So some of you may or not know the the BTD(especially pared with finding out that I am a NON-secretor) has helped me to lose 95 pound quite quickly..in about 7 months and had kept it off for 2 years UNTIL.....in June I went in to have my tubes tied and then stopped taking " Yasmin birth control pills" I went on them to help control mild acne and crazy mood swings but what it also did for me was somehow balance my hormones. In the last 3 months I have gained 22 pounds without changing a damn thing, my acne and mood swings are back with avengence...so sad...I take bio-identical thyroid 250 mg a day for 14 years and just started on bio-identical DHEA 10 mg about 2 months ago...Any idea's??  

Congrats on the weight loss!!
I'd look into what is used in the Yasmin birth control pills and try to duplicate that naturally. I feel your pain. Putting on weight myself, hormones are all out of whack.....finding a dr or ND who can TRULY reign all that in, is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.  
I'm sure there will be others along w/ better advice.  

girly, what an amazing journey...congratulations!!!!!!
Find out why from the doc who gave you the BC pills.....or like IB says, get a naturopath! sorry I don't have any ideas...maybe its the dhea?

Have you had your thyroid tested lately?  It may need an adjustment.  Just a thought.  

May be time to look at the Genotype Diet or even a SWAMI .

Quoted from girly

In the last 3 months I have gained 22 pounds without changing a damn thing, my acne and mood swings are back with avengence...so sad...I take bio-identical thyroid 250 mg a day for 14 years and just started on bio-identical DHEA 10 mg about 2 months ago...Any idea's??  

Congrats on your weight loss!     And, welcome to peri menopause..I took BHRT. I gained 10 pounds.  I went off it.  I also tried thyroid support and broke out in a rash all over my body. It was bovine.  The best thing you can do is don't consume food that affects your hormones.. Like meats with growth hormones.  Also included are HFC, White Refined Sugar..(they affect insulin) My best defense against the hormone madness is exercise. It seems to be the only thing that keeps my weight down and stablizes me. I also take Fish oil for the O-3's.  Your body might just trying to normalize itself after being on BC for a long time.  Could take awhile.   Do you exercise?  

Have you had your estrogen and progesterone tested?  When I had mine tested, I was put on progesterone and the weight came off very easily, I no longer wanted to disown my children and call a divorce attorney every month for my husband.  This happened in my late 30's.

Since I turned 45, I have had a lot more excess estrogen in my liver and bowels.  I was recently put on some amino acids and some other supplements (available at Planet Organic in Edmonton).  I don't have the supplements with me right now, I will edit the message with the supplements.  I tend to get acne in my hairline in PMS time and that has cleared up.  I also am losing the final jelly belly bits under my bust.  My thyroid seems to be more stable and doesn't ache when I get tired.  Have you tried Tyrosine and Iodine for your thyroid?

I have also changed my exercise routine, I used to lift more weights, I decided to do more anaerobic exercise and I am seeing a difference in the scale.

I agree on the Swami, it really pinpointed my foods as more O nonnie.  DHEA might turn into estrogen, especially if your body is stressed.  If you have too much estrogen, it will take up the thyroid receptors as well.  

check the menopause or aging book to see how food ratings change according to your non secretor status....

Quoted from jeanb

Since I turned 45, I have had a lot more excess estrogen in my liver and bowels.  

how in the world did you figure that out? wow!!

bravo for your weight loss, well done... perhaps you might really go for the *fine tuning* with GTD or the newest swami programs; and hmmmm I am not happy at all to take notice that you are on that pill.... it  would be better, especially as being an AB nonnie, not to take such a pill...sorry I don't want to scarry you but here in Switzerland more then 2 women died coz of that issue... I'd be happy
if you'd able to change this.....

My MD who is very interested in endocrine issues has been watching my hormone levels.  He couldn't figure out why my blood tests were normal but I still showed signs of high estrogen.

I brought him some reading material, he showed me some of his reading material and decided the estrogen is recirculating (FYI, TOM would always bring on extreme diarrhea and that is one of the signs).  I think there is a section on this in the Menopause book.

Hi girly,
hormones are such an important factor in our health balance, and I agree with jeanb to get them tested carefully, by someone who understands hormones.  Most naturopaths seem to prefer saliva testing for accuracy and most MD's prefer blood testing.  I don't know which is best, and if someone else has this info to share, that would be great.

