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[Guest guest]

Hi,

I'm new to the list but not new to hormonal modalities or issues. = ( LOL I'm married and have three children and five grandchildren. I had a hysterectomy and both ovaries removed when I was 24 years old. I am now 46.

I was on premarin for about fourteen years and during that time was diagnosed with Lupus 9 mos. after starting premarin. I did some research and concluded it had to be the estrogen, which I had suspected but the docs said only in a million. Turns out I was the one in a million and the Lupus did clear upon removing the synthetic estrogen. So at around 38 yrs. old I went completely free of hormones. It took a few years to get my system straightened out and no more Lupus, however, it did do a number on my immune system and then was diagnosed with deficient antibodies but of course they say this has nothing to do with the hormones at all. I do, because when I finally found bio identical hormones I got better, literally not sick for almost a whole year! That was great but at the time I was only taking progesterone and estriol/estradiol sublingual and my emotional state was not good, it was causing depression and melancholy. So I went off of them for about six months and got to the point I was going through severe hormone deficiency stuff again & I was getting sick chronically with colds and flus etc. So I made an appt. to see the doc who prescribed the bio's. I got a new prescription but this time had her add testosterone to the estrogen sublingual. So far I am doing really really good. I haven't started the progesterone with this as of yet, waiting for the mid cycle to start it.

My blood test and saliva testing were as follows:

recent blood: Progesterone 1.0, Testosterone 31, Estradiol 12

last summer saliva test: Estradiol 0.5, Progesterone 21, Pg/E2 42, Testosterone 13, DHEA 2.8, Cortisol morning 5.9. The only normal in this was my morning cortisol so I am thinking maybe it could be high for morning? Is cortisol at it's lowest early in the day opposed to evening? The reason I ask is my mornings always seem okay as far as energy but about one pm and later I'm exhausted and ache and can't concentrate, thus I believe my cortisol is probably off the scale after I'm awake for so long. However since starting the new prescription I'm not experiencing this. = )

I am wondering if anyone has had similar reference ranges and what they found to be helpful. I am currently taking EPA/DHA, Multi Vitamin, Booster for vitamin, DHEA, Carnosine, MSM, Natural Estrogen with Pomegranate Extract, CoQ10, B12. I have eaten a almost strict organic diet, exercised and led a really healthy lifestyle for most part of my life due to the heatlh issues and never found anything to take the place of missing hormones no matter how healthy I lived or ate. I still ended up with Osteoporsis despite having exercised, water ski, 7 very active lifestyle. I am not thin boned but have a medium frame. The only time I have ever experienced weight gain was when I wasn't using any hormone therapy but not a significant amount of weight, the annoying kind that goes into the abdomen, bloating, water retention etc.

So that is probably more info than you need but wanted to share what I've been doing and what problems I have found using certain things.

One more thing, does anyone take pregnenolone supplementation and do you think it's necessary or rather would it be better to take pregnenolone vs. DHEA?

Thanks for any help and for having me on the list.

Luv

Lulu