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Post Surgical Menopausal Mess!

by A Wilson
(Colorado Springs, Colorado)

Hello!
My name is A. Wilson and I am a 53 year old, 11 year post surgical menapausal mess!!!
I underwent a total hysterectomy, with uterus, cervix and ovaries removed eleven years ago.
My doctor put me on Estradiol after the surgery. I took it off an on for a while.
My symptoms got so bad that I started taking it again for about six months last year. My new OBGYN suggested I come off due to health risks.
She suggested diet & exercise as a replacement.
Everyday since has been a hormonal struggle. I am beat down by hot flashes, night sweats, depression, weight gain, no libido, dry vaginal area, thinning nails & the list goes on.
I have started taking Estroven to see if I can get any relief from my symptoms.
I am sooooooooo tired of this!
Do you think I might be a candidate for Progestrone?

Comments for Post Surgical Menopausal Mess!

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Sep 02, 2013
 RE: post surgical menopausal mess
by: Terrie

YES, YES, YES ! You are most definitely a candidate for progesterone therapy. I myself, am 8 years post surgical menopause. I also had ovaries, uterus and cervix removed. I was put on the vivel dot patch post surgery. It worked, at first. Then, one day I woke up so dizzy I could not walk a straight line. ENT said I had meniere's disease. Asked ENT if it could be my hormones and he said probably not. I stopped taking them anyway. It took a while for the symptoms to subside but, every time I tried to go back on the patch, within a few days the dizziness came back. I then tried the bio-identical hormones. Never could get those adjusted right and continued to have hot flashes. FINALLY, I came upon this site and ordered the NATPRO. Within a few days the hot flashes were gone. I have been on NATPRO for almost a year and, within that year, have only had one or two flashes. I never had night sweats. I use the progesterone vaginally as well and it works to relieve the dryness. Although the insomnia is not completely gone, it is also a lot better. I am using 6ml in the a.m. and 6 ml in the p.m. I know that is about 400 mg a day but, that is what works for me. I hope this helps and good luck
Sep 04, 2013
 Thanks a bunch
by: A. Wilson

Thank You Sooooooooo Much Teri!
I am so desperate!
I am tired of this "Hormone Rollercoaster."
I really think I'm going to give Natpro a try.
Sep 06, 2013
 Post surgical menopausal mess
by: Wray

Hi there Yes I do, certainly if you look at others who've been helped. I was also a mess, although not because of surgical menopause, just the usual Peri-menopause we go through. It never fails to amaze me women are put on HRT after a hyst, ovarian progesterone production has also been stopped abruptly, and yet it's never thought of, see here. I have found 400mg/day progesterone is needed for Hot Flushes, vitamin D is so important too. Please have a test done. A lack of vitamin D reduces the benefits of progesterone. Both Progesterone and Vitamin D can help depression. We do have a page on depression and Anxiety. It gives a list of several nutrients which can help too. And another page on Libido. Progesterone can help any dryness and inflammation in the vagina, it can be applied directly there. If you consider it, please read our page on Oestrogen Dominance first. Take care Wray
Sep 06, 2013
 RE: post surgical menopausal mess
by: Wray

Hi Terrie I'm so delighted the Natpro has helped you. The 12ml will be giving you about 400mg/day. Are you taking vitamin D, and do you know your level? This is so important, a lack of it reduces the benefit of progesterone. If you get your level high, I think you'll find you can start reducing the amount of progesterone, it will certainly be cheaper! The vitamin D should also help the insomnia too, see here and here. Take care Wray
Sep 09, 2013
 Post Surgical Menopause Mess
by: Terrie

Thanks Wray, I have not had my vitamin D levels checked but I do take 15,000mg a day and, we own a lawn maintenance/landscaping company so, no lack of vit D there, lol.

However, due to being self-employed, having a 22 yr. old Autistic Son who lives at home, a mother-in-law who I have to check on daily at the nursing home, my aging parents, and 2 other children and grandchildren who always seem to be in need of my help, lol, I do lead a high stress life, lol. So, I am not so sure about being able to reduce the amount.

I have recently started taking magnesium. I read somewhere that it is needed along with Vit. D. I also thought that magnesium had some sedating effects. What are your thoughts on this?

