Well, my gynae's taking me off the progestogen (Cerazette/desogestrel) for the PMS as it doesn't seem to be doing me any good. She sounded worryingly like she's not going to try any other treatment on me, though she's going to consult my GP to weigh up the risks of putting me on cyclical Prozac
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I'm not going to try progesterone anyway, no one in the UK is in favour of it (apart from the woman on the NAPS helpline, who is way out of date) as it's not been shown to be more use than placebo in research. It was popular a few decades ago, but the research didn't bear it out.
I've just marshalled a small army of pills into those little pill reminder boxes, hopefully I'll remember to take stuff this way. Whenever I try to take vitamin supplements or herbal tinctures (vits need to be taken with meals, tinctures have to be measured into a glass of water which is a nuisance), I can never remember enough to keep it up (I do have genuine memory problems). However, I was OK taking the Cerazette, only one missed and three late tablets in three months, and I think it was because I took it when I took my temp, which I set an alarm for. Vitex is meant to be taken first thing, so hopefully I can just continue that little routine, and having the mini box with the day's pills in it by my bed will be enough to remind me to take the others when I eat.
Here's what I'm planning, does it sound reasonable to you? At the moment, this'll be daily. I've checked a good few sources on vitex, including asking a herbalist, and they mostly agree to take it all the way through the cycle, and generally say give it 3-4 months to see if it's working. I wasn't going to bother with evening primrose oil, but I just opened a cupboard and discovered that I have two and a have bottles of the stuff, so I may as well until it runs out. I think I'll take the EPO daily for a cycle, then just during my luteal phase.
Vitex - 1.6 mg at 9 am
General multivitamin (has some minerals, not enough)
Multimineral (mostly makes up the mineral content, apart from Ca and Mg)
Calcium, magnesium and zinc (brings the minerals up to scratch and I'm now on a good dose of Ca and Mg, both recommended for PMS)
3000 mg EPO - daily for one cycle, then in luteal phase and/or lower dose
Try to stick to eating a complex carb every 2-3 hours during my luteal phase
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your supplementation looks good to me. are you taking the vitex in tincture? be sure that you don't take more than 600mg of calcium (elemental) at a time for optimal absorbtion. i've read several different opinions with good evidence that EPO can be helpful for PMS at high doses since it's thought that PMS sufferes have a deficiency in long-chain fatty acids (like those found in EPO, fish oil, cod liver oil, etc).
you are correct in that women with short luteal phases tend to miscarry more than those who have longer luteal phases, hence the reason for high dose oral progesterone supplementation until the 12th or 13th week of pregnancy when the placenta begins producing hormones. since luteal phases tend to be consistent for a woman (vary widely across the population), there's a strong possibility you've had short luteal phases without knowing.. which.. if they aren't balanced or extended *could* lead for problems with pregnancy down the road.
all the more reason to continue charting :)
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It's probably a good thing I'm not using FAM for contraception (apart from anything else, I wouldn't be suited to it), my gynae would have a fit.
My mother had trouble with repeated miscarriages when she was my age, and she was put on progesterone injections so as not to lose me when she was pregnant with me. She later had perimenopausal oestrogen-dominant breast cancer, so I have a strong feeling that hormonal problems of this sort are running in the family as a luteal phase defect apparently causes oestrogen dominance.
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i don't think it matters whether the vitex is in tincture form or capsule form, as long as it says "standardized to contain 0.6% agusides".
estrogen dominance can definitely be a cause of poor progesterone/short luteal phases. hearing more history, it sounds like vitex is a good way to start!
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