Re: To Kae

[Guest guest]

Hi Kae,

So nice to hear from you.

7 weeks or 7 months, the damage was done to my adrenals and my cortisol levels are through the roof and my thyroid readings are very low. I have symptoms of both adrenal fatigue and high cortisol. Too much progesterone will and does affect cortisol/adrenals. I was going through menopause when I lost my smell and taste. I haven’t had a period since October 2007. Maybe this threw me over the edge and I know that menopause/post menopause causes anxiety so when I lost my smell/taste, my mental state couldn’t handle it. Buspar had absolutely no effect on me, Gabapentin either (off label for anxiety) and Lexapro which made me very, very ill and non functional. I knew then and still know now that I need P/E, but the Wiley was too much for me, and for most women. You can’t give the same amount of P/E to all women as we are all individuals and require individual dosing and amounts. I was told too much Progesterone can cause anxiety and a whole host of other unpleasant symptoms. When I had done the saliva tests, I was only off the WP for about 9 days and when my results showed incredibly high amounts of P/E in my saliva, extremely high levels of cortisol in the evening and night, then I knew I was in trouble and also that I tested way too soon after coming off. But it showed damage to the adrenals as my cortisol levels were extremely high which is causing anxiety, shaking, jitters, etc. When my b/p shot up the roof while on the WP and soon after coming off it showed me that it was affecting my adrenals and heart too.

My hair was falling out and I have hypothyroid symptoms too.

when my new gyno wanted to keep me on P/E at a much lower dose and the results of the saliva tests came back as they did, I only used the creams for 2-3 days and then stopped again. I know that is not a good idea to start and stop and maybe weaning off would have been a better idea, but in my mind, I couldn’t possibly put more hormones into me when my levels were so high. didn’t make sense.

even this gyno told me that because the antidepressants were not working, it was not mental illness but hormonal and I still believe it, however, I have to let the levels go down to a somewhat normal state and then will start them again at what doses I need to be on, not a protocol that gives the same ludicrous amounts to ALL women!!!

I am off of everything now. even the holy basil too.

When I see the naturopath in July I hope he can guide me and help me with all these ailments. even if the WP wasn’t the culprit of all these symptoms, it didn’t help and might have caused more damage.

thankfully I was only on the WP for a short time. I couldn’t imagine taking them for yrs. and then suffer irreparable damage of some kind.

balancing is the key, not overdosing....you can’t mess around with hormones, because if one thing is not right it will throw off all the others. The body works in rhythm.

are you on or off the WP? did you have any troubles or have any if I can ask?

I have to take an occasional valium to get through the really rough times. I know better than to take them regularly as I know first hand how addicting benzos are.

I hope you are well,

Take care

My best regards,

Nanci

From: Kae

Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2011 1:46 PM

To: rhythmicliving

Subject: To Nanci

Hi, Nanci,

Since you were only on WP for seven weeks I do not think you need to panic about it. I know you are going through a bad time, but things will get better. People have been on WP for much longer periods and are here to tell about it. I'm not saying it was good to go on it, I'm only saying you should be able to get the P out of your system more easily than those who were on WP a much longer time.

Also, your symptoms seem to have started long before WP, so I'm guessing WP is not your main problem. You seem to have developed an anxiety problem around the time you had the cold. Did that coincide with menopause or did you get through menopause without problems and this happened later? Also, *which* antidepressant made you so much sicker? Knowing the mechanism of that drug might be enlightening as to what makes you feel worse. Knowing that could help you or a doctor figure out the opposite way to go. Panicking about WP is sure not going to help with your anxiety and since you were on it for a relatively short time I don't think you need to.

The hardest thing is patience and realizing that things will get better. It's possible that hormones are the cause of your anxiety (I know wrong levels for me can do that); *however* it seems to me you would have felt some change during WP if that were the case. It doesn't seem like you did, so it's also possible hormones aren't the problem at all. I'm no doctor, nor an expert on anything medical, I'm just trying to help you see there are some other things to look at and the WP situation is probably not dire in your case (even though I understand you feel terrible now). I hope some of this might be some help.

All the best,

Kae