Thank you so much for all your work in this area. I tell ladies about you and your site all the time.
Sep 10, 2013
 Post Surgical Menopause Mess
by: Wray

Hi Terrie Good heavens, no wonder you still need 400mg/day and don't want to reduce it! How on earth do you do it all. And I understand about the vitamin D too, although at some point a test would be good. I know your son is now 22, but one of Dr Cannell's main interests is autism. In fact he's cured them if found early enough, on large amounts of vitamin D and getting levels up very high. I've no idea if it will help a 22 yr old, but certainly worth trying. He is doing a study now on autism and vitamin D, unfortunately his website is no longer available but I have information on file that I will share in a new comment below.

Magnesium is the most important co-factor for vitamin D, a lack leading to an inefficient use of vitamin D. The other co-factors are vitamin K2, zinc and boron. Magnesium is very calming, it relaxes muscles and helps sleep too. Calcium does the opposite, it's an excitatory mineral causing muscle contraction. Too much leading to excitation in the brain, tense muscles, depression, blood glucose problems and heart disease. Yes it's needed but soils often lack magnesium, whereas many get an abundance of calcium due to dairy products, which are very low in magnesium. About 250mg/day are needed of magnesium, although if someone has pain due to a low level, I recommend 800mg/day for a month or two. Bless you for spreading the word about the site! Take care Wray
Sep 24, 2021
 Dr. Cannell: Vitamin D Theory of Autism
by: Justine

Vitamin D Theory of Autism

In addition to the current epidemic of vitamin D deficiency, say another epidemic — an epidemic of autism — was upon our children? What if the autism epidemic began at the same time the epidemic of vitamin D deficiency began? What if both epidemics had worsened in unison? What if one theory explained all the unexplained facts about autism? What if both epidemics had the same root cause: sun avoidance? What if both were iatrogenic, that
is, medical advice to avoid the sun had caused both epidemics?
Be warned, what follows is not light reading—autism is not a light disease.

Does The Vitamin D Theory Best Explain Autism?

The theory that vitamin D deficiency, during pregnancy or childhood, causes autism is just a theory. However, the theory has a plausible mechanism of action, explains all the unexplained facts about autism, subsumes several other theories, implies simple prevention, and is easily disprovable—all components of a useful theory.
A genetic lesion (abnormality) in some component of the vitamin D system—a lesion vitamin D's unique pharmacology could overcome—would explain why monozygotic (identical) twins are highly affected while fraternal twins are not. Varying brain levels of activated vitamin D during later life would explain why some identical twins get severe disease while others are barely affected.

Falling vitamin D levels over the last 20 years due to sun-avoidance explain autism's rapid increase in incidence during that same time. The very different effects estrogen and testosterone have on vitamin D metabolism may explain why boys are much more likely to get it than girls are. Lower vitamin D levels in blacks may explain their
higher rates of autism. The vitamin D theory has tenable explanations for all the epidemiological features of autism.

What's The Risk of Going In The Sun?

The window of opportunity to affect brain development is limited. Time is of the essence if the vitamin D theory of autism is correct. Ask yourself, what is the risk of taking your autistic child outside to play in the sun? What's the risk of pregnant women sunbathing for a few minutes every day? Children always played in the sun before the epidemic of autism; your pregnant grandmother spent time in the sun as well.
Physicians considered that sunshine was healthy before the sun-scare, that is, before autism became an epidemic.
Sep 24, 2021
 Autism and Vitamin D: Dr. Cannell
by: Justine

Dr. Cannell I enjoyed your 'Defeat Autism Now' presentation in San Diego and have since been supplementing autistic children in my practice and watching 25(OH)D levels. The results are less than I'd hoped for. Most of the children in my practice have levels around 15–30 ng/mL. I've been recommending 1000–2000 IU per day and monitoring levels. Do you recommend a little more aggressive dosing, say 5000 IU and for how long? I'd like to
correct levels faster if you think it is safe. Have any recent studies supported your vitamin D theory of autism.
Also, I hope you don't mind if I ask for a little guidance to clarify dosing for both myself. How much do you recommend during pregnancy? I am 6 months pregnant and have been taking about 1000 IU per day. My first born son has autism, second one doesn't have it, and I want to prevent it in my third. Abby, Texas

1,000–2,000 IU/day for autistic children is inadequate. Aggressive vitamin D deficiency diseases need aggressive vitamin D treatment. Start with a minimum of 5,000 IU/day day in autistic children and check 25(OH)D levels every
month. Many autistic children will need even more to see a full treatment effect. Please remember the difference between a treatment effect and a cure.

