ENDO Messages for March, 2002: Re: bcps and estrogen level

Re: bcps and estrogen level

From: Suzanne (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Tue Mar 19 15:41:50 2002

Messages sorted by: [ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]
Next message: pam: "Opinions Anyone, Yasmin 28 and Endo?"
Previous message: Brandy: "Re: Lauren Rossiter,pregnancy and endo"
In reply to: Heather: "Re: bcps and estrogen level"
Next in thread: Wanda: "Re: bcps and estrogen level"

I posted this same question on another forum--it may have been the women's health one here, or on inciid.net--and the doctor gave me a very different answer: that your circulating estrogen is LOWER on bcps than it is for women who are not on them. I had been very unsure about this. The explanation is that when you are not on the pill, and assuming cycles are normal (big assumption for a lot of us!), your ovaries produce estrogen very cyclically. A "graph" of your estrogen levels would show sharp rises and drops. On BCPs, your ovaries stop producing any of their own estrogen, and the only source of estrogen in your body comes from the BCPs. The total amount depends, of course, on the dosage of the bcps; but on average, on the modern low dose pills, it is lower than your circulating estrogen would be. My doctor was unequivocal that the amount in Mircette, the BCP I take (20 mcg/day) was lower than the usual amount of estrogen that would be in my body. Thus, for some women, BCPs help reduce the estrogen, and if this is in fact something that "feeds" endo, it helps reduce endo too. Lupron takes the same principle to the extreme, and gets rid of all estrogen.

I'd welcome statements from doctors or others on this, of course, but this is what I had learned from the docs.

At Tue, 19 Mar 2002, Heather wrote:

>Birth control pills have a high amount of estrogen...so your level is
>being increased. I also just found out this past week that estrogen
>feeds endo - which is why a lot of doctors prescribe lupron or provera.
>
>At Tue, 19 Mar 2002, Ann wrote:
>>
>>I've been on continuous bcps for several months now and doing very well.
>>I'm wondering how does one's estrogen differ when being on the pill
>>continuously. Do I have an increased or decreased level of estrogen in
>>my body?

Next message: pam: "Opinions Anyone, Yasmin 28 and Endo?"
Previous message: Brandy: "Re: Lauren Rossiter,pregnancy and endo"
In reply to: Heather: "Re: bcps and estrogen level"
Next in thread: Wanda: "Re: bcps and estrogen level"

Women's Insurance Checklist from Auto Insurance Quote

use when must restrict search to only the endometriosis forum...
Enter search keywords:
	Returns per screen: Require all keywords: