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<.5 progesterone (follicular phase of menstruation)

by morgan
(boston, ma)

Hmm. Where do I begin. I thought something was wrong when I noticed all these surface veins all over my complete legs. I was at the shower in the gym. This was probably 4 months ago. I was working out at a very strenuous level for about an hour each time I was at the gym. About 5-6 days. For about 3 months I had been doing this. I am a runner (5-7 mi. about 5-6 days), not used to being at the gym...so I didn't realize how many calories my exercise was burning. I do power yoga (well, I haven't since I initially saw the extreme bulging veins). I don't have a scale at home, so I stepped on the scale at the gym, realizing that I was under 100 pounds. Scary. I'm 38 and 5'4" small boned but that was much, much too light for me. I get my period like clockwork. I knew that something was really wrong. I stopped doing exercise for about 5 days, and then I eased back into it. Half intensity, and half as long. And I ate probably around 2,500 calories. Increasing my fat. Because I know that their needs to be a subcutaneous fat layer for the veins to not be so apparent. Before the vein issue I was probably eating around 1,500 calories, a very low-fat diet. Now, three months later, I'm around 112, and I've maintained that for about a month. Interesting, I never knew that having healthy fat at every meal, and sometimes some "unhealthy", wouldn't make me gain fat. It just helps me. So if I had a lesson to be learned from this that is a great lesson. But, it now gets worse. The veins are still there they are really bulging, even though I have increased my fat by probably 40 grams, for the past three months, and I've put on this weight for at least 3 months. They're not going away. They now are bulging out of my arms front and back bicep vein and this blue vein that cuts across it near my shoulder. I have tiny veins around my pectorals and recently I've developed a blue vein cutting across my cleavage and also on my groin area. And I noticed this two weeks ago I have blue veins under my eyes, and they're getting worse, I can see where the vein originates now, towards my forehead. About two months ago I went to my primary care and had a complete blood workup. And she said it was really good. I was thinking it might have something to do with hormones (this was 2 months ago, before it got really bad), and I asked to run blood work for that too. She told me it really wasn't necessary but there was a peri-menopause test that she could do. And she told me that I was clear of that. So blood work was fine. Then I went to the vein doctor (this was before things got really bad, before I saw the under eye veins and the chest vein), and she told me nothing was wrong with my veins. After that, about a month ago I went and was adamant about having some sort of specific work done on my hormones. I asked for a lot, but she gave me estrogen progesterone and leptin. (What's really interesting is she didn't even bother to ask me where I was in my cycle!) I am at <.5 progesterone (I was in my follicular phase.) The norm for progesterone is follicular <1. Luteal is 2.6-21.5. Post-menopausal is <.5! I don't know how much progesterone I have but it can't be good. Also this was two months after I started eating very well and increased my weight by close to 15 pounds. And my estrogen was low, but it wasn't that low. I've heard that estrogen thrives on fat cells and is created more so because there are more fat cells there. Well, not that many....I've got a leptin level of .8! The leptin level of Adult Lean Subjects (18-71 years) with BMI range of 18-25: for males it is .3-13.4, and for females it is 4.7-23.7. I have no idea what is happening. I made an appointment with an endocrinologist. I've researched that blood work is nowhere near the accuracy of a saliva test. Now I've started noticing my scalp, hair thinning, etc. I've taken Maca Root to balance out my hormones, and I know about vitamins and supplements. I use vitamin C in powder form, Vitamin E, D, B-6 and B-12 as well as the others, calcium, Omega-3, and a multi. Now I've found that using turmeric has a lot of benefits that probably I can use. I just ordered a cream Life-Flo Progesta-Care For Women, but the dosage I think is very, very mild. I want to increase it but I've heard that 100-200 is a safe and effective dosage. But I have no idea what is going on with my body. I get night sweats and I get very moody, highs and lows, I sleep on average 7-9 hours, I have sore and enlarged breasts since I noticed the veins. My belly has a bit of water weight to it. Does anyone know what it going on? And could someone please tell me what hormones I definitely need to have tested when I go to the endo doctor in two weeks. Maybe the veins need time to heal after being worked so hard? Clueless.

I can't wait for this to have a happy ending!

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