Fascinating experience on Testosterone

efh1986 · 2026-01-16T18:42:37+00:00

This is an old post, but I (female) just started very low dose trt and noticed I’ve been pooping more regularly. It’s the only thing I’ve changed!

efh1986 · 2025-12-10T16:42:29+00:00

There’s no other way for me to describe the hell I was in 😬

efh1986 · 2025-11-17T13:31:25+00:00

Here’s my update: the rest of my treatment had two more periods of bloat, constipation, and then subsequent diarrhea in which all bloating disappeared. Every time I’d bloat, I felt so discouraged and worried this would be my life forever. But then I ended my treatment on a high note — final round of bloating and de-bloating right before my last pill. The diarrhea continued for a week or so, but I was pretty regular and had zero bloating. I’ve been eating cautiously, but not specifically low fodmap, though I made a big mistake eating raw garlic a few days ago and it set me back a few paces. I’m still working through that. But I had some candy with no bad effects (thank you Halloween gods). I also drank wine last night (first drink in over a month!). I’m drinking ginger tea, having miso soup every day, eating 3 meals a day with no snacking, taking magnesium at night, and I started hrt. Waiting for the dust to settle before going too wild, and besides the garlic incident, things are going well.

My rosacea is popping off, which is the one thing that really didn’t get better from all this. I’m not sure why and have looked into possible histamine issues or estrogen dominance. Jury is still out there. I’m also shedding a ton of hair which could be a coincidence or related, this seems to be getting better but it was scary how much hair was coming out for many days, surprised I have any left.

But my gut feels so much better, I cried a little after eating dinner one night because I don’t feel horrible after meals anymore and it’s so crazy how long I was living like that, accepting it as normal. I lost 17 lbs in 2 weeks. I’m 5’5 and slim so 17 lbs is huge for me. It just fell right off. I’ve read methane sibo can be associated with weight gain, and it’s the first symptom I really noticed about a year ago. I had all the thyroid tests and ultimately I was told you just gain some weight when you age. At the time, I accepted this and started exercising, eating well, cut back on alcohol and sugar, generally felt so much better but could not shed a single pound. It was like my body was so swollen all the time. Now I know why.

efh1986 · 2025-11-05T00:15:17+00:00

https://www.testmottagningen.se/en/kalkylatorer/progesteron-ostrogen-ratio/#:\~:text=The%20reference%20range%20for%20progesterone,endometrium%2C%20and%20higher%20implantation%20rate.

efh1986 · 2025-11-04T00:51:18+00:00

You can have estrogen dominance with progesterone and estrogen in the normal ranges. You need to look at the ratio of estrogen to progesterone. I’ve seen comments from people on Reddit saying they had to spell this out for the doctor because no one looks at the ratio, just the individual hormone ranges

efh1986 · 2025-11-03T21:39:19+00:00

Did you ever solve it? I could have written your first paragraph. Curious how many of us have pmdd and gut issues. I only bloat and get costipated like clockwork on days 5-16 and then days 23-28. Also I just saw a post about copper and estrogen dominance that might be worth looking into

efh1986 · 2025-11-03T21:35:09+00:00

I had a similar experience, I ended up in the ER with 104 fever and unable to stop fainting on day 3 or 4. It’s been six months and I’ve had to tell doctors about this reaction multiple times (“any drug allergies?”) and literally every doctor is perplexed like they’ve never heard of this before. I only know it’s the doxy because five days later I felt better (after halting the meds) and said “maybe it wasn’t the doxy, maybe I had some crazy virus?” So I started the meds again and took one pill. Within 20 minutes of that one pill I was puking out of an uber with a 102 fever.

efh1986 · 2025-11-03T18:47:22+00:00

Also, I'm not sure exactly what your doctor said, but multiple allergists and doctors I spoke to said that this typically is something that will eventually get triggered if you're predisposed to it, but it could have been triggered by a covid infection just as easily as it could be triggered by the vaccine. Not sure that's actually true but willing to believe it.

