Perfect 10 Progesterone & Other Curious Findings

I finished reading Dr. Raymond Peat’s book “From PMS to Menopause. Female Hormones In Context” and I am now (re)reading the articles collected in "Nutrition For Women". I will soon write review those. For now, I will just comment on my test results.

In his book, Ray Peat recommends a ratio from five to ten times more progesterone than estrogen in serum levels. He does, on several occasions, mention the possibility of progesterone’s turning into “other hormones”, but he never takes this idea to its full consequence, namely, natural progesterone's possible final transformation into Public Enemy No. 1, estrogen. I think that, sooner or later, he should address this, because it is an important part of the hormonal equation, one that has not received the necessary focus up to now.

Drum rolls, please, as my progesterone levels were exactly TEN TIMES the amount of my estrogen, many weeks after my short Progest-E experiment, when I felt things had returned back to normal. Not five, not six, not seven... Perfect 10 me! 

(So, well, I was right all along, and those who tried to tell me my symptoms stemmed from a potential “liver issue” better learn that their imaginary knowledge of how hormones can affect one would be best not shared out there. Also, if a woman describes previously non-existent symptoms of estrogen and cortisol spikes after taking natural progesterone, you can believe her, although Dr. Peat and other proponents of natural progesterone never explicitly discuss the possibility.)

I also had good levels of DHEAs. I am sorry I didn't check my pregnenolone, I forgot, but I soon will.

Now, for the thyroid part of my labs: despite supplementation of 50 mcg of T4 for almost a month, my levels of T3 and T4 are only slightly changed. That is, T3 decreased a tiny bit, but it was already in mid-range, from 2.55 to 2.43, in a range of 1.71-3.71 pg/ml. T4 went from 13.4 to 13.52 in a range of 12-22 pmol/l, so it’s still lagging towards the lower part of the admissible spectrum, Levothyroxine or no Levothyroxine. TSH was the only one that took a spectacular dive, from 5.21 to 1.90, on range of 0.21 to 4.60 mui/l. This made my GP happy, albeit a bit mistrusting of the Romanian labs, so I will repeat them here in two weeks or so. I wanted to move up to 75 mcg of T4, but she said that would not be warranted and that raising my metabolism was not what she had in mind, to begin with — just getting rid of the TSH, while settling in the thyroid range my body chooses, as long as that is within what is considered normal.

I can understand her wish to tamper with key metabolic things as little as possible. However, if I ever receive my T3 supplements (I ordered them online at mymexicandrugstore.mx), I will try to supplement a little bit of that and see how I feel.

For the bad news of the day, after one year of constant and considerable decline, my TPO antibodies rose again, from 535 to 731 (normal: below 5.61!) The TGO antibodies have decreased (could this be due to the Anatabloc supplementation?) and are now within acceptable limits — but they were never that high to begin with (from 4.25 to 3.52, they should be below 4.11.)

Anyway, I do feel better with this (loosely) Peatian diet and the little T4 I am taking. I have more zest for life, more energy and my circadian rhythms are excellent — at night, there is this magnificent tired feeling, like when I was a child and I would drop in the evening, brain foggy, muscles tired, to only wake up in the morning, refreshed and ready to take on a new day. This is in itself a superb achievement and might bring with it a lot of good.

Let me not forget my “pre-diabetic” story. It turns out one should never buy cheap blood sugar monitors. After so much worrying about it, the serum glucose lab test revealed a nice 84 in a range of 60 to 105 mg/dl. My home measurement that morning: over 110. So I stopped DIY-ing in this department. 

Heart: curiously high diastolic pressure, more often than not, and a puny pulse pressure.

You can see from the upper part of the graph above that I am trying my hardest to push my calories intake and my body reacts, by packing on pounds. I fight back by reducing calories, only to start again pushing my luck. I am curious if I changed anything after all this effort, if I went past 1600 calories a day while maintaining my weight -- I shall soon check on Cronometer. 

And finally, in the ears department: another infection, this time in the right ear. I took cyprofloxacine. The otolaryngologist said I should maybe consider a CT scan or an X-ray. I said no way. She insisted, maybe at least an ultrasound? I already did that and they found nothing, just some inflamed lymph nodes. She still seemed worried. I told her about my progesterone and pregnenolone supplementation and the ear pains and now the repetitive infections — she said she would not be surprised if those played a role, because the ears are lined with mucous tissue and they react to hormones.