Weight gain Estrogen Dominance

Do you need to diet any?  I've been doing the high protein, low carb diet with loads of water intake these last couple of days.  The water loss has been wonderful.  It's been said the first few days of this diet is actually more water loss then fat.  No way of knowing if that's a fact, but I'm down 5 lbs since I started it 2 days ago.   And if it is all water, then thank you very much.   I'll try to put my rings on and if they slide on easily, I've lost mostly water.  It's the only test I have.

No I wouldn't use progesterone cream.   Why do you want to take black cohosh?  It's still iffy because conflicting studies have found that it might be estrogenic, and others say it isn't.  Until they're sure, we have to avoid it.  

You might want to try this until you begin tamoxifen:  Deficiency of Vitamin B6 and Magnesium. Both of these are necessary for the neutralization of estrogen in the liver. Too much estrogen also tends to create deficiency of zinc, magnesium and the B vitamins. These are all important constituents of hormonal balance.

Christiane Northrup talks about estrogen dominance in her book on menopause.  I recall her talking about it in reference to hrt therapies and how many women are prescribed more estrogen when their estrogen levels are already dominant over ... .... well, I guess dominant over progesterone. 

She also said women tend to gain weight as their ovaries decrease their production of estrogen because fat can also produce estrogen.   

Bliz, have any of your doctors run a TSH test to learn your thyroid level?  Unexplained weight gain and difficulty getting it off can be a sign of thyroid disorder.  I've been battling fatigue since I started tamoxifen.  Now I'm wondering if my thyroid is to blame for that one.  The 'normal' range was redefined in 2002 and all my medical professionals locally are still using the old standard.  

If you have estrogen dominance, I think Northrup is a great author to read for more information.  One thing I don't like, however, is her audience is just women in general.  As cancer patients, so many things are different for us.  Like using progesterone cream, for example.  I think Northrup does recommend it, but anyone with an er+ tumor should stay away.  She's also very big on soy.  Soy this, soy that.  Even though I do eat flaxseed for breakfast, based on her recommendation, I do stay away from soy.  As much as possible anyway.  Soybean oil seems to be in every single bread product these days.   

I read that mushrooms have a AI result on estrogen.

Also, Melatonin.

Try to eat a very low sodium diet, meaning, no prepared foods, take out or soups. They are loaded. Salad dressings etc. too, you can get herbs without salt for dressing. Cayenne pepper to make it spicy.

Have you had a gyn check up to exclude ovarian cysts?

God BLess

Kmb,

I think they do the same as an AI, prevent the enzyme aromatase from doing the job.

Will try to find the link for you.

God Bless

"The researchers found that out of seven vegetable extracts, mushrooms had the most effective anti-aromatase effect due to one phytochemical: conjugated linoleic acid. They were surprised to find that mushrooms contain conjugated linoleic acid, a compound that has previously been found to have anticancer properties, because it is mainly present in animal-based foods."

Why not just take CLA?  We probably would have to be eating quite a bit of mushrooms each day to get the anti-aromatase effect.

Beth, I wouldn't eat soy lecithin if my life depended on it.  Whether it has no estrogenic effects is secondary to how they get lecithin.

Bliz,

To put your mind at rest, ask your Dr. to check your estrogen level.  You've been on AI's and they should have lowered your estrogen level.  Having water weight gain is not unheard of here for those of us on AI's.  Self-medicating with progesterone or black cohosh especially for us who are ER+ is not the answer.  Talking with your Dr. should help with your worries.

Bliz,

I don't really know anything about estrogen dominance so I can't help you there. I know my doctors are almost rabid about keeping estrogen OUT of my system. (I am 70% ER+ and PR-). I was metastatic right from the start so our situations are quite different.

I am wondering when you last had a pelvic exam and pap smear? I don't want to alarm you, but the bloating can be a sign of ovarian cancer. Johns Hopkins has more information here:  http://www.ovariancancercenter.org/basics/symptoms.cfm  Maybe it would be a good idea to rule that out to make sure?

I am using estrogen cream topically. Just a trace amount. Is that bad?

My tumor markers have been creeping up since June. I have bc mets and am ER+ It was recommended that I take AHCC to build up my immune system. It is a combination of mushrooms. It will take over a month to show any improvement in my blood work. I have been taking it for about 3 weeks now. It is expensive, but I needed to feel that I was doing something instead of just sitting around waiting for the cancer to come back in for a landing . Greta