[SarahSchilling]

Oh Sarah, now I really feel like I know NOTHING haha, thank you for sharing your knowledge with me and being so helpful!

I didn't know that about zinc, that would boost the estrogen, but I always thought I had a zinc deficiency because everytime, without fail, I started taking zinc my health was so much better and my nails would grow.
Now a little bit of background:
I'm 23 years old. I started taking Belara when I was only 15 because I had severe cystic acne and very oily skin and hair. Ever since I've been trying to quit it but I just can't. Actually I remember that last year, on april, I didn't take it to see what would happen: in just 2 weeks my skin was covered in acne and it was like i had a mask of oil. Also my hair was awful, too oily. But the real problem came after: my severe cramps came back, it was a day I won't ever forget, I thought I was going to die because of the pain. That's why I never stopped it! The thing that scared me the most was how fast my acne came back the times I gave up. It was a matter of days!

So what I started doing in august last year: I would take 1 pill of PM everynight for 15 days, then I would stop and would start again after my period with the first pill from that new cicle. I read a lot about taking PM with BC last year before I started, and didn't see anything about blood cloths
But I have to agree with you, all you said makes sense, maybe it's time for me to change my BC since I can't quit it. I need to go to the doctor. What you said really hit me
"Eww. everything I have read about this particular form of estradiol in the past has been bad. It's Estrone chemically altered to prevent the liver from detoxifying it as well, and this makes it last far longer in the bloodstream. So it's more prone to build up in the body than other forms of estradiol."
That's so bad!!!!!!

Quick update: I'm feeling better actually, still having shotness of breath but less than last week. I'm having something that I never had, constipation :/. I really think the estrogen dominance took over and elevated my TSH levels, just like you said.

I was doing so many things wrong and I would never know untill you pointed them out, it was only a matter of time untill something happen...

Well, if the Belara is working well for you, then perhaps you should wait and see if you keep improving without the PM before you do anything rash. About the zinc, if it helps then keep doing that too. I was just saying that both could make whatever imbalance you had worse. Glad to hear you're feeling a little better though. It may take a few weeks for PM to clear out of your system totally.

Anyways, the experiences you mentioned with trying to quit Belara don't sound too unusual. After so long your body is just used to it, and it makes sense that you'd have horrible cramping/bleeding. What are you going to do if you want to have children one day? Not trying to stress you out, but you probably need to at least have the option of being able to quit.

If you do try to quit Belara again, scale down the doses slowly rather than quitting outright. That goes for anything. There are plenty of drugs that can help with Acne/oily skin. Actually, a lot of girls with that issue take Spironolactone. Which is kinda funny because it's the main anti-androgen in most FTM transgender therapies. Basically, you just need a good anti-androgen though. I'm not sure the herbal ones would be strong enough on their own.



Maybe you should wait and see if you feel better in a month or so and then check into a Progesterone based birth control method. Or not. Whatever works for you is the way to go! IF you ever want to try taking PM again though, a progesterone based brand may help to keep your hormones balanced much more than Belara would. I think combined with PM, too much E built up in your system over time, and your various symptoms are the result. Whether you want to call it thickening blood or E dominance, I suppose it's basically the same thing. Too much estrogen.


Oh, about the constipation. Get some cranberry or prune juice. LOL