[AbiDrew85]

Heh... I had no clue honey could be an aromatase antagonist. I love honey... especially in my tea... IMO, tea is simply unpalatable without honey.

I don't think the amount used in tea would be enough to make any difference, that is IF even a large quantity would make a difference. Honey contains chrysin, which supposedly inhibits aromatase. However, most of the studies done on it have shown it to be ineffective. It is still sold as an aromatase inhibitor though, which is why I try to avoid ingesting it or applying it anywhere on my body.

I think it's kind of like the caffeine thing in NBE, where it probably doesn't hurt, but there is a small chance that it does...

Interesting. Well, it certainly doesn't seem to be hurting my development any. And I consume quite a lot of honey. I mean. I buy honey in 5 lb quantities just so I don't run out of it in a month. I use it for almost everything where I use a sweetener...

[prismatic]

The progesterone cream came through customs!
Now that everything has arrived I can start.

I will be taking:

Ainterol PM Capsules
Starting off with 500mg (1 pill) per day. I'm thinking I will take this from day 3 to day 26. This will probably change, but for the moment I'm keeping it simple. Plus it's too hard to split up 500mg pills.
   

Now Foods Natural Progesterone Liposomal Skin Cream
1/2 pump from day 14 to 17 and day 24 to day 27. 1 pump daily (approximately equivalent to 1/4 t of other brands) from day 18 to day 23.
   

Spearmint and Chamomile Tea (30% Spearmint)
Starting with 1 cup daily. May increase this to 2 cups.
   

I will be tweaking this depending on how it goes. I may add in more supplements later, but I want to see how this works out first.

I started with the PM on Wednesday. No sensations or noticable change in the breasts so far. I have been very irritable and ANGRY since Friday, and Friday and Saturday I had a headache. Not sure if it's related to the PM. Might have to reduce the dose or add some PC in the follicular phase if this keeps up.

I was using the PC (since it arrived first) for the last few days of my previous cycle. I felt sooo calm. It was amazing. Hormones or the lavendar scent? lol

[prismatic]

Thursday (this would be day 12 I think on my first cycle) my breasts became very tender and somewhat firmer. Guess that's a good sign? I started PC on day 15 and they are less tender now and a bit squishier. I used wayyy too much on day 15 (1/2 a pump). I will use a smaller amount tomorrow. I'm thinking maybe 1/4 of a pump, which should equal to 1/8 t. Perhaps even half that if I can manage it. Headaches are gone now. Come to think of it, I recall getting headaches when I first went on birth control.

[prismatic]

Angry again the first week of PM this month. I think my body just does not take well to abrupt changes in hormone levels. I've always gotten PMS really badly too. Instead of stopping 500mg PM so abruptly, I've started tapering off, taking 250mg for a few days before stopping.

Started collagen supplements this cycle, because I have them. Only taking 2 a day (1000mg collagen) in the morning with PM.

No sensations yet. No swelling. But it's only day 9 of my cycle, maybe they will return.
Have started to develop what may be signs of high testosterone:
-3 black, long, coarse hairs around my navel
-previously blonde body hair (again on my stomach) has darkened to brown
-my waistline seems to be expanding. i've deen developing "love handles" with no increases anywhere else.
So I decided to add Saw Palmetto, starting with one tablet and then upping to two depending on how it goes.

As for my hormone test results (previous posts), it seems like:
*low estradiol + high testosterone = insufficient aromatase?
*low estradiol + low progesterone = oral contraceptive pill (I was told Yaz is a "low dose" pill)
*low DHEAS + high cortisol = early stage of "adrenal fatigue" aka STRESS, which makes sense since I was unemployed at the time after losing my job
*high testosterone = ??? not sure. maybe just oversecretion? I'm looking at oversecretion by the ovaries as the most likely culprit, as, to my knowledge, oversecretion by the adrenals is quite rare. I'm not in close contact with anyone who uses topicals, so an outside source is unlikely.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of this post is basically self-talk, posted here because I WILL throw it away/delete it out of embarrassment if I keep a copy in real life. Although, if anyone has any input, that'd be lovely as well.

It's a curse to be so impatient. I would really like to properly experiment with things, but the minute I get a bit agitated, it's like a war against myself not to take all of the supplements and birth control to try to get rid of the feeling. Plus, I get into some pretty black moods, and my body is, unfortunately, the target for a lot of those negative feelings (which are all hormonal! )

Probably, the best thing to do is to go off of my birth control and retest my hormones, but I'm afraid to do it. I'm crazy on my periods without it, and I'm afraid of what will happen if I withdraw suddenly and my body takes it's sweet time to start producing its own hormones.

I can't help but feel like there's something I'm missing. Is it my diet? Is it poor circulation? Is it the fact that I'm scatterbrained and impatient and don't put the time and energy into researching things as well as I should (seriously, reading up on things just leaves me with more and more questions, which aren't easy to find the answer to! Talk about a steep learning curve! Hopefully someday I'll be half as knowledgable as some of the the people on this board!)?

I've been thinking a lot about xenoestrogens. Are they detrimental or beneficial? Need to read up on that too!

I ramble way too much. And I've realized I sound upset/angry, when really I've been laughing to myself the whole time I was typing this post out. Too hard to convey tone of voice!

[prismatic]

I have had no growth since starting PM. I've made some changes to my plan.

PM was giving me headaches, so I've started taking very small doses (maybe 1/32 teaspoon) of progesterone cream when I notice I've been having them. The PC seems to take care of it.

Spearmint tea didn't seem to do much for me. Stopped drinking it in favor of taking saw palmetto. I started with one capsule, but I'm now taking one capsule in the morning and one at night. The light brown hair I had around my areolas (never mentioned it before because I didn't realize it was androgenic--it looks the same as the hair I have on my arms) is now very short and completely blonde. All but invisible. Other hair is not growing back as fast. However, it is winter now, so that may be the reason.

