Merry Christmas/Happy New Year!
I find your post very interesting. So many women on this site claim that NBE is not permanent, and that maintenance doses have to be sustained for the rest of your life, and although I know biological males are somewhat different in how they respond to NBE, you do prove that results CAN be permanent.
That's crazy that you took so much PM and it still didn't seem to give you the same "shopping urges" that pharm E did. LOL! I guess even if you take a lot of the strong stuff, it still isn't going to interact with your body exactly like something else. I was on a somewhat low-dose estrogen program that actually put my into estrogen dominance over time (this is how I learned I was progesterone deficient as well, haha), but because of money I switched over to PM. I figured I'd do great on it, but as it turns out, the usual female dose of 1,000mg isn't doing squat for me. Everything's going to work a little bit differently I guess.
One question, your hair that did grow back, did it grow back any thinner or lighter than before? Body hair is a huge problem for me, and being predominantly Italian makes it that much worse. ^^; Anti-androgens are doing wonders for me, but I honestly don't want to have to take them for the rest of my life (although in all honesty, because of my PCOS, all of my NBE might end up having to be somewhat permanent!)
(I personally would trust the natural stuff well over the pharm stuff, but hey, if it has worked for you in the past and you like it, we can't judge you!

) Good luck mixing the two, I hope it gives you all the results and urges you're after!