[phaedra]

Spearmint must be a really effective anti-androgen then! I was really doubting it. Is there a reason you do capsule other than taste? Have you ever had blood tests to see your androgen levels before and after the spearmint or do you just go off of visual results? I'm just wondering, because I was curious if your testosterone alone went down or if your DHEA also went down. I am going to look into PM & Blessed Thistle some more. Thank you for this advice it was very helpful and kind of you!

I use capsules for convenience. They're fast, easy to ingest and can be used when I'm away from home.

No, I haven't done any blood tests. There might be other bio-males though who use spearmint and have gotten their androgen levels tested. I base my experience with spearmint on how my libido and sexual functionality declines when I use spearmint.

About how long did it take to notice breast & butt changes? Do you know what cup size you are & how long that took? Also, would you say you've had a significant or slight increase in your butt? I wouldn't mind gaining some butt myself.

[TibetanPrincess]

Maybe pregnenelone and an anti androgen complex may help. Talk to a naturopathic Doctor. Its likely pancreas gallbladder and adrenals. Blood sugar/insulin imbalance is an ugly disease that shows. I have to fix this too.

[phaedra]

Maybe pregnenelone and an anti androgen complex may help. Talk to a naturopathic Doctor. Its likely pancreas gallbladder and adrenals. Blood sugar/insulin imbalance is an ugly disease that shows. I have to fix this too.

What does pregnenelone do? I know the pancreas is insulin related and the adrenals is dhea related, but where does the gallbladder come into play? Do you know of what vitamins support the gallbladder?
Do you have PCOS? Tuberous breasts? Have you had any success growing/rounding them?

[flamesabers]

About how long did it take to notice breast & butt changes? Do you know what cup size you are & how long that took? Also, would you say you've had a significant or slight increase in your butt? I wouldn't mind gaining some butt myself.

I would say a few months, no more than 6 I would say. It seemed like my enlarged areloas were the first thing the other members here noticed and complimented me on. I use progress pictures rather than measurements to gauge my progress. My ballpark estimate of cup size would be a 38A.

As for changes with my butt, that came as a total surprise. One day when I was putting on my exercising shorts I realized something was very different. Since then I've recognized that women's jeans tend to fit me better than men's. However it's not like I'm getting compliments like "cute butt" or anything from anyone.

[MonikaT]

For gallbladder, normally one uses either milk thistle or blessed thistle both of which are bitter herbs. Both cause the gallbladder to dump bile which can cause bowel disturbance when you first start taking it so be prepared to be running to the toilet the first few days. It might not happen, but it did to me when I added milk thistle.

Personally, I would stay away from Goat's rue which can be toxic to the liver and go with prescription metformin which is a more refined Goat's rue. It seems to have the potential for the same effects as milk thistle, only my sensitivity never improved after two years so I stopped using it. Other herbs to try for insulin resistance are cinnamon and mulberry leaf extract.

I concur on the recommendation of spearmint. There have been some small studies that show it helps with hirsutism in women, usually within 4-6 weeks.

Pregnenolone is sort of a master hormone.. It usually heps with things like poor memory.

High cortisol and high DHEA both point to the adrenals. I believe that the adrenals also make testosterone in women. Some form of progesterone makes sense. Yaz is synthetic progesterone. You might benefit from bio-identical progesterone cream such as Source Naturals which is available over the counter.

If you can afford it, as someone suggested, a naturopathic physician might be a better choice than a standard doctor. Naturopaths tend to take a more holistic approach rather than just looking at a few blood tests and treating the one problem using tired, old protocols with lots of side effects.

If you have low thyroid, that can certainly affect breast growth. If you need thyroid medication, stay away from synthetic and opt for some sort of natural thyroid such as Naturthroid, Westhroid or Armour. I was finally starting to get breast growth when my thyroid levels were close to normal. My medical provider doesn't seem to want to renew my prescription, and my growth seems to have stopped. Oh, and I'm a bio-male with the opposite problem of you--I don't have enough T, but last time I checked, my E level was normal so, technically, I have too much E relative to the amount of T I have.

This may seem counter-intuitive, but if too much E is causing the feedback loop to produce too much androgen, could lowering E into the normal range bring about a lowering of the androgens?

Since you bruise easily, you might want to look into vitamin K.

[Candace]

If you have low thyroid, that can certainly affect breast growth. If you need thyroid medication, stay away from synthetic and opt for some sort of natural thyroid such as Naturthroid, Westhroid or Armour. I was finally starting to get breast growth when my thyroid levels were close to normal. My medical provider doesn't seem to want to renew my prescription, and my growth seems to have stopped.

You can get thyroid on the "grey" market if your doctor insists on being unhelpful.

[phaedra]

For gallbladder, normally one uses either milk thistle or blessed thistle both of which are bitter herbs. Both cause the gallbladder to dump bile which can cause bowel disturbance when you first start taking it so be prepared to be running to the toilet the first few days. It might not happen, but it did to me when I added milk thistle.

Personally, I would stay away from Goat's rue which can be toxic to the liver and go with prescription metformin which is a more refined Goat's rue. It seems to have the potential for the same effects as milk thistle, only my sensitivity never improved after two years so I stopped using it. Other herbs to try for insulin resistance are cinnamon and mulberry leaf extract.

I concur on the recommendation of spearmint. There have been some small studies that show it helps with hirsutism in women, usually within 4-6 weeks.

Pregnenolone is sort of a master hormone.. It usually heps with things like poor memory.

High cortisol and high DHEA both point to the adrenals. I believe that the adrenals also make testosterone in women. Some form of progesterone makes sense. Yaz is synthetic progesterone. You might benefit from bio-identical progesterone cream such as Source Naturals which is available over the counter.

If you can afford it, as someone suggested, a naturopathic physician might be a better choice than a standard doctor. Naturopaths tend to take a more holistic approach rather than just looking at a few blood tests and treating the one problem using tired, old protocols with lots of side effects.

If you have low thyroid, that can certainly affect breast growth. If you need thyroid medication, stay away from synthetic and opt for some sort of natural thyroid such as Naturthroid, Westhroid or Armour. I was finally starting to get breast growth when my thyroid levels were close to normal. My medical provider doesn't seem to want to renew my prescription, and my growth seems to have stopped. Oh, and I'm a bio-male with the opposite problem of you--I don't have enough T, but last time I checked, my E level was normal so, technically, I have too much E relative to the amount of T I have.

This may seem counter-intuitive, but if too much E is causing the feedback loop to produce too much androgen, could lowering E into the normal range bring about a lowering of the androgens?

Since you bruise easily, you might want to look into vitamin K.

I read that there is a plant of the same species as Goat's Rue (French Lilac I think it is) which is supposed to be toxic, but I thought the actually Goat's Rue was fine....fffffffffffffffffffffffffff

[MonikaT]

Actually, French Lilac and Italian fitch are other names for Goat's rue. Upon re-reading the Wikipedia article on Goat's rue, maybe it isn't as toxic as I remembered it being. It was when they tried to concentrate the compound which lowers blood sugar and improves insulin resistance that they had issues with toxic lactic acid build-up. I guess I would say to be cautious since supplements are unregulated. Be sure to buy it from a trusted brand. You might also look into berberine, though it has done nothing for me. Then again, none of the over-the-counter remedies seem to have worked for me, and long-acting insulin caused my eyes to hemorrhage. Metformin has been shown to prevent diabetes in those who do not yet have it, but who might develop it.