SP just does not make sense. To be honest, I'm not sure I need SP at all. I'm just using up what I bought. I probably won't buy it again.

[TibetanPrincess]

With my experience in the past, I felt very feminine with sp and I got a fat ass and thighs with cellulite. Nothing on top though. I feel it has some sort of estrogen like effect. I plan on using in this Japanese program and possibly with my current. I will also be cycling and just using it for foll phase. I wonder if that's how she used it. If so, then it makes sense to me as to why she did it this way.

But of course, we always have to remember, we can't just practice someone else's program and expect it to work on us. I just know how SP affects me but as far as glamour, I figured 10 days of it in Foll.(days 3-13) will hypothetically do me good as I have a progesterone making issue and Super B-Up drop in lut. So this makes sense for me to use it this way as doing PM for 6 months cycling in the past did absolutely nearly nothing for me.

As for you, Maybe your body is adjusting, I remember Chiyomilk stated her menses were irregular at least once. Perhaps you are questioning now why you are taking glamour the way you are. It sounds like you are listening more to what you think hypothetically may be most beneficial for your body. This is good in my opinion.

PM concentrated in a small dose just might better for you instead of using glamour at all.

You shouldn't be late. I am wondering with your charting if you can tell if it was a long lut. phase or foll. phase? Do you remember what day you started ovulating and when it finished? Sounds like you'll find your answer soon. I see this as Progress!

[mochaccino]

Tibetan, my chart was very unclear. It looks like I might have ovulated anytime from day 17 to day 19, but it's hard to say.

[mochaccino]

I finally got my hormone test results back and they're pretty strange. I took my hormone samples a while ago after I stopped taking all of my NBE supplements for about 6 weeks. That should have been enough time for all of the PM to make it's way out of my system, but if anyone thinks that might not be the case, please let me know.

Only my testosterone was actually outside the normal range, but my other 2 primary sex hormones were borderline. According to ZRT's standards, I'm deficient in testosterone while my progesterone is borderline low and my estrogen is borderline high. My ratio of P to E is very low which means I'm technically estrogen dominant, but without estrogen excess. Here are my actual numbers:

Estradiol 3.3 pg/ml (Above 3.3 is excessive)
Progesterone 76 pg/ml (Below 75 is deficient)
Testosterone 12 ng/dl (Below 20 is deficient)
Pg/E2 ratio is 23 (Below 100 is considered imbalanced)

These results are completely different than what I expected, which just goes to show you why you cant rely on online questionnaires in lieu of actual lab testing.

I'm not sure how to change my program in light of these results. Coincidentally, I just recently told someone by PM that I thought that estrogen excess without progesterone deficiency would probably be the hardest hormone imbalance to deal with in relation to NBE. In a case like that, it might not be a good idea to raise either hormone. But what does that leave you with?

I wonder what the underlying cause of this imbalance is. I may need to do further testing, which sucks If I were to find a way to raise my testosterone, what sort of cascade effect might that have on the rest of my hormones? How is it possible to have borderline high estrasdiol and a testosterone deficiency at the same time?

[Lady32C]

It looks like you and I have identical hormone levels, which is awesome. Now I just wish one of us had a super effective program so the other one could copy it

I'm still not sure what to do exactly, I'm on PM and maca right now but even only at 500 mg a day I feel a little bit estrogen dominant so I may be taking a lower dose of PM.
Wish I had good advice for you