What causes testosterone to raise in women?

[heldawg]

Hi there,

Pax, I found the link to this forum through google research for the same issue and thought I'd give you another point of view (3 years later - better late than never).
I completely understand what you're going through and I can tell you that by much research over the years I've learned a lot about hormones and how they can really affect us negatively when in the wrong levels. The problem actually lies in the progesterone levels - not so much the estrogen and/or testosterone levels. As both men and women have these three hormones, it is the PROGESTERONE hormone that keeps the estrogen and testosterone levels in check (like insulin regulates blood sugar levels). Through many years of using the pill myself (I've now been off for 3 years) my body hasn't been able to return to "normal" estrogen and testosterone levels on it's own. However, since I've started on a TRANSDERMAL NATURAL progesterone cream, I have notied a significant increase in the thickness of my hair - admittedly it wasn't rapid but I can definately see a remarkable difference when comparing to photos from 6 months ago. I've also stopped being a personal trainer by profession, which means I don't have to keep up the high training/muscle-building schedule. When females do a lot of exercie and have considerably low fat levels and higher than normal lean muscle tissue than naturally required, the body becomes accustomed to prodicing slightly higher testosterone levels (even a slightly higher level can make a massive impact on a woman).
I need to point out the comparison to menopausal women and hair-loss to make my point......Estrogen is NOT the culprit to menopause sysmptoms, PROGESTERONE is!! Although estrogen decreases at pre-menopause phase, progesterone plummets dramatically and considerably. The first thing a doctor will tell you is your estrogen levels are low, tesosterone levels are slightly higher and then persist to prescribe HRT (MORE ESTROGEN) instead of giving you more progesterone to balance the levels of estrogen and testosterone.

I can tell you right now that the ONLY way to correctly measure your hormone levels is through a salivary test, NOT a blood test. Blood tests don't measure biologically active hormone levels (eg progesterone, testosterone, cortisol, estrogen, DHEA) like saliva tests do. Naturopaths will gladly give you a saliva test to do at home or you can purchase them online and send them away for analysis.

But for now, what I'd suggest you do/consider, is finding a doctor that deals with "Bio-identical" hormones and prescribe you with a transdermal progesterone cream in order to balance your estrogen and progesterone levels. I found a company in New Zealand that specialises in natural hormone creams, I'm sure there are many in the US and Europe.

I hope that gives you a good understanding of your stiuation.