Bernadette
Forum Replies Created
-
Hi @Yasmin atassi – thanks for sharing your test results.
I’m going to share some education and also ask you additional questions so that we can puzzle piece together. Deal?
First, please watch THIS VIDEO on the role of DHEA in our body from the Adrenal Balance course.
Next, please read THIS Symptom Dictionary handout on Acne to look at the most common root cause factors.
You provided a very valuable clue about the acne improving when you were pregnant, and then reappearing post-partum. During a successful pregnancy, progesterone increases the most in order to maintain the uterine lining and prevent miscarriage or premature labor. Estrogen levels, particularly estriol, also rises significantly, to support fetal development and maternal body changes.
Therefore, if someone was androgen dominant before pregnancy, meaning testosterone is relatively higher than both estrogen and progesterone, then the natural increases of both estrogen and progesterone during pregnancy will improve that ratio/hormonal balance. This could explain why you felt relief during pregnancy. Makes sense?
Now your test results show significantly elevated DHEAs. As you learned in the video I shared above, DHEA is a major androgen for women to produce testosterone. And elevated DHEA is one of the main contributing factors for acne (also mentioned in the handout above).
Therefore, the next question to be asking is ‘why is your body producing high levels of DHEA’?
Since you now know it’s made in the adrenal glands and its role is to protect us from the effects of cortisol, the first question I have to ask you is about stress.
What is your perceived level of stress?
High insulin (from stress and/or diet) can also increase DHEA. Have you tested your blood sugar levels including fasting insulin? (i.e. fasting glucose, HbA1C, fasting insulin)
Certain medications can increase DHEA. So can alcohol. Are you consuming any of these?
An overactive thyroid can also increase DHEA. Do you have any other symptoms that could point to hyperthyroid function? Watch THIS video from the Thyroid Balance course. Has a full thyroid panel been tested? Here are the markers.
PCOS. Has a gynecologist ever diagnosed you with PCOS?
Higher than normal body fat/obesity. Fat is an endocrine tissue, which can reduce sex hormone binding globulin (SHGB). SHGB has an affinity for binding to androgen hormones like DHEA and testosterone so if it’s low, there will be more DHEA circulating around having effect.
Another interesting clue that you shared is about acne coming out mid-cycle around ovulation. When we ovulate (assuming we release an egg), we produce A TON of progesterone in the second half of our cycle, called the luteal phase. Progesterone should naturally be higher than estrogen in the 2nd half of our cycle.
If however we do not ovulate, progesterone does not get produced, and we will be more estrogen dominant (higher ratio of estrogen to progesterone, even if levels look “normal” on labs).
So it is possible for a woman to be both androgen and estrogen dominant in different phases of her cycle, which is often the case in PCOS. (read more about it HERE in the Symptom Dictionary handout).
The above will help you figure out hormonal imbalances. But there are also other factors which may also be contributing to acne which we can explore as well, especially since you’ve been struggling with acne almost lifelong.
Have you ever measured your zinc levels? I would request RBC zinc and RBC copper together since they compete with each other.
Do you consume a lot of iron? Supplement with iron? Cook in cast iron? Iron opposes zinc.
Have you measured your vitamin A levels?
Have you measured RBC magnesium level?
Have you explored food sensitivities (especially dairy and gluten)? Have you ever done an elimination challenge to remove the most common culprits before? If you’re interested in testing, I would recommend the KBMO but it’s expensive!
Toxicity affecting detox pathways (i.e. mold & mycotoxins, agrichemicals, heavy metals). If you suspect this could be at play, I’ll share further action steps. Let me know.
Dysbiosis (imbalance in gut microbiome). Do you have any other GI symptoms that could point to that possibility like gas, bloating, reflux, heartburn, constipation, diarrhea?
Ok, I’ll leave it here for now. Please take the time to review the handouts/videos I’ve shared, and I’ll wait for your responses which you can reply to 1 by 1 since I’ve numbered them to help keep track. Awaiting your responses.
-
@KK please report back
-
@Naveed Aslam sure will ask my team to check on that for you. Please share your email address used in B Better. You can send it by DM if you prefer.
-
@Yasmin atassi can you please share your email address so we can check on that for you. We send out monthly insider emails with an update on everything that’s happening in B Better. It’s separate to the weekly community emails. Feel free to send me a private DM with your email if you don’t want to share it here.
The email on travel prevention was not from B Better but from my personal mailing list. Would you like to be added to my personal email list?
-
Glad you enjoyed it @Bahareh Safapour!
-
@Naveed Aslam no problem – just making sure. We recently became aware that some members have not been receiving our insider emails due to an internal setting blocking their email addresses. Glad you’re receiving our emails.
-
Hi @Naveed Aslam – it was changed to support@bbettermembership.com
Can you please confirm if you receive our monthly insider emails?
-
@Lana Zambarakji 250-500mg of S Boulardii is what’s generally recommended for kids, so no issues opening up a capsule and mixing it into soft food/cool liquid if you have that on hand already.
What brand is proflora?
-
@Nathalie Khoury I’m fine with it. That specific strain is very effective so the sweetener which helps with compliance in children is a small price to pay in my opinion
-
@KK did his nausea improve while taking Creon? Did the doctors rule out possible contributing factors of pancreatic insufficiency such as type 1 or 2 diabetes, celiac disease, obstructions in the pancreas, autoimmune pancreatitis, etc?
From a functional perspective, hypochlorhydria can lead to poor signaling and weak pancreatic enzyme release. Have you tried the baking soda challenge test to see if low stomach acid is a possibility? HERE’S a video on how to do that (skip to 3-minute mark).
-
@Yasmin atassi yes, best to check with her. It might be an appropriate dose for your unique needs, but better to double check.
Waiting 2 hours after a meal is good. 3 hours is even better whenever you can.
-
@Nathalie Khoury as for S Boulardii, I couldn’t find any available for kids on Amrita. But I found a few options on iHerb that offer S. boulardii in their formulation for kids:
-Primal Defense Kids
-Probulin
My favorite is still Florastor Kids which is available on Amazon here.
Please confirm if that’s what you were looking for.
-
Hi @Seyma Wilschefski – I have a yearly contract with Home Care for organic pest control service, but they also offer tank cleaning services.
They first clean the tanks manually by scrubbing off rust, removing debris, etc., and then they sanitize it using Nades 2.0 which is what the Dubai Municipality uses.
Depending on the tank size, it costs around 800 Dhs and takes about 3 hours.
-
@Yasmin atassi correct, the MedCaps DPO and MethylProtect offer B vitamins, but note that taking them together will give a large amount of B6 combined which might be counterproductive. Speak with your practitioner about the correct dose to be taking.
MedCaps DPO offers nutrients that support both Phase 1 & 2 detox, whereas Methyl Protect offers only B vitamins specific for methylation in a form that is useable by the body. So for your purpose, MedCaps together with a binder like PectaClear could be sufficient in combination with the other suggestions I shared in my previous reply.
-
@Nathalie Khoury migraines can have many contributing factors. You can share the following Symptom Dictionary handout with her to explore what these are (click HERE). From my experience, when the basics are ruled out (hydration, sleep, misalignments, nutrient deficiencies like magnesium, etc), it’s often due to hormonal changes, histamine intolerance, toxicity, and/or food sensitivities. The handout also shares basic lifestyle/dietary suggestions as a starting point.
We also have a Migraine Prevention & Rapid Relief protocol HERE which my clients have successfully used to prevent/reduce severity & duration of their migraines.
Please encourage your friend to join us if she needs more guidance on testing, etc.