Now that I know what SP does I will add the spearmint tea back in to see if it helps with anything. I think I may not have steeped it long enough when I last tried it.

I haven't done this yet, but I may try varying the doses I take of PM. I think this is best accomplished with a topical, as the pills are 500mg each and I've found it quite difficult to split them up without making a huge mess.

Stats are:
Height 5'4" (163 cm)
Weight ~105 lbs? (47-48kg)
Bust 35" (small 30dd I think)
Underbust 24.5/25"
Waist 23"
Hips 36"
Thigh 20.5" (I'd like to shrink this if possible)

So I've gained 1.5" on my bust and around 0.5" on my thighs since I started anything. All of the other measurements are the same.

[AbiDrew85]

Spearmint tea didn't seem to do much for me. Stopped drinking it in favor of taking saw palmetto. I started with one capsule, but I'm now taking one capsule in the morning and one at night. The light brown hair I had around my areolas (never mentioned it before because I didn't realize it was androgenic--it looks the same as the hair I have on my arms) is now very short and completely blonde. All but invisible. Other hair is not growing back as fast. However, it is winter now, so that may be the reason.

Yeah. When you use spearmint as a tea you have to not only steep it for a very long time, you have to outright boil it for ten straight minutes. And they really don't put enough leaves in the tea bags either... You might find just eating straight leaves or taking capsules easier.

[prismatic]

Okay, so current plan has yielded no results.
I will reintroduce spearmint in capsules (I don't know how you can eat the leaves Abi-- they are awful!). Not sure of the dosage yet. Probably will follow package directions and increase if I feel there's a need.
PM cream- whole cycle? Not sure of this yet.
I am going to try doing blaketalks. Last time I tried, I kept falling asleep halfway through, so I may not stick to this. Hopefully it will have some effects even if I do fall asleep.

PM capsules at 500 mg seem to have no effect. I may try 1000mg as per package directions and see if I notice anything (since my period just ended and I haven't ordered anything new yet).

I've noticed that progesterone cream makes my breasts swell a little.

If anyone has any insight or suggestions it would be much appreciated!

Ah, I'm also going to start doing chest exercises, as I get rather envious of my boyfriend's pecs. Like, how good would those look under my boobs? At the moment, my breasts are still really disproportionate to my thighs. Hopefully I can balance them out without surgery!

[AbiDrew85]

Okay, so current plan has yielded no results.
I will reintroduce spearmint in capsules (I don't know how you can eat the leaves Abi-- they are awful!). Not sure of the dosage yet. Probably will follow package directions and increase if I feel there's a need.
PM cream- whole cycle? Not sure of this yet.
I am going to try doing blaketalks. Last time I tried, I kept falling asleep halfway through, so I may not stick to this. Hopefully it will have some effects even if I do fall asleep.

PM capsules at 500 mg seem to have no effect. I may try 1000mg as per package directions and see if I notice anything (since my period just ended and I haven't ordered anything new yet).

I've noticed that progesterone cream makes my breasts swell a little.

If anyone has any insight or suggestions it would be much appreciated!

Ah, I'm also going to start doing chest exercises, as I get rather envious of my boyfriend's pecs. Like, how good would those look under my boobs? At the moment, my breasts are still really disproportionate to my thighs. Hopefully I can balance them out without surgery!

LOL. I actually don't eat the leaves... I can only imagine how awful that'd be. Spearmint is EXTREMELY bitter! I think there might've been a girl who did... And power to her... LOL.

I've BEEN doing the capsules myself. And I'm presently working on a way to put it into my meal replacement recipe.

It sounds to me like you might be E dom. So actually perhaps yes, you'll want at least SOMETHING progestagenic all cycle. And PC during the last two weeks. I'd suggest fenugreek. It works fast. Though you might not like the smell that it apparently gives some peoples BO. Hasn't done it to me though.

[prismatic]

LOL. I actually don't eat the leaves... I can only imagine how awful that'd be. Spearmint is EXTREMELY bitter! I think there might've been a girl who did... And power to her... LOL.

I've BEEN doing the capsules myself. And I'm presently working on a way to put it into my meal replacement recipe.

I've gotten used to eating the contents of the tea bags now. XD Although, to be fair, it's mixed with chamomile and a few other things.

[prismatic]

Update:
Still doing spearmint as TEA, but eating instead of brewing. Not sure as to the efficacy.
Lowered spearmint to one capsule per day.

Areola hairs are still short and blonde despite warm weather! Stomach hairs still brown, however the black hairs around my navel have not come back.
----
Tried 1000 mg of pm during the first two weeks of my cycle and tapered off to one and then none over the next two weeks. Made absolutely no difference. I got some itchy feelings on a few of the days where the pm and pc overlapped, but nothing consistent.

I've finally ordered pm cream, so I will try using that on breasts only. See if I can keep my thighs from hogging it all.
----
And I couldn't stick to doing hypnosis. :/
----
Still noogling at least 4 times a week for 1-2 hrs.
----

I will try to raise both estrogen and progesterone all month long, heavier on progesterone and lighter on estrogen during the last 2 weeks. I might do pm cream all month long and 1 capsule of pm during the first 2 weeks. Along with small doses of progesterone cream during the first 2 weeks. Keeping sp and spearmint constant all month long. I wonder if I am taking enough spearmint or if I'd benefit from more.

-----------
Also apparently my dad's mom and sister were both quite pear shaped before having children... but I don't know if I want to go so far as to try to mimic pregnancy. Sounds a bit risky... heh