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[dangermouse]

Not sure if this will help many of you here but the oestrogen/progesterone fluid part is interesting.

I went to see a private endocrinologist (thanks Ricekrispie for reminding me about her!), who I saw 5 years ago when my, much milder, symptoms perturbed her and she felt there was something more going on but everything was too vague then to make sense.

She has diagnosed me as suffering from gastric migraines (possibly for 20 years or so) where my own, now turbulent, oestrogen levels are triggering them. From my FSH results she said I'm not even perimenopausal yet (in the biblical sense) but hormones start to become volatile before they start falling. You don't necessarily get headaches with these migraines (which I rarely get) but the pressure feeling I've had since last year fits, along with the extreme nausea and vertigo as it is all about over stimulation. The tachycardia and anxiety are also symptoms where my cells are overwhelmed with fluid which triggers the adrenal fight/flight response.

Oestrogen apparently puts fluid in the cells (where progesterone takes it out) and, as mine are brimming over, most vitamins and supplements add to it and make me feel worse. She thinks there are probably food triggers too that just aren't clear anymore as it's been going on for so long.

In terms of treatment, she wants to get as much progesterone as she can in me to release the fluid from the cells but I am to start with a low dose and titrate up as it can apparently hit the oestrogen receptors first. Utrogestan will be too strong for me so she is going to start with a low dose, high absorption cream and maybe move onto lozenges later (that go straight into the tissue).

She said my liver growths were also indicative of gastric migraines and, which was no surprise to me, that caffeine and sugar help gastric migraines. However, once we lower the oestrogen and find any food triggers I then won't have to rely on these as emergency measures.

She may also do a prolactin blood test later in case of any pituitary gland issues (although it's just to rule it out). My DHEA was a bit high which is a reflection of the stress response.

I know self funded private docs aren't something we want to encourage here, particularly for those who have more straightforward hormone issues. However, having seen about 20 different docs via the NHS in the last year (GPs and A&E) who can only give you 5-10 minutes so have to rush out the most obvious diagnosis, seeing one specialist for an hour of intense diagnostics for the price of, say, 4 nights out, is certainly money well spent for me!

I know in my capacity as a psychotherapist that finding the cause of symptoms takes time and commitment to investigate in order to provide the correct treatment. My more complex cases involve me researching until the early hours and I really don't believe I could do a good job if I worked under NHS time constraints or if I crammed in too many private patients as time really is of the essence when things get complex.

[Elizabethrose]

Well done Dangermouse for pursuing this.

A good friend's son has suffered with gastric migraines from early childhood and they are terribly tricky to diagnose. To be honest migraine comes in a multitude of guises and can baffle most docs. I am aware of the many symptoms they can throw up and so often wonder when reading the posts on here whether they can explain the symptoms so many women are describing. I feel like Cold Comfort Farm's Ada Doom's 'something nasty in the woodshed' when I keep piping in with 'could this be migraine?'

I hope the progesterone treatment is successful for you, it's worth giving anything a go!

All good wishes x

[dangermouse]

Thanks yes it's quite a relief to think I finally have a diagnosis that makes sense with all my weird symptoms after all these years!

I googled the name of the liver growths at the time (can't remember name now, something like haemoglobin?) and it said they were common in pregnant women and those on oral contraceptives from elevated oestrogen levels. So the high oestrogen is probably the actual cause.

[dangermouse]

It was hepatic cysts and like a lot of these things they don't know the cause but Wikipedia stated the bit about the oestrogen and the doc nodded to that yesterday.

A lot of women apparently have them but never have symptoms to have a scan and no symptoms means no concern unless they get larger and start causing pain.

Yes its horrible when you're not given much to go on!