It’s been roughly 6 weeks since I added herbs to my program and I haven’t seen any new growth or swelling at all. At least I’ve kept the 1” of growth that I got from my first 4 weeks of pumping, before my pumping break. I’m sure I’ll start growing again now that I’ve started pumping again, but I’m not sure if the herbs are helping at all yet.
I think I should start slowly ramping up the dose of my pm and pc. I might also try incorporating shatavari or goat’s rue. I’m leaning towards shatavari. Mother Love,a lactation supplement brand, claims that goats rue increases breast tissue to make their other galactagogues more effective for women who have insufficient gland development. Earlier today I asked them what this claim is based on and whether they could steer me towards any relevant animal studies. (I don’t think there are any human studies showing that goats rue stimulates the growth of milk glands, but I’m not 100% sure). They haven’t gotten back to me yet, but I really hope they eventually respond.
I increased my PM from 100mg to 150mg, and my progesterone from 1 pump to 1 and a half pump. I’ll probably increase it by the same increment again next month, or maybe the month after that.
I forgot to mention this earlier, but the PM i’m taking contains roughly 5 times as much deoxymiroestrol as Ainterol PM. Deoxymiroestrol is the main phytoestrogen in PM, and also the most estrogenic. What that means is that my 100mg of extract is equivalent to a 500mg Ainterol capsule.
I won’t be increasing the dose of my 3 antiandrogens because there’s no reason to do that. I’m probably already taking more than necessary. I don’t know what possessed me to buy 3 antiandrogens in the first place, but once I’m done with my current supply, I’ll probably switch to taking only reishi, or maybe no herbal antiandrogens at all. After 7 or 8 months of taking birth control, my androgens have lowered so much that my happy trail (lower stomach hair) has magically disappeared. It was extremely dark and thick, but now it’s completely vanished. I don’t have unshaven “before” pics to show you just how unbelievable the difference is, but knowing what a massive difference it made, I’m not sure why I thought I needed to blast my testosterone even further with herbs. It also eliminated my acne, and oily skin, and reduced the growth rate of the rest of my body hair.
I’m still having major issues with back pain from sleeping on my back. I tried doing some back stretches, but so far it’s not helping much. I don’t know what else to do. I may give in and buy a back wedge, but I’m not sure if it’ll help. If the back pain doesn’t subside, I’ll have to go back to sleeping on my side, but that means I’ll only be able to pump one breast at a time. My chest is to narrow to accommodate both cups unless I’m lying on my back. I don’t want to get up in the middle of the night to switch sides, but I might not have a choice. Limiting my back sleeping to 3 or 4 hrs a night might also work. Either way, my pumping time will be cut by more than half.