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Daughter needs major help

by Kama
(Oregon, USA)

My daughter is suffering from PMDD where she has to lock herself in a room and stay away from people for 2 weeks out of the month. She can't control herself.

We started her on progesterone about 6 weeks ago. We got our own powder and make our own cream (she's sensitive to lots of additives). She's had to work up very quickly to very large amounts of cream (5,000 mg) and even at that dose (using most of it as suppositories every 2 hours), she still has not seen relief from her symptoms.

Since we started her on cream (and at your suggestion that for severe issues, one shouldn't rotate off the cream for a few months), she's had 6 constant weeks of PMDD now. It's unbearable to her not having any break at all (normally she gets 2 good weeks out of the month).

We don't know what to do now. She's desperate to find relief. We don't know if we should increase her cream (5,000 mg seems like a lot) or if we should drop it, or reduce it, or rotate her off of it. We did start her on a dose of DIM, but that was less than a week ago, so we haven't seen any benefit yet.

Please help!

Thanks bunches.

Comments for Daughter needs major help

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Oct 24, 2014
 Daughter needs major help
by: Wray

Hi Kama I've not come across someone with such severe PMS, but there are two recorded instances which you might be interested in reading about. They are on our page about Anger. I wish Dr Dalton were still alive, as I would recommend you contact her. She helped Nicola Owen recover by using progesterone. I suspect your daughter has a blood glucose problem, please would you confirm this for me. And please could you give me some idea of her symptoms, certainly the major ones. Has she had any tests done for the three hormones, oestrogen, testosterone and progesterone? You say you are making your own progesterone cream and suppositories. Please clarify that you are not just stirring the progesterone into a cream or into the suppository wax? Maybe my question is impertinent and you are a chemist, but I would like to know. DIM doesn't rid the body of oestrogen as many think. It's regarded as an anti-oestrogen. Oestrogen is broken down into 2 principle metabolites, 2-hydroxyestrone (2-OHE1) and 16-alpha hydroxyestrone (16alpha-OHE1). 16alpha-OHE1 is regarded as a potent oestrogen, whereas 2-OHE1 is a weaker oestrogen. In some studies DIM (3,3'-Diindolylmethane) increased levels of 2-OHE1, by doing so it also increases the ratio of 2-OHE1:16alpha-OHE1. This increased ratio is associated with a lower risk for breast cancer in some studies, not in others. It appears to have a positive affect on pancreatic, thyroid, prostate and gastric cancers too, and leukemia. The precursor to DIM is Indole 3 Carbinol (I3C) which also has antioxidant and anti-cancer properties. These are a selection of papers here, here and here. Take care Wray
Oct 25, 2014
 Your daughter and gluten/gut
by: R.

Hi -

I'm so sorry to hear about what you are all going through - first and foremost, I will be praying for you guys ....
my daughter has had severe problems (seizures/migraines) and progesterone therapy has helped quite a bit .... however, not until I began researching into the gut/brain connection did we begin to put together the final puzzle pieces ... I have not studied your daughters condition specifically, but I would recommend you begin looking into 'leaky gut' and a gluten free/grain free diet to see if that might be a piece of your puzzle as well ... all of my research has blown me away to how much our gut is tied to the rest of our body, and how what we eat/don't eat really can affect even our brain and proper funcioning of moods, etc.....
check into dogtor j, dr. peter osborne, dr. josh axe, dr. tom obryan ...... youtube has great videos by them explaining in very easy terms .... praying all the info you glean helps point you in the right direction
Oct 26, 2014
 Follow-up
by: Kama

Hi Wray,

I've been reading Dr. Dalton's book. My daughter certainly fits in with some of her cases (although she is careful by being aware of how she is and staying away from people).

I'm mixing progesterone into a mixture of vitamin e, vitamin d, cocoa butter, and coconut oil.

I understood the DIM didn't rid the body of oestrogen, but I figured maybe it'd help dim down the trouble maker type. Poor girl...she's so eager to feel better!

We have been using the 3 hourly starch diet like Dr. Dalton suggests, but it's doing no good. I've never noticed her to have blood sugar problems before, but we're still doing this just to make sure.