1,000 IU/day during pregnancy is also entirely inadequate. You need 5,000 IU/day, often more, and a 25(OH)D blood test to assure 5,000 IU/day gets you up above 50 ng/mL. If you are uncomfortable with that dose, buy one of our in-home vitamin D lights. Conventional wisdom is that you should not use sun-tanning parlors during pregnancy as they increase body temperature, which may harm the fetus. Our in-home UV lights are open, hang on
the wall like a full-length mirror, and thus will not raise body temperature. As for the reasons pregnant women need 5,000 IU/day, I will soon dedicate an entire newsletter to vitamin D and pregnancy.
The problem is that pregnant women are told not to take any pills or supplements, except prenatal vitamins, which contain truly inconsequential amounts of vitamin D. Most pregnant women will not take vitamin D unless their obstetrician tells them to do so, and not doing so may have devastating effects on their unborn child. If you are pregnant, you need at least 5,000 IU per day. If you live where the sun makes vitamin D this time of year, sunbathe for 10–30 minutes every day. If you can't do that, and if you will not take it as a supplement, another option is an
in-home UV Vitamin D unit.

Yes, two recent studies supported my theory. The first showed autistic children have abnormal bones, what one would suspect in children who have a genetic abnormality in metabolizing or catabolizing vitamin D. Hediger ML, et
al . Reduced bone cortical thickness in boys with autism or autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev
Disord. 2008 May;38(5):848–56.
The second showed cloudy and rainy weather (which is a proxy for reduced UVB) is associated with autism. Autism prevalence and precipitation rates in California, Oregon, and Washington counties; Waldman M, Nicholson S, Adilov N, Williams J. . Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008 Nov;162(11):1026–34.
Sep 24, 2021
 Mechanism of action in autism, Posted on May 7, 2012 by John Cannell, MD
by: Justine

A paper came out last week that supported, at least to me, the mechanism of action in autism that I proposed in 2007. As you know, some of us are tall, some are short, and science can usually
display that and so many other things in nature in some sort of a normal or Gaussian distribution.
In what appears to me to be unique research, Dr. Peter Schnatz and his team from Jefferson
Medical College wanted to know if some of us have lots of vitamin D receptors (VDR) and some of us only a few. His team also wanted to know if that variation was associated with atherosclerosis:

Schnatz PF, Nudy M, O’Sullivan DM, Jiang X, Cline JM, Kaplan JR, Clarkson TB, Appt SE. The
quantification of vitamin D receptors in coronary arteries and their association with atherosclerosis.Maturitas. 2012 Apr 26. [Epub ahead of print]

He took 39 monkeys, kept them out of sunlight and gave them 1,000 IU of vitamin D/day and a plaque building (atherogenic) diet for three years. He then sacrificed them to count the number of
VDRs inside their arteries as above the 50th percentile or below, and then measured the height of the atherosclerotic plaque in those arteries. To his surprise a strong negative association exists (p<0.001) between the two.

That is, if you are unlucky enough to be born with
only a few VDRs, your atherosclerosis may get bad early, at least according to this animal model.
However, he also pointed out that vitamin D itself
increases the number of VDRs present. So just
taking vitamin D can shift you over to having
more VDRS.

This study was of interest to me because it is
exactly the mechanism I proposed for the autism
epidemic four years ago. In my 2007 paper on autism and vitamin D, I proposed that a quantitative and/or qualitative genetic mechanism was at work in autism. That is, low quantity and/or quality of the inherited vitamin D system have met with declining vitamin D levels over the last 30 years leading to damage to the most sensitive of the vitamin D organs, the developing brain.

