[Anon]

I'm pretty sure EPO made my acne worse. I was taking 1300mg 1x a day and I got deep pimples all over my cheeks and forehead. Normally my skin is clear because I use fenugreek and Retin-A but EPO went and ruined that for me

I did read that it could make androgen-excess worse. Hormones are so confusing.

[Anon]

Well, yesterday I drank a few cups of parsley tea with ginger and although it tasted alright, I'm tired of it so I'm just gonna call it in. No period for me this month. I guess I should mention I've never had a normal period. There are times where my cycle is the normal 28 days, but most of the time my cycle varies from 38 to 50 some days. I already scheduled an appointment for my provera shot this saturday and pretty soon I should be following BonitaDD's routine. I can only hope I respond as well as she did.

[TibetanPrincess]

Well, yesterday I drank a few cups of parsley tea with ginger and although it tasted alright, I'm tired of it so I'm just gonna call it in. No period for me this month. I guess I should mention I've never had a normal period. There are times where my cycle is the normal 28 days, but most of the time my cycle varies from 38 to 50 some days. I already scheduled an appointment for my provera shot this saturday and pretty soon I should be following BonitaDD's routine. I can only hope I respond as well as she did.

Wow. Are u sure u want to do this? Have you done a panel on your cortisol output and progesterone?


I know my body doesn't make progesterone and provera would most likely make me a candidate but thats like for life, ill be doing hrt (my reason for it anyway) without the chance of recovering or adressing my output issue. Which is why I don't do cortisol shots, my doc said once I go on it, I cannot get off of it. I want to make my own hormones not shut it off for potentially good. I know your reason is for NBE purposes, but you'll have to be on it for at least 6 months I'd imagine for real gains. But like with any nbe program, its best to give it a year to two and that's plenty of time to screw things up in your endo system.

I had considered the shot before, but then I realized how other BC had sterilized me over 3 years. I just couldn't chance it as this can do the same thing. You can be potentially setting yourself up. You can't quite compare yourself to Bonita as she may have had regular cycles before and now she's off of it and doing fine but the shot is still in her system. It takes up to 6 months and some say even 9 to fully get it out.

I'd say find out your reason for your irregularity and then assess all options and choose the best for YOU. The weight gain and horrid symptoms doesn't happen for everyone, but its enough to scare me and I'm barely at my BMI.

I always thought that fenu dose is quite high. I know many take that amount ( no big deal), but its more about sensitivity to hormones rather than the amount of them. Harsher nbe programs like the BC/herbs combo are better for really healthy people as they can recover from it if any thing were to go off kilter in the hormone dept, unless one has by luck, took what they actually were deficient in for their body to get balanced.

Think, what happens when you are off that high dose of fenu? Your volume goes down some. Its the same with anything else. Its easy to get a fair amount of phyto estrogens/progestins through out the day in what you eat, but to have to do it that that high tells me that its not a good idea.

I remember Isabella (who was a great help on this forum), very knowledgeable about phytos , said that if she dropped her high dose of hops even in one day, she could feel the fullness leaving. She knew that in order to keep up her gains ,she had to have a maintenance dose of what she was taking so that she would not lose it.

I said this time around in nbe, I am not going to do high doses of supps. because one day, I was gonna be off this stuff. I wanted to grow with lower doses so that when I taper off, my body won't even realize it.

Also, it sounds like you are a bit worried about your progress, are you losing your gains? Or are you just anxious to grow more/do something else?


Well anyway, good luck with it. It sounds like you are for sure about it. All I know, when menses don't happen, its either because the ovaries aren't functioning well or the adrenals aren't producing what they are supposed to. You are young in your twenties? If so, you are probably flooded with hormones. That is plenty of cholesterol to build hormones and you probably didn't even need EPO.

[Anon]

Well, yesterday I drank a few cups of parsley tea with ginger and although it tasted alright, I'm tired of it so I'm just gonna call it in. No period for me this month. I guess I should mention I've never had a normal period. There are times where my cycle is the normal 28 days, but most of the time my cycle varies from 38 to 50 some days. I already scheduled an appointment for my provera shot this saturday and pretty soon I should be following BonitaDD's routine. I can only hope I respond as well as she did.

Wow. Are u sure u want to do this? Have you done a panel on your cortisol output and progesterone?


I know my body doesn't make progesterone and provera would most likely make me a candidate but thats like for life, ill be doing hrt (my reason for it anyway) without the chance of recovering or adressing my output issue. Which is why i dont do cortisol shots. I want to make my own hormones not shut it off for potentially good. I had considered before but then I realized how other BC had sterilized me over 3 years. I just couldn't chance it as this can do the same thing. You can be setting yourself up. You can't quite compare yourself to bonita as she may have had regular cycles before and now she's off of it and doing fine but the shot is still in her system. It takes up to 6 months and some say even 9 to leave.

I'd say find out your reason for your irregularity and then assess all options. The weight gain doesn't happen for e eryone but its enough to scare me and I'm barely at my bmi.

I always thought that fenu dose is quite high. I know many take that amount but its more about sensitivity to hormones rather than the amount.