Especially when you go off a hormone therapy or birth control pill, you need someone to monitor you and help with that transition.  There are many alternatives for bioidentical hormones, and many are transdermal, which by-pass the liver.  This can be a good thing if the liver is overburdened.

edited to add:
Regarding DHEA, it can work wonders, but it can also screw things up quickly if you don't moniter the level in your body.  My DHEA was getting lower with age, and I take 5 mg/day.  That's as much as my body needs, along with some progesterone cream.  But all that was decided through regular blood testing.

DHEA always makes me gain weight.  You could try 7-Keto DHEA, it's supposed to be better for women.

Quoted from mikendomsmum

Have you had your thyroid tested lately?  It may need an adjustment.  Just a thought.  

Went and did bloodwork for my thyroid and antibodies today...we will see in a couple of days... my Dr. likes to keep it at around 1...

Quoted from Amazone I.

bravo for your weight loss, well done... perhaps you might really go for the *fine tuning* with GTD or the newest swami programs; and hmmmm I am not happy at all to take notice that you are on that pill.... it  would be better, especially as being an AB nonnie, not to take such a pill...sorry I don't want to scarry you but here in Switzerland more then 2 women died coz of that issue... I'd be happy
if you'd able to change this.....

I am not on the pill anymore BUT I felt so good on it, I have to admit  

Quoted from jeanb

My MD who is very interested in endocrine issues has been watching my hormone levels.  He couldn't figure out why my blood tests were normal but I still showed signs of high estrogen.

I brought him some reading material, he showed me some of his reading material and decided the estrogen is recirculating (FYI, TOM would always bring on extreme diarrhea and that is one of the signs).  I think there is a section on this in the Menopause book.

Very interesting!
Learning alot from this thread, girls, thanks!
And, WOW, girly, great weight loss!
And, PS, girly, isn't it nice to be able to say you've got a bunch of food allergies and know we aren't rolling our eyes? Just about everybody here can't eat something without "paying" for it, lol.

I know quite a few women who use progesterone cream during the second half of their cycle to help balance out their hormones.  I tried chasteberry one month because it's supposed to help with cramps...turns out it's good for the PMS type of congestive cramps, not the feeling-like-you're-in-labor type I have, and I ended up with serious vaginal dryness and itching along with night sweats.  Oops! It helps with low progesterone, NOT low estrogen!  I gave them to my friend who has real bad mood swings from PMS and she said they help, so you might want to try that.

How frustrating to lose all that weight and then have hormones cause it to creep back!  Try not to get discouraged  

One other idea I have is that if your progesterone is low, it can cause the thyroid to slow also, if I remember correctly.  So maybe just a touch of progesterone cream would work for you.  

thanks for all the comments! according to my lastest bloodwork my Thyroid is just below 1...which is perfect for me. My last test was 3 months ago and it was at 10...we will see. As for the hormone stuff my progest. was just slightly low at day 20, so not too much to worry about..I am going to continue with the 10mg of DHEA for now. I am thinking that the two surgeries I had may have affected me abit too...first getting my tubes tied and the second 9 weeks ago was a breast lift!!! Best money I ever spent! My D's are now where they should be and look so great...4 kids and 7 years of breastfeeding will do that to you! ha!

good for you!

Quoted Text

night sweats.  Oops! It helps with low progesterone, NOT low estrogen!

ever tried fembalance?
http://www.4yourtype.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NP033
http://www.4yourtype.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HP022

Lola~  I haven't tried that one, but I've tried similar hormone balancing supplements and creams, but  anything with progesterone in it really messes me up.  Straight black cohosh seems to work the best for me.  Fembalance has chamomile in it and that flares up my hayfever anyway...at least the tea does.

This past spring my whole body went haywire and I ended up with PMS for the first time in my life.  I could finally understand what my mom went through all these years, when I thought she was just crazy.  Progesterone cream worked very well at getting things back to normal, but as soon as I had a normal cycle I had to quit using it because I had returning signs of low estrogen again.  I never had any problems with any of those girly issues until I got my tubes tied.

Girly: What was your routine when you had that incredible weight loss? Did you exercise or was it just portion sizes? Thanks.

Quoted from Lola

ever tried fembalance?
http://www.4yourtype.com/prodinfo.asp?number=NP033
http://www.4yourtype.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HP022

I got the clearcal, but didn't see the fembalance. Will put that on my list for my next order.