Progress

Day Thirteen

I haven't been doing so well for the past few days. I haven't massaged for like two or three days. I've got work early in the morning, and I tend to forget that I need to wake up earlier in order to prepare my lotion, cleanse my hands thoroughly, and air out my room. Even when I do remember, I'm so tired that it takes superhuman strength to get out of bed (and why is it that when I need to wake up early my bed seems to feel extra soft and comfy?). The fact that I'm so bad about waking up with good time is the reason why my massages are so short. I usually only have three minutes before I need to rush out of my house in order to be punctual for work.

Yesterday I also didn't drink my daily tea, nor did I take my second dose of pills. That was the first time I've ever missed any dose for my herbs, and also the first time in a while that I hadn't drank at least one tea. The reason I missed my herbs and my tea is because I went to bed ridiculously early (like at 7 pm). I'd worn myself out earlier in the day, and what I'd actually been planning on doing was to take a short 30-minute nap, but I ended up sleeping for hours. By the time I woke up it was past midnight, and I just decided to screw it.

Anyway, my boobs have been bigger than usual for the past few days and they still are. I'm hoping that maybe my routine has something to do with it, but my rational side is telling me that I'm probably PMS-ing. My breasts tend to swell and feel tender during the week before I get my period. I usually get it around the 14th/15th of the month though, so it's a bit early for my boobs to be showing this symptom. I guess I'm getting my period early this month. I'm still crossing my fingers that maybe my NBE has something to do with my boobs being a bit bigger, but I think it's too early in my routine for them to be truly growing yet.

I'm planning on ramping up my doses on Day 15, after two full weeks of NBE.

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.

Ultrasound

I went to get the pelvic ultrasound today, and man was that a pain in the ass! I had to drink five cups of water half an hour before I got there, and I wasn't allowed to go to the bathroom. When I got to the doctor's office, I had to sit in the waiting room for another half hour, and by the time I got called in, I was practically exploding from the need to pee.

As the doctor started the procedure and pressed the thing (I don't know what it's called) to my stomach, it got even worse. She was pressing me right where it hurt the most, and it almost seemed like she was trying to squeeze the pee out of me. I actually had to stop her halfway through the process to run to the bathroom across the hall. She told me to try not to relieve myself completely so that there would still be some water inside me, which I think I managed. But it was so horrible. I hate having to hold my urine. Grrrr.

Anyway, I felt a little funny getting an ultrasound done, because the only other reason I'd ever heard of women getting them done is to check on the growth of their babies when they're pregnant. I stared at the screen as the doctor moved her thingy across my stomach and my sides, feeling as though I should be seeing a tiny person moving around in the image. My friends would automatically assume I was pregnant if I told them I'd gone to the doctor to get an ultrasound. I hope I can manage to get copies of the photos at some point in the future so that I can play pranks of people.

Just for my personal knowledge: I got my period on Wednesday, April 14, 2010.


Today I went to a lab in order to get my hormone levels tested through blood. I have my period right now, so I hope this doesn't affect my results. When I went to the endocrinologist a few weeks ago, the way she was asking me what day of my cycle I'd done my saliva test on, she made it sound like menstruation was relevant to hormone testing. But today, all the physicians I asked said it made no difference.

Tomorrow I'm getting a pelvis ultrasound to see if there's anything wrong with my insides, since I expressed concern about the fact that my results showed I hadn't ovulated. The endocrinologist said that that could have been perfectly normal depending where I was in my cycle at the time, but she also said it might be the symptom of a more serious problem. Just to make sure, I'm going to get it checked out.

Updates

I went to an endocrinologist this morning, and I'm feeling a lot more relieved. The doctor told me that I shouldn't think too much of the results from my hormone test, because according to her, saliva tests aren't considered all that trustworthy by the medical community. She called it "nonsense." And even if they were trustworthy, she says that the numbers in the results don't signal anything major. She says that depending on what was going on with my cycle during that time, me not ovulating could be perfectly normal, as well as my progesterone level being lower than my estrogen level.

Nevertheless, in order for me to feel more sure about my hormone levels, she gave me an order to take blood tests to check more hormones. The list on the slip she handed to me says that I'm going to test my estradiol, progesterone, FSH, LH, prolactin, TSH, T3____ (I can't read what it says), cortisol, testosterone, DHEAS, and two others that are written too sloppily for me to read. I guess I'll have to find a lab to perform them, set up an appointment, and then wait for my results.

I'm feeling better about all this though, and I'm back to hoping that my hormones are balanced after all.

Saliva Hormone Test Results

Well, it looks like this isn't going to be as simple for me as I wanted it to be. I got the results for my hormone test yesterday, and this is how they turned out (click on image).

I'm not sure what to do for estrogen dominance. There's a topic about it over at the BE Board but I'm still a little confused.

I told my mom about my imbalance, because I don't really trust myself to fix this on my own, and I really want to start NBE with balanced hormones. I think she's going to set up an appointment with a gynecologist so that they can test me and maybe tell me a little more about my body.

I hope that this is something I can fix easily, but I know that I'm going to have to make an effort to improve my diet. I'm simply not nourishing myself properly, and it's obviously taking a toll on my body in more ways than one. I'd like to gain a little weight anyhow.

Preparation and ideas

My goal for this project of mine is to gain at least two cup sizes. My ideal would be three cup sizes, but this herbal method of enhancement is not quite that generous to most of the women who attempt it. Besides, I may end up finding that two cup sizes is enough for my frame (I'm short and skinny, so being a D-cup might not look too good on me).

Anyway, I've been researching this, and I've come up with some ideas for what I may incorporate into my routine. I haven't set anything in stone however, because I want to know what my hormone levels are. I bought myself a saliva hormone test kit a few weeks ago and mailed it out last Thursday. Now I'm waiting for my results. I'm honestly not expecting to have any sort of hormonal imbalance because I'm young, healthy, and don't really have any symptoms to suggest otherwise, but if I'm going to invest my time and money on this, I want to be as sure as I possibly can that I'm heading in the right direction.

With that said, these are the ideas I've been thinking about so far:

• I may do a two-week liver cleanse before I start my routine, but I'm not too sure that this is necessary.
• I'm probably going to be taking galactagogue herbs like fenugreek, fennel, and hops. I'm definitely going to take them in pill form.
• I'll probably also be drinking teas of whatever herbs I get.
• I'm going to be massaging, and I think I'll be mixing Vitamin E lotion with borage oil and extract from my herbs. I'll be trying to do this three times a day (but I'll probably end up doing it twice a day due to my schedule) and I'll be rotating with the herbal extract I use in each massage.
• I might buy some barley cereal and some oats to eat.

And so far that's all I've got. I think it looks like a pretty good routine so far. It's going to be hard work, though! I'm really going to have to discipline myself and stick to this.

About This Blog and Me

If you're reading this, you probably know what the purpose of this blog is. I'm one of the many flat chested girls out there who wants to have bigger breasts. I have a pretty nice body overall, but I'd really love it if I could be curvier in my top area. I'd feel more feminine and confident about myself.

So just like people who want to lose weight and put themselves on a regimen of dieting and exercise, I'm going to put myself on a regimen of massaging and an herbal routine. I plan on dedicating myself to this natural alternative to implants for the next months, possibly even year.

I am currently 19 years old, I weigh 101 pounds, and I'm a 32A. I don't smoke or drink. I consume a lot of caffeine, but I plan on ending that while I'm on my program.

Wish me luck on this!