So I've been Peating for nearly a year and taking large quantities of Progest-e for the past 8 months. I'm 35.
I only take it day 13 to the end of my cycle (which lasts 30-33 days). But I'm taking large quantities of PE during the luteal phase because it brings relief to pretty unbearable symptoms of insatiable appetite, anxiety, and insomnia. So I go through a bottle a week during the luteal phase, which I'm guessing is 400 mg / day.
But I've been looking at the sex hormone labs I've done over the past 1.5 years. The first lab was before ever starting progest-e, and the other two were after having started it. My progesterone is usually normal, or on the low-normal side. But estradiol is way below range.
For example, my most recent lab was drawn on day 2 of my cycle, so I wasn't taking progest-e at that time. Estradiol was 29 pg/ml (early follicular range is 46 - 143). Progesterone was 0.5 (follicular is under 1.35).
All this time I assumed my general symptoms were signs of estrogen dominance (depression, fatigue, weight gain, sore breasts post-ovulation, light/scanty menses, acne). But I appear to be LOW estrogen. Maybe even entering early menopause??
I've also gained 30 pounds of fat since Peating and have lost a lot of muscle strength. I wonder how much of that is from progesterone supplementation. There's this study showing female rats on progesterone gained fat:
http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/c ... /361.short
Could I be overdosing on progesterone? Maybe I need ESTROGEN??
The thing is, though, that progesterone helps with symptoms around ovulation, so it's hard to just stop it and see how my body responds.
But I seem to be getting worse the longer I follow Peat's ideas. I'm at a loss.
I only take it day 13 to the end of my cycle (which lasts 30-33 days). But I'm taking large quantities of PE during the luteal phase because it brings relief to pretty unbearable symptoms of insatiable appetite, anxiety, and insomnia. So I go through a bottle a week during the luteal phase, which I'm guessing is 400 mg / day.
But I've been looking at the sex hormone labs I've done over the past 1.5 years. The first lab was before ever starting progest-e, and the other two were after having started it. My progesterone is usually normal, or on the low-normal side. But estradiol is way below range.
For example, my most recent lab was drawn on day 2 of my cycle, so I wasn't taking progest-e at that time. Estradiol was 29 pg/ml (early follicular range is 46 - 143). Progesterone was 0.5 (follicular is under 1.35).
All this time I assumed my general symptoms were signs of estrogen dominance (depression, fatigue, weight gain, sore breasts post-ovulation, light/scanty menses, acne). But I appear to be LOW estrogen. Maybe even entering early menopause??
I've also gained 30 pounds of fat since Peating and have lost a lot of muscle strength. I wonder how much of that is from progesterone supplementation. There's this study showing female rats on progesterone gained fat:
http://joe.endocrinology-journals.org/c ... /361.short
Could I be overdosing on progesterone? Maybe I need ESTROGEN??
The thing is, though, that progesterone helps with symptoms around ovulation, so it's hard to just stop it and see how my body responds.
But I seem to be getting worse the longer I follow Peat's ideas. I'm at a loss.