Emotional Depression

Progesterone is known as the happy hormone. Progesterone also increases sex drive in the absence of xenoestrogens. During the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, progesterone levels can be as high as 400 mg per day. During the normal cycle, progesterone is produced at only 20 to 40 mg per day during the latter half of cycle. If the depression varies with your cycle, then there is a hormonal component. This is the end of the story. However, it is not to say that depression can be caused by psychological trauma or events. All that I'm saying is that if emotional depression varies with the cycle, then hormones must play a role.

In the absence of xenoestrogens, progesterone will make you happy. After you stop the progesterone, the dropping progesterone level may make you depressed.

Xenoestrogens in synergy with their own hormones seem to make  my patients emotionally depressed to some extent. Xenoestrogens are chemicals and or herbs that mimic estrogen strangely. Because they are not really estrogen but only fit into the estrogen receptor, their effects can be estrogen like but at the same time unpredictable. Many times I find that the xenoestrogens make my patients emotionally depressed. There are five different possibilities about what will happen to you when you take progesterone:

1. You completely eliminate xenoestrogens from your environment. You don't need progesterone. Emotional depression that varies with your cycle disappears.

2. You take progesterone with xenoestrogens. Your emotional depression that varies with the cycle disappears. Progesterone may the make you feel elated, and when you stop progesterone you may feel slightly depressed.

3. You take progesterone with strong xenoestrogens. You temporarily get worse depression until you stop the progesterone. This is because the progesterone wakes up the estrogen receptors. It seems getting like you are getting more estrogen even though you're not.

4. You take progesterone with xenoestrogens. The progesterone seems to work for two months and then progesterone does not work for two months. It takes several months for the estrogen receptors to wake-up. This is known as dermal fatigue. There is no such thing as dermal fatigue. It is because you are taking xenoestrogens simultaneously with progesterone and estrogen receptors are now waking up. So, now the progesterone seems not to "work" because of the increased sensitivity to estrogen.

5. You take progesterone with herbs that block progesterone. These herbs create miscarriage by blocking the progesterone receptor. Taking progesterone with herbs that block progesterone makes it seem like there is nothing in the bottle. The progesterone becomes impotent.

What Are Xenoestrogens And Where Are They Coming From?

Xenoestrogens are chemicals and herbs that fit into the estrogen receptor. They fit into the estrogen receptor like a key and lock. Xenoestrogens represent the key, and the estrogen receptors represent the lock. Once these xenoestrogens fit into the receptor they tell the receptor to do various things to the body. The xenoestrogens tell the body to do strange things that are kind of like estrogen, but are really not. For instance, estradiol may increase your sex drive, but xenoestrogens will decrease your sex drive. Similarly, xenoestrogens may cause emotional depression.

Ironically, anything put on the skin has 10 times the potency of anything taken by mouth. Nicotine patches allow nicotine to be absorbed into the body. Similarly, estrogen patches also allow estrogen to be absorbed into the body. Likewise, soaps, cosmetics, lipstick, lotions, laundry detergent, toothpaste, and deodorant goes directly into the body. Anything taken by mouth is 90% prefiltered by the liver. Women have told me that mascara and even chapstick can give them bloating and breast tenderness. The first time I heard this, I was extremely skeptical. However, this same pattern has been repeated many times. It is also important to note that hormones are active at parts per billion. This is the same concentration as spitting into an Olympic sized pool.

For instance, DDT and a metabolite DDE is a classic feminizing hormone disruptor. In 1950s, male chicks were injected with DDT for 2 to 3 months. They did not die. Their wattles and combs were pale and small. Their testes were 18% of normal size. Essentially, the roosters were chemically castrated. Michael Fry at the University of California Davis injected Western California gull eggs with DDT and DDE and and methoxychlor. He found feminization of the males reproductive tracts. Female cells were found in the testes. At higher doses, an oviduct normally only found in females also formed. However, the outside appearance of the chick appeared to be normal.

