Faint patterns in chaos
Oct. 12th, 2015 12:27![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillSo I think I can conclude with reasonable certainty that the grapeseed extract I bought online has a lower potency than the pre-packed caps I had been buying at the store. It's been a long week figuring that out -- the immediate effects are similar, but the long-term effects are slightly different. So slightly that it took several rounds of waking up non-functional before I finally decided (today) to up the dosage permanently.
The one thing I haven't gotten tested is progesterone, but I suspect that level is what causes the difference in symptoms I'm seeing. Most of the time, what I get is cramping, nausea, brainfog, and depression. What I got yesterday was lethargy, brainfog, and high libido -- I could drag myself around to do stuff, but I wasn't all there, and I really just wanted to spend the day dozing in bed. Both are resolved with GSE, which suggests that both scenarios are caused by high estrogen... I expect that the former is what I get with normal/high levels of progesterone (as one would have when pregnant) and the other is when progesterone is low. I don't get either set when I've got the estrogen under control, though, so I can't track my progesterone by symptoms.
My waking temperature has stayed high (98.1-98.4), with occasional dips, for at least ten weeks (today is day 68 since I started measuring). The dip last Tuesday was exactly 29 days after the last one-day dip I measured, which is very interesting. I think it might be the remnants of my cycle, drowned in the wash of excess estrogen. The day after, my temperature always returns to the luteal-phase range. I'm not sure exactly how estrogen affects basal temperature -- I know that progesterone elevates it, but I don't think it's what's keeping my temperature high right now. The one-day dips would seem to coincide with a momentary drop in progesterone, however, such as I would normally get at the start of my period.
More data means more stuff I can hand to the gynecologist next month... this is one of the most complex puzzles I've ever tried to solve. I need more information.
The one thing I haven't gotten tested is progesterone, but I suspect that level is what causes the difference in symptoms I'm seeing. Most of the time, what I get is cramping, nausea, brainfog, and depression. What I got yesterday was lethargy, brainfog, and high libido -- I could drag myself around to do stuff, but I wasn't all there, and I really just wanted to spend the day dozing in bed. Both are resolved with GSE, which suggests that both scenarios are caused by high estrogen... I expect that the former is what I get with normal/high levels of progesterone (as one would have when pregnant) and the other is when progesterone is low. I don't get either set when I've got the estrogen under control, though, so I can't track my progesterone by symptoms.
My waking temperature has stayed high (98.1-98.4), with occasional dips, for at least ten weeks (today is day 68 since I started measuring). The dip last Tuesday was exactly 29 days after the last one-day dip I measured, which is very interesting. I think it might be the remnants of my cycle, drowned in the wash of excess estrogen. The day after, my temperature always returns to the luteal-phase range. I'm not sure exactly how estrogen affects basal temperature -- I know that progesterone elevates it, but I don't think it's what's keeping my temperature high right now. The one-day dips would seem to coincide with a momentary drop in progesterone, however, such as I would normally get at the start of my period.
More data means more stuff I can hand to the gynecologist next month... this is one of the most complex puzzles I've ever tried to solve. I need more information.