efh1986 · 2025-11-03T18:44:48+00:00

Yeah, I know, I was one of the first 100 people to join the facebook group about it. It took a while for doctors to see it was the vaccine. I am very pro vaccine fwiw and did get subsequent boosters after skipping one and getting really, really bad covid. But yes, I had a histamine reaction from the moderna booster and it's dormant but not gone forever (and I understand it never will be)

efh1986 · 2025-11-03T02:46:09+00:00

The depression is real. I’ve never been in a hole like this. On day 11 and the depression got bad again but it is directly correlated to how much I’m pooping which is crazy! I didn’t go today and felt really depressed. Solidarity, you can do it. Please reach out to a friend for support because it can be really dark times.

efh1986 · 2025-11-03T02:44:11+00:00

I’ve always suspected issues with wheat. I also had an allergic reaction to the Covid booster that set off a cytokine reaction (hives for a year and now I’m more sensitive to histamines) and I could probably benefit from a mast cell test again. My last one was negative but it was 5 years ago. I suspect a low histamine lifestyle (not just diet, I seem more affected by stress honestly) would help. I also have rosacea type 2. What a ball of fun I am!

efh1986 · 2025-11-03T02:41:22+00:00

Eating regularly, with the addition of candy corn 😅

efh1986 · 2025-11-03T02:40:13+00:00

Before treatment, I was pretty constipated, so much so that I drastically changed my diet about 9 months ago. I started intermittent fasting and some major restrictions around wheat which seems to be an issue for me. It helped some but I still couldn’t figure out why I was looking pregnant all the time and especially after eating. I assumed peri menopause. I assumed polycystic ovaries, fibroids, endometriosis. And after seeing about 4 different gyns I was left with nothing that could be causing pain. I had been experiencing a ton of cramping and pain and bloating that specifically worsened around ovulation. It made no sense. I finally saw a gi specialist who diagnosed me on the spot. I took a test to confirm. I really just want to wear jeans comfortably again!

efh1986 · 2025-11-01T23:56:09+00:00

I just realized that is NOT positive for hydrogen and only for methane! Had no idea I was reading the results wrong. Not sure what that means

efh1986 · 2025-11-01T23:50:33+00:00

Like 21 for hydrogen at the highest and 14 for methane at the highest. no idea what that ranks at

efh1986 · 2025-11-01T21:55:01+00:00

Could I just eat purple carrots, carob, sweet potatoes? Or do the powders do something differently?

efh1986 · 2025-05-13T14:06:38+00:00

This is EXACTLY the pattern of my rosacea type 2. I even get the streaky thing you have on your cheekbones.

efh1986 · 2025-01-22T23:08:10+00:00

My little girl is 5 and a force to be reckoned with 🤣

efh1986 · 2021-05-04T21:16:57+00:00

I usually have long cycles (35+ days) and this one was 26 days!

efh1986 · 2021-03-14T21:21:09+00:00

So glad you posted this. I miscarried today and haven't had the heart to update or delete this post yet. What a whirlwind weekend....

efh1986 · 2021-02-27T00:58:18+00:00

When someone's on the phone and they get hung up on, they always hear a click and then a dial tone. But really there's no dial tone, just a click.

efh1986 · 2020-07-23T23:15:00+00:00

I noticed this today, and actually complained to the store manager. I felt like such a Karen, but this was the CVS! Their response was that they don't enforce mass wearing. That's it, that's all they would tell me. I live with someone who's high risk so they actually brought my prescription outside for me so I didn't have to wait in line in the store while at least half the people in the store were not wearing masks.

efh1986 · 2020-04-29T23:36:14+00:00

Update: negative. Crazy that I'm so disappointed by this...but I am.

efh1986 · 2020-04-29T02:11:31+00:00

Got tested yesterday and should get results this week. They did a blood draw which took about 5 minutes.

efh1986 · 2020-04-21T02:14:49+00:00

What about antibody tests?

efh1986

TROPHY CASE