DDT can still be eaten by Americans because produce grown in foreign countries may still be grown with DDT. DDT is banned in the United States for use on agriculture, but foreign countries can still use DDT. DDT has a very long half life of 2 to 15 years, and breaks down very slowly. You can also get DDT by working with the soil found in cotton fields in the United States. DDT is currently produced in China and Mexico.

Just because things are organic and natural does not mean that they are safe. For instance, you would not eat mushrooms that were growing in your yard after rain. Why? Some of these mushrooms could be poisonous. Similarly there are herbs that are natural and organic but are hormone disruptive. For instance, Clifford Bloch, MD, pediatric endocrinologist, presented a case in Denver, Colorado. He found several young boys with gynecomastia otherwise known as "man boobs". He measured their endogenous hormones and found them to be normal. He found that the parents of the boys were giving them tea tree oil and lavender oil. He advised the parents to stop both the tea tree oil and lavender oil. In 3 to 4 months, the man boobs disappeared. He then took the tea tree oil and lavender oil separately and put them in breast cancer cells sensitive to estrogen. He found that the tea tree oil and lavender oil made the breast cancer cells proliferate. This meant that lavender and tea tree oil mimicked estrogen. Furthermore, he had a line of breast cancer cells sensitive to testosterone. He put the lavender oil and tea tree oil in test tube with these breast cancer cells as well. He found that tea tree oil and lavender oil blocked testosterone. Therefore, lavender oil and tea tree oil were turning the boys into girls by stimulating the estrogen receptors and blocking testosterone expression simultaneously. The National Institutes of Health citing Clifford Bloch M.D.'s work recommended that parents not give their young boys tea tree oil and lavender oil. The implications of of this study are tremendous. Endometriosis is known to be sensitive to estrogen. Estrogen makes endometriosis grow. Therefore, tea tree oil and lavender oil will make endometriosis worse. Also, tea tree oil and lavender oil may provoke and make breast cancer worse. Just because herbs are natural and organic does not mean they are safe.

If you buy progesterone from us, you get a list of xenoestrogens to avoid and the protocol to use progesterone. You will also get a list of recommended products that seem to be free of xenoestrogens. This recommended product list was very difficult to assemble. Also, you get a protocol and how to use iodine and how to avoid toxic bromine.

Iodine Decreases Your Sensitivity To Xenoestrogens

Iodine reduces sensitivity to xenoestrogens.  Iodine forces strong estradiol to be converted to weaker estriol. I recommend taking iodine in the form of Lugol's iodine or Iodoral. Start at 3 mg per day and increase the iodine 5 mg every week or so until you reach 50 mg per day. Maintain 50 mg per day for 3-4 months and then after that you may maintain iodine intake at 10 mg per day.

The main thing to watch out for is bromine toxicity. Bromine is found in commercial bakery products, soft drinks, sports drinks, brominated pools instead of chlorinated swimming pools, sleep aids, and asthma inhalers. When iodine is taken bromine is forced out. Then, women experience bromine toxicity. The symptoms are bromine toxicity are wide and varied. You may have a rash. You may have acne. You may have difficulty sleeping with a racing mind. A common side effect is heart palpitations. You may have loss of hair, tingling in the hands or feet, headache, urination, diarrhea, constipation, irritability, dream changes, and lethargy. The important thing to remember is that these are side effects due to bromine toxicity and not iodine. Bromine is pushed out of the tissue by iodine. The worst side effect of bromine toxicity is when the thyroid gland becomes sore. This means the thyroid cells are breaking up. If the thyroid cells break up, then body may develop antibodies against the thyroid cells resulting in a Hashimoto's thyroiditis. So, if the thyroid gland become sore when taking iodine, please stop the iodine immediately. You may also detox with sea salt. Obviously, it is important to stop all intake of bromine. If you do not stop taking bromine, then you cannot detox from bromine.

It is important also to use Lugol's iodine or Iodoral. This is because both of these types of iodine contain iodide ion, I-, and atomic iodine, I2 . Some tissues take up iodide. Some tissues take up iodine. You need both kinds of iodine for optimal functioning of the human body. Lugol's iodine is inexpensive but may cause stomach upset or staining of clothes. Iodoral is expensive, but convenient.