Cannell JJ. Autism and vitamin D.Med Hypotheses. 2008;70(4):750-9. Epub 2007 Oct 24

If your genetics deals you low numbers of VDRs and you have to deal with vitamin D deficiency as
well, your developing brain loses. The autism geneticists have been looking for mutations. It is not a mutation; the small de novo mutations they do find (in all 23 pairs of chromosomes) are effects, not causes, of autism because vitamin D deficiency impairs DNA repair mechanisms.

Other components of the vitamin D system, such as the amount and activity of the enzyme that makes activated vitamin D, the one-hydroxylase, is also inherited. You get either a little or a lot with
most getting somewhere in between, for both quantity and quality, a normal or Gaussian distribution of each. The same is true of the vitamin D breakdown enzyme, the 24-hydroxylase, but here, high amounts are detrimental. More than 70% of your vitamin D level is heritable when levels are low.

Karohl C, Su S, Kumari M, Tangpricha V, Veledar E, Vaccarino V, Raggi P. Heritability and seasonal variability of vitamin D concentrations in male twins. Am J Clin Nutr. 2010
Dec;92(6):1393-8. Epub 2010 Oct 13.

Say you are unlucky enough to inherit low VDRs and low one-hydroxylase enzyme activity both together, and your mother believes in strict sun avoidance and sunblock. She breast feeds you (if mother is below 40 ng/ml, and most are, there is no vitamin D in breast milk) and then weans you on vitamin D-less 100% pure fruit juice and not vitamin D fortified cow’s milk. To boot, you will not eat cold-water fatty fish, reindeer meat, or sea gull eggs (all with some vitamin D). By the time you are 12 months, you literally have no source of vitamin D and your inherited vitamin D physiology
will interact with your low vitamin D level to injure your developing brain, as it injures the arteries of monkeys. Exactly the same mechanism can happen in utero.

Presto, you have a brand new "genetic" disease, as autism is, interacting with the environment, as
autism is, to create an unfathomable new epidemic, as autism is. While these genetics have always been around, the low amount of substrate is brand new, thus a new "genetic" epidemic. The 1-hydroxylase may be involved because it explains the now 5:1 male to female ratio in autism. Estrogen increases expression of the 1-hydroxylase, but testosterone does not and may inhibit it. In addition, Liel et al reports estrogen does the same to the VDR.

Liel Y, Shany S, Smirnoff P, Schwartz B Estrogen increases 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D receptors
expression and bioresponse in the rat duodenal mucosa. Endocrinology. 1999 Jan;140(1):280-5.

If I’m right, what do autistic children need? They need enough vitamin D (adult doses) to upregulate their VDRs and their one-hydroxylases in order to stop the autoimmune inflammatory brain damage that is ongoing. If I’m wrong, what will happen? Children will have high-normal vitamin D levels, stronger bones, fewer infections, less asthma, fewer autoimmune disorders, and better physical performance.

Remember, this year, according to the CDC, if you have a male child, he will have a 1 in 54 chance
of developing autism by age 8, and the epidemic is growing at almost 20% per year. Couples with an autistic child are under more stress than are couples with a child with a fatal illness. The divorce rate is double. Besides the meltdowns, the parent’s main worry is who is going to care for my child when I’m gone. No person of good heart can ignore this epidemic.

____

About John Cannell, MD Dr. John Cannell is founder of the Vitamin D Council. He has written many peer-reviewed papers on vitamin D and speaks frequently across the United States on the subject. Dr. Cannell holds an M.D.and has served the medical field as a general practitioner, itinerant emergency physician, and psychiatrist.
Sep 24, 2021
 Children with autism have lower vitamin D levels at birth than siblings, new study shows
by: Justine

Posted on February 2, 2015
(https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/blog/children-with-autism-have-lower-vitamin-dlevels-at-birth-than-siblings-new-study-shows/) by John Cannell, MD (https://www.vitamindcouncil.org/author/drjohn-cannell/)

In a groundbreaking new discovery, researchers in Sweden have discovered that children who later develop Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have lower vitamin D levels at birth than their typically
developing siblings do.

This helps rules out, but doesn’t disprove, environmental factors as a cause of lower 25(OH)D levels in ASD children and suggests some form of heritability as the cause of the lower 25(OH)D levels. Vitamin D levels at birth are dependent on the mother’s vitamin D levels. Although this study
suggests heritability of 25(OH)D, it is possible that the mothers either took less vitamin D in foods and supplements or got less sun exposure when they were pregnant with the ASD sibling.

