elevated estrogen post pregnancy

[bigNat]

My wife had our first baby one year ago. Before the pregnancy she was very lean and muscular, however since the birth she has struggled to regain her shape.
After extensive blood tests it turns out she has chronically elevated estrogen levels eg. 900+ when normal is 200.
The symptoms have been :
bodyfat accumulation
loss of appetite then food cravings
loss of libido.
Doctors are baffled. I've searched all of Medline and the net and found nothing. We are arranging to meet with a professor of Endocrinology and until then the doctor has perscribed low dose ( 25mg ) Deca Durabolin.
We would like to here from anyone who has experienced this first hand or who may know where we can find any information.

 

[wilson6]

Question is, what's driving the high estrogen levels? Interesting.

Excessive extraglandular estrogen production or estrogen producing tumor somewhere?

W6

 

[wilson6]

Good point Spat, could be the degradation side of the equation as well. Should do LFTs (liver function). Make sure there isn't a problem with estrogen removal by the liver.

W6

 

[bigNat]

Spatterson,
The mention of a tumor ( granulosa - theca cell tumor ) is a valid point, which would be the cause of the hypersecretion of estrogen. However, given that liver enzymes are in the normal range and FSH and LH are slightly elevated the doctor is more inclined to believe the problem stems from a negative feed-back from the pregnancy.
To answer some questions :
She nursed for the first five months.
The bodyfat accumulated post pregnancy ( she still had ab definition at five months and at full term was practically all belly).
TSH level was at the high end of normal so TBG is doing a good job at rendering thyroid hormones useless.
Hep-C -ve.
Progesterone normal and Test slightly low.
I suggested the use of an aromatase inhibitor ( Arimidex ) or an anti-estrogen ( Tamoxifen ), but the doctor felt the side effects MAY outweigh the benefits while Deca is fairly benign and will help with metabolism and sex drive until we find a solution.
Thanks for your fast replies. If you knew how frustrating this has been and how useless some doctors are, ( we've finally found a good one ), you would know how reassuring it is to get some feedback.
Thanks again.

 

[wilson6]

Be interesting to see what happens to FSH and LH on the Deca. Might break the cycle. Ask them to redo the hormone profile again in a month or so and see where things go. Keep us posted.

W6

 

[bigNat]

Two week update

To keep you all up to date, Mrs " bigNat" has been on deca ( 25mg / wk ) for 12 days now and is due for her 3rd shot tomorrow.
At the end of the 1st week she lost a lot of excess water and had an improvement in mood ( look better, feel better I guess ).
Into the second week and her appetite finally came back and so did the motivation to train.
Will do two more weeks and get some more bloods done.

 

[bigNat]

Not the best of news.

Started the Deca on the 8th of August, at 25mg / week. As I posted the initial results were positive, but have since diminished. There has been little improvement in mood, fat loss has slowed to a crawl despite following a contest style diet ( carb cycling, am cardio ) and libido is zero.
The doctor, in desperation, has prescribed Tenuate Dospan until we can see the endocrinolgist on Sept 25. We would have preferred ephedrine for an ECA stack but he is unable to give it to her. Market prices are as much as $2 a tab which isn't an option.
We mentioned DHEA and Andro products which he agreed with " if we could get them ". Australian legislation really sucks. I might add our Doc is very cutting edge, running an anti-aging clinic and prescibing GH, that's if you can afford it.
In our case however the government makes it impossible to prescribe even for " off label purposes ".
So for now we are at a loss. Any ideas?
BTW Tenuate is a waste of money!! Actually I wouldn't even take it if it were free.