We've not done blood work. We talked with her doctor about her problem and the doctor said that if it doesn't sort itself out in a couple years, they would put her on birth control. We seriously aren't interested in that.

My daughter's symptom list certainly fits estrogen dominance, but goodness, 5,000 mg of progesterone is a huge amount–especially when she's still locked away because it isn't helping enough.

I'm really wondering about pulling her off the cream entirely, since it's doing nothing helpful. My thought is to reduce by about 500 mg every 5 days or so. Do you think that would work? We haven't pulled off at all even to allow a period because its said that staying on it full-time allows symptoms to resolve faster.

Thanks for your thoughts and ideas.
Oct 28, 2014
 Follow-up
by: Wray

Hi Kama I'm so delighted you know of Dr Dalton's books. I don't agree with her starch diet, although everything else she's written is so sound. Starch is the last thing your daughter should be eating if she does have blood glucose problems. These can manifest as all the symptoms we get when suffering from PMS, Oestrogen Dominance, post natal depression and Peri-menopause etc. Please consider following the Ketogenic Diet. These are two more sites to look through here and here. It reduces glucose levels to the barest minimum, and the body uses ketones for energy. It's a very high fat, moderate to low protein and very low carb diet. Only the good fats should be used, i.e. MCT oil, coconut oil, butter, lard, in fact any animal fats, cocoa butter, olive oil or macadamia oil. The first six are saturated fats, the other two mono-unsaturated fats. The best is the MCT oil, an extract from coconut oil. The body converts the fatty acid into ketones, in fact the brain does better on these than glucose. MCT oil forms ketones more efficiently than the other oils. The diet varies from a 4:1 ratio of fat to protein/carb down to a 1:1 ratio which is the easier to follow. It's also essential to eat enough protein. This is based on 0.9g to 1.0g of protein per kg per day of lean muscle mass. Contrary to what is generally believed a lack of protein leads to bone loss. It's the most effective and safest way to loose weight if someone should be overweight. It seems you are not dissolving the progesterone into the oils? But just stirring it in? i.e. do you heat the oils at all? A study found emulsions carry progesterone more effectively through the skin than either oils or gels, see here. Please obtain an emulsifying wax to use with the coconut oil etc. I'm glad you know about the activity of DIM, so many think it's getting rid of oestrogen. Please would you have a Vitamin D test done, a lack of this not only reduces the benefit of progesterone, but can cause Anxiety and depression. Excess copper can cause psychotic episodes, please get this checked, and her zinc status too. Zinc counteracts copper, whereas oestrogen increases it. Progesterone increases zinc levels. Take care Wray
Nov 04, 2014
 Update
by: Kama

Hi Wray,

Thanks for your thoughts. We did an experiement recommended to us by a friend and we discovered that our daughter has severe sensitivity to our freshly "cleaned" carpet! I figured there was a serious problem when her period started and she still wasn't better this month on the 4th day (she'd just gotten worse and worse).

Turns out, chemical sensitivities and PMS symptoms can often be completely the same. She certainly had PMS, but we realize now it'd gotten beyond manageable AFTER we cleaned our carpets. So...how's that for fun?

She's slowly recovering in a non-carpeted area of our house closed off to the carpet smell. She can finally talk to us without crying, yelling and stomping her feet. Progress indeed!

BTW, her period this time around (on the progesterone, herbs and on raw milk) had basically no cramps. That was a HUGE success as normally she's curled up in pain for days even with pain meds.
Nov 04, 2016
 The incorrect treatment
by: Anonymous

Look at John Studd website. It's eostrogen she needs. Trust me I know as I suffered for decades and have been cured for 5 years.
Nov 06, 2016
 The incorrect treatment
by: Joy

No women needs to take estrogen! As mentioned many times here, there are well over 100 estrogen mimics in our environment why take more? This is a young girl, not some elderly lady. She certainly doesn't need to deal with the risks of cancer that estrogen is known for!

Sorry but I disagree, trust me I know, I have suffered many years at the hands of estrogen, I have been cured for 14 years now thanks to progesterone!

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