They studied a total of 58 pairs of siblings, each pair consisting of one child with ASD and one typically developing child. In their study, they had 28 pairs where the mother were of Swedish origin, 12 pairs with miscellaneous maternal origin and 18 pairs with African or Middle Eastern mothers.

The authors clearly address the Center for Disease Control’s repeated contention that skin color has no effect on ASD by citing a recent large population-based study in Los Angeles published in the journal -Pediatrics-, which clearly showed ASD is more common among dark-skinned individuals.

Becerra TA, von Ehrenstein OS, Heck JE, Olsen J, Arah OA, Jeste SS, et al. Autism spectrum disorders and race, ethnicity, and nativity: a population-based study. Pediatrics. 2014;134:e63–71.

In the Swedish study, the authors found the following 25(OH)D levels at birth for the different maternal nationalities:

Mother’s nationality ASD Normal P value
Swedish (28) 14 ng/ml 19 ng/ml 0.042
Miscellaneous (12) 9 ng/ml 12 ng/ml 0.015
African/M.East(18) 3 ng/ml 4 ng/ml 0.68

Many of the African and Middle Eastern children had 25(OH)D levels around the lower limit of
detection. Differences in season of birth did not account for the differences.

The authors concluded:
"Although low levels of vitamin D could have a genetic origin and as such be associated with ASD, our study is the first to rule out ASD-related
lifestyle mechanisms as explanation for low 25(OH)D levels, since the samples were taken in the newborn period. Future research should include a larger cohort followed prospectively and also study whether or not adequate supplementation of vitamin D to pregnant women might lower the risk for ASD in the offspring."

So far, no vitamin D-related gene has been identified in the search for a genetic cause of ASD. However, as I write in my upcoming book (http://www.sunriseriverpress.com/autism-causesprevention-treatment.html), a qualitative genetic defect is not needed to explain the low 25(OH)D levels ASD children inherit. All that is needed is a quantitative effect to explain the heritability of 25(OH)D levels. When a quantitatively low fetal 25(OH)D level interacts with a genetic predisposition for ASD, the child develops ASD unless the mother and/or infant is given adequate doses of vitamin D or sunshine.

The researchers hypothesize that increasing the 25(OH)D levels of mothers should help prevent the
genetic predisposition for ASD from expressing itself as the ASD phenotype. I agree, however, I
believe some of that gene/environmental interaction occurs during toddlerhood, which is when most cases of ASD present.

As I note in my book, most toddlers do not have a reliable and significant source of vitamin D. In the USA, ninety percent of toddlers don’t take vitamin D supplements, they get little or no unprotected sun exposure, they are now weaned on fruit juice instead of vitamin D-enriched milk, and they get no significant amounts of vitamin D in their diet. It is no wonder that ASD first becomes apparent in toddlerhood.

An easily conducted study to test the vitamin D hypothesis is to simply ask a cohort of parents of
ASD children if they administered the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended daily dose of
400 IU/day of vitamin D, weaned on vitamin D-enriched cow’s milk and/or allowed unprotected
sun exposure when their child with ASD was an infant and/or toddler. Then compare the parents’
answers in the ASD cohort to the answers from the parents of typically developing children.

The current Swedish study is groundbreaking. However, I don’t know how scientists would do a
randomized controlled trial (RCT) of vitamin D to see if it prevents ASD. Perhaps a RCT that
included a placebo group of mothers who took the recommended 400 IU/day and compare them to mothers who take 6,000 IU/day; perhaps an ethics committee would allow such a study. However, such a committee would not allow a RCT in which placebo toddlers went without any vitamin D supplementation, as parents allow now.

Elisabeth Fernell, Susanne Bejerot, Joakim Westerlund, Carmela Miniscalco, Henry Simila,Darryl Eyles, Christopher Gillberg and Mats B Humble.
Autism spectrum disorder and low vitamin D at birth: a sibling control study. Molecular Autism 2015, 6:3 doi:10.1186/2040-2392-6-3. Published: 14
January 2015.

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