Blood Hormone Test Results

Day 8.

As can be seen in my previous entries, I've had my hormones tested through blood as well as through saliva. My saliva test results came back basically saying that I'm estrogen dominant, but I decided to go to my doctor and get all my hormones checked by a professional.

I've mentioned that my blood hormone tests came back as normal, but just to be more detailed, I'll post the exact results here:

So everything was normal, except for my DHEA level. DHEA is a hormone made by the adrenal gland. My doctor thinks that the lab which tested this has a faulty method for measuring this hormone, because a lot of her patients are getting higher than normal results as well, and yet none of them have any symptoms of adrenal gland issues.

I don't know whether or not to trust her judgment on that. In my saliva hormone test (which she claims is untrustworthy) I also came out with "symptoms of adrenal gland dysfunction." Is it just a coincidence? Or is it actually true?

My doctor told me that if I was really worried about this she could prescribe me some birth control pills to take care of the problem, but I turned down the offer because she had already convinced me that I didn't have a big problem.

Apparently an overactive adrenal gland can end up producing more estrogen than needed, but since my estrogen level is normal, I'm not concerned. And besides, my result isn't THAT much higher than the expected range. There's only a 1.2 ng/mL difference. Mind you, that might be a lot in terms of that hormone, but I guess I'm choosing to believe it's not.

Oh yes, I should also mention that I took these tests on the second day of my period, so all these results were compared to expected ranges for the follicular phase.

Massages and Teas

Today is my fifth day of NBE and so far I think I've done pretty well. I've taken all my pills, and I've massaged twice a day everyday (well, except for Day 2, during which I only massaged once). I'm starting to question how effective my massages are, since they're so short. Apparently Vitamin E lotion is a bit heavy to carry my herbs into the bloodstream. On the BE boards some members recommend using extra virgin olive oil for massage, because this makes the herbs easier to absorb or something. We actually have extra virgin olive oil at my house, but it's used for cooking (obviously). Also, I'd feel funny sneaking that oil to my room. Who knows though. I might start using it later today.

Some women also recommend applying heat to the breasts after massaging, because the heat is supposed to help with absorption. A lot of them use heating pads in order to achieve this. I'm debating whether or not I should try this. There are some pretty cheap heating pads on Amazon, so money isn't a problem.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that I've drank one fennel tea for the past two days. It smells absolutely terrible (like some horrible medicine) when there's only water and fennel in it, but I managed to sweeten it with cinnamon and brown sugar. The cinnamon made it have a very pleasant aroma too. I don't know if the sweeteners make the tea less potent, but it's the only way I can make the experience enjoyable. When I drank the fenugreek tea I didn't put anything in it to make the taste better, so that's probably why my experience was so bad. I still haven't tasted the saw palmetto tea, but I plan to either today or tomorrow.

I've become determined to start drinking my three teas everyday again (yes, even the fenugreek). I just need to look up some recipes to make them tasty. Once I'm done with this batch of fenugreek tea that I have, I'll probably switch to a different herb. There's plenty of reputedly estrogenic herbs out there, so it won't be hard to find another option. The only reason I went for the fenugreek tea is because this seems to be the most popular herb for NBE.

I've started my routine!

I started my routine on June 21, 2010.

Well, my herbal extracts finally got here this Monday, and I wasted no time in starting my program. I've decided to start out with pretty low dosages so that I can ramp them up later on. So far, these are the daily amounts I'm taking in pill form:

Fenugreek- 1220 mg
Fennel- 960 mg
Saw Palmetto: 1080 mg
Wild Yam: 1000 mg

I take one pill of each herb in the morning and then again at night.

Now, as for my massage, I've been doing it twice a day (morning and night as well). So far I've a very unrefined technique, and I'm really busy so the massages are very short. A lot of the women on the BE boards do special types of massages, but I haven't really looked into any of it, because personally I don't believe that it makes any difference whether I massage my boobs counterclockwise or clockwise. Right now, I massage for about two minutes each time, but I hope that I become more dedicated and do it for a little longer.

Anyway, this is what I include in each massage:

Borage oil- 1000 mg
Fennel- five drops of extract
Fenugreek- five drops of extract
Saw Palmetto- five drops of extract
Vitamin E lotion

I have no idea how many mg's each of the five drops of my herbs amounts to, but I chose to put five drops of each because on the instructions written on the back of each bottle, it says that you should put 10-15 drops into a glass of water and drink it. Now, I'm not drinking the extracts, but I figured I'd try to follow the amount they recommend and divide it among the herbs. I'll probably ramp this up later as well.

As far as my teas go, I've been doing horribly. As I've said in my previous posts, my original plan was to drink three different teas per day, but so far I've only managed to drink half a cup of one. I'm not a big fan of tea (never have been), but I've drank a few tolerable cups of tea in the past. However the herbal teas I've bought are terrible. Well, so far I've only tried the fenugreek, but the fennel and saw palmetto teas don't smell much better.

The fenugreek tea I made has a very strong smell. It smells like some kind of Indian cuisine, and I personally don't like Indian food--at least what I've tried. I especially don't like this particular scent. So it was very hard for me to drink it, because I was disgusted with the smell. It stunk up my house pretty badly which annoyed my family as well.

Another "odor" problem I've been having is with the mixture I'm using for massages. The fenugreek and the borage oil are pretty strong, and I can barely stand the smell of myself so I've been putting on some perfume to cover it up. The stench borage oil is also really hard to get rid of from my hands. I'll wash and wash, but the scent returns within minutes.

Anyway, that's all I've got to report for now.

Supplies

Well, I've got almost all the supplies I need for my routine. All that's left now are my herbal extracts, which I've just ordered online.

I've bought three different teas: fenugreek, fennel, and saw palmetto. All of them are from the brand Alvita. I've bought four herbs in capsule form from the Vitamin Shoppe: fenugreek, fennel, saw palmetto, and wild yam. I also bought borage oil (from the Vitamin Shoppe) for my massage. For my extracts, I've decided to get fennel, fenugreek, and wild yam. I bought them on Amazon, and they're from a brand called the Eclectic Institute. They claim that their ingredients have "optimum potency," but I'm not expert on what herbal brands are best, so I don't know how true that is.

Anyway, I hope to start my routine as soon as my extracts get here. I'm very excited, but nervous!

Test Results

So after many annoying events that delayed my getting these results any sooner, my doctor finally saw me on Wednesday (June 2nd) and told me how they turned out. I'm ecstatic to say that everything turned out fine! :D My ultrasound showed my insides as being healthy, and my blood tests showed my hormone levels as normal. This means I can start my NBE routine now!

I am planning on doing the following:

-Buying three different herb teas (fenugreek, fennel, and hops)
-Buying those herbs in capsule form as well (although I may change it up and buy some other galactogogues).
-Buying some beremeal cereal.
-Buying some herb extracts.
-Getting vitamin E and borage oil.

Protein is apparently very important to NBE, so I might be eating some protein bars everyday. Although I have a high-protein diet already, so this might not be necessary.