I did have my hormones screened like two years ago for my irregularity and the doctor said my results were normal but she didn't want to show me the test results, which I found suspicious. I should've been more assertive. I want to get screened for PCOS again because, as I said, I've always had an irregular period. Some girls test their hormones and the results say they don't have PCOS but when they get their ovaries screened they discover that they actually do. Sometimes I think it's PCOS and get all depressed. Sometimes I think it's just my diet and I should try an all organic diet and see if that solves any problems. Maybe I could restore insulin sensitivity. I don't know what I should do. Should I cancel that appointment until I find out why I don't get it regularly?

My fenugreek dose is high but it's when I was doing it religiously that I had a normal cycle.

[Anon]

I talked to my mom about my period abnormalities and she told me she had the same problem when she was my age and she didn't have an on-the-clock cycle until her 2nd child. I ask her if she had any problem conceiving and she said that she conceived my sister 2 months after getting married and then she got an IUD put in place and left it there for 13 years, which is really bad, I know. And a few weeks after having it removed, she was pregnant with me. Just about all of the women on both sides of my family haven't had any problems conceiving except my one of my aunts, who has a different father than my mother. My grandmother had 16 children. Several sets of twins included. My other grandmother had 5 children.

I really hope the hormonal imbalance is just because I'm lazy and love burritos. I'm already considering buying a bike, but I just cant give up burritos, they're my livelihood.

[TibetanPrincess]

Yeah, you just never know. But what I do know is, Sugar balance and insulin sensitivity, adrenals can be affected by foods like fenugreek in higher doses and not in a good way if you are on the side of low blood sugar or insulin resistance.

Get screened and a panel because every 3 months your hormones can fluctuate drastically, though they change from month to month. IUD can als make your boobs grow depending on which one you get and which hormone you are underproducing, just like any other BC.

But I feel you, I hate fluctuations. I am having them myself since my weight is going down. My bust measurement is down a bit. I feel like doing something else!

I talked to my mom about my period abnormalities and she told me she had the same problem when she was my age and she didn't have an on-the-clock cycle until her 2nd child. I ask her if she had any problem conceiving and she said that she conceived my sister 2 months after getting married and then she got an IUD put in place and left it there for 13 years, which is really bad, I know. And a few weeks after having it removed, she was pregnant with me. Just about all of the women on both sides of my family haven't had any problems conceiving except my one of my aunts, who has a different father than my mother. My grandmother had 16 children. Several sets of twins included. My other grandmother had 5 children.

I really hope the hormonal imbalance is just because I'm lazy and love burritos. I'm already considering buying a bike, but I just cant give up burritos, they're my livelihood.

[Anon]

Yeah, you just never know. But what I do know is, Sugar balance and insulin sensitivity, adrenals can be affected by foods like fenugreek in higher doses and not in a good way if you are on the side of low blood sugar or insulin resistance.

Get screened and a panel because every 3 months your hormones can fluctuate drastically, though they change from month to month. IUD can als make your boobs grow depending on which one you get and which hormone you are underproducing, just like any other BC.

But I feel you, I hate fluctuations. I am having them myself since my weight is going down. My bust measurement is down a bit. I feel like doing something else!

That's the whole reason I considered Depo and PM, my average has gone way down. Like why did this happen!

[TibetanPrincess]

Well, I guess you can try it and see how it goes. As long as you are sure its what you need out of all other options. Just remember its all supplemental. Eventually you want to start up your output to be regular. When you get off supplementals, your output has to match at least or else you'll risk losing your gains and sterility.

If you are like me, you'll be on this stuff forever, hence the word HRT. You are way too young for that right now.

Good luck with what you choose

Yeah, you just never know. But what I do know is, Sugar balance and insulin sensitivity, adrenals can be affected by foods like fenugreek in higher doses and not in a good way if you are on the side of low blood sugar or insulin resistance.

Get screened and a panel because every 3 months your hormones can fluctuate drastically, though they change from month to month. IUD can als make your boobs grow depending on which one you get and which hormone you are underproducing, just like any other BC.

But I feel you, I hate fluctuations. I am having them myself since my weight is going down. My bust measurement is down a bit. I feel like doing something else!

That's the whole reason I considered Depo and PM, my average has gone way down. Like why did this happen!

[Anon]

Well, I guess you can try it and see how it goes. As long as you are sure its what you need out of all other options. Just remember its all supplemental. Eventually you want to start up your output to be regular. When you get off supplementals, your output has to match at least or else you'll risk losing your gains and sterility.

If you are like me, you'll be on this stuff forever, hence the word HRT. You are way too young for that right now.

Good luck with what you choose

Had it not been for your comments that lead to my research of the provera shot, I wouldn't have have learned of all the problems associated with it. I'm glad I did! I learned women were having fertility issues years after taking it and I was like hell no! I got Lutera instead, and now I don't know if I should cycle PM or take it consecutively, or drop the dose/stop while I'm menstruating. Off to do more research, whoo

[Anon]

I gotta say, birth control was just what I needed. My average is back up, I'm at 33.6 and I hope to report gains this month. I've recently started taking Cayenne for circulation, and I got one tip. You must take take those pills with food. Not a glass of water, not a sip of water. A whole meal. I made the mistake of taking one on Tuesday morning with a sip of water and on the way up the stairs at work, my stomach felt like it was on fire. I felt like I was dying, I had to drink so much water from the fountain. All clutching my chest up the stairs haha people must've though I was having a heart attack!