sex lies and menopause

[Maya]

Hi guys.
Just want to report I'm taking ashwagandha for 4 week now and it made a HUGE relief from my
perimenopause and high cortisol symtoms. I'm 43, also with PCOS and anxiety issues.
Was curious about it since there are so much good testimonies so I give it a try before I jump in
with some sirious hormonal supplements.

I'm so glad I did cause after long time realy feel like me again, can't remember last time I felt so calm and normal.
And it last for all day long.
Energy is up, pain in joints and whole body is significaly reduced. Skin is glowing.

I take 250 mg ashwaganda 2 x a day. But only for 5 days a week. 2 days pause so my body gets no too much used to it.
I also increased daily nicotine intake.
Other stuff - suplements as ussual - Lipo C vit, Mg glycinate, probiotics, iodine, MSM, NAC, fermented cod liver oil during winter.
8:16 fasting or OMAD. Up to 150 gr carbs daily.

We'll see how the story continues in upcoming months...

Hope this helps

 

[dani]

I don't think either of us are advocating estradiol higher than treatment range. Do you agree that a peak of estradiol on day 12 in the range 350 to 550 pg/mL is safe and is not a risk factor for developing hormonally related cancers and does not cause anxiety, fibrocystic breast disease, cervical dysplasia, bloating, mood swings. poor sleep, or weight gain?

Hlat, I will try to explain my reasoning scientifically so that you can see why I disagree with a serum level in this range. I appreciate the question.

The optimal level of estradiol in postmenopausal women to alleviate symptoms, reduce risk of heart disease, and maximize the positive effects of estrogen is 20-50 pg/ml. So that level is unnecessarily too high. (Women who take birth control pills have peak estrogen levels of 50-100pg/ml.) The reason the estrogen reaches such a high level on day 12-14 of a cycling woman is because of reproduction capacity. Estradiol increases in the first half of the cycle, stimulating the maturation of the egg. The high concentrations on day 12 causes an LH (luteinizing hormone) surge which induces ovulation. Ovulation then causes the hormone pattern to shift to a progesterone dominance for the remainder of the cycle. If pregnancy does not occur, the corpus luteum (remnant of where the egg was released in the ovary), which secretes the progesterone, regresses, reducing progesterone which then initiates menses. It is not a natural phenomenon to try to reproduce this cycle in postmenopausal women. It is just not necessary. The high levels of estradiol mid cycle are for reproductive purposes. As a matter of fact, women who have extended years having cycles (ie late onset menopause) have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. It is a much more complicated and intricate process than what I explained above, but I wanted to explain as scientifically as I could without overloading information. So, the levels of 350-550 pg/ml are a risk factor for developing hormonally related cancers, anxiety, fibrocystic breast disease, cervical dysplasia, bloating, mood swings. poor sleep, and weight gain in postmenopausal women.

It is true that estradiol levels fluctuate in a cycling woman. They actually fluctuate throughout the day, every day, but the trend is to increase until mid cycle. So that part is very true as mentioned in the book.

Again, I have not read the book, just the synopsis above. There may be a lot of good information in it, but I disagree with this particular piece.