Female issue exacerbated by glutathione

Maybe majority of posters here are male but that doesn't matter as long as you understand how a body works.  But I apologize if this is TMI.  I'm really in need of help.  I'm afraid for my life as glutathione caused me to bleed heavily now for 30 days out of the blue.  My naturopath put me on this because a dna test showed I am missing all levels of detoxification.  I am a rare case.  Keep in mind I am still healing 4.5 years out from benzo and SSRI withdrawal.  The withdrawals really ruined my body and my menstrual periods were just starting to level out this year.

This heavy bleeding happened once before when I took something called LDN at the beginning of withdrawals.  Glutathione delayed my period till day 45 and I found it peculiar and thought it must have been the only supplement I was on,lipsomal glutathione and stopped it.  On cue my period came in 2 days.  And it never stopped and the amount of blood is dizzying every hour.  I've been to ER twice and they kept throwing tranexamic clotting med at me after an ultrasound I begged for. Ultrasound was fine.  Tranexamic acid causes numbing sensation in leg and only postponed the gush of blood. Gyno prescribed progesterone and I woke up overheated/anxious unable to cool down, so I aborted that.  Now I am on day 1 of low dose birth control hoping God will help me.  Pill either didn't work yet or made bleeding worse. But I may give it a week.  I'm afraid to take it with tranexamic acid as they both have blood clotting functions, yet the ER gave it to me together.

My question is...what the hell did glutathione do to me?  I so regret it.  My benzo withdrawals was equivalent to a brain injury and I suspect glutathione must have stimulated something in my still fragile brain.  I say this because on both LDN and glutathione, my brain fog would lift but I would feel like I'm looking out a fish bowl.  Glutathione is not just a simple detoxifier I feel.  I spoke to a DNA specialist and he feels I should be on NAC even but I'm so glad I didn't go down that route too.  And something called genistein for my androgen/estrogen dominance. 

I can't wrap my head around this.  Did glutathione hit a sensitive spot in brain?  Did it alter my hormones? Is it detoxing hormones through my uterus???  Did it screw with my already low thyroid? ugh...  Also right before I stopped the glutathione, it had caused severe back/neck pain to the point where I couldn't hold my head up nor turn it.  This makes me question an inflammation factor??

Any insight would be helpful. I'm sure nothing can stop the bleeding this minute but with more knowledge I can maybe help the doctors with deciding on the best treatment for me.

Edited by castillo, 29 July 2018 - 05:49 AM.

The female body has quite a few complexities I don't have as a male, especially when it comes to hormones. I have no idea why glutathione would have these effects, but I have a few questions that may throw more light on it.

How old are you? Are you close to menopause yet?

Any bloodwork with some hormone levels?

The progesterone you were prescribes by the Gyno, was it real bio-identical progesterone, or one of the many synthetic Progestins? I can't for the life of me think why progesterone would do that. I use 20mg topically a day(about the same as 200mg oraly) without much side effects, and pushed it as high as 80mg per day. Only side effect was getting very dizzy when doing weightlifting, something that is not much of a problem at 20mg. 

What with control are you using? they differ quite a bit in their ingredient/ingredient combos. Often times it also contains a Progestin

The term "detox" is totally overused. It may be fun to think the reason you feel like crap is because you are "detoxing" but generally its not the way the body works.

The female body has quite a few complexities I don't have as a male, especially when it comes to hormones. I have no idea why glutathione would have these effects, but I have a few questions that may throw more light on it.

 

How old are you? Are you close to menopause yet?

Any bloodwork with some hormone levels?

 

The progesterone you were prescribes by the Gyno, was it real bio-identical progesterone, or one of the many synthetic Progestins? I can't for the life of me think why progesterone would do that. I use 20mg topically a day(about the same as 200mg oraly) without much side effects, and pushed it as high as 80mg per day. Only side effect was getting very dizzy when doing weightlifting, something that is not much of a problem at 20mg. 

 

What with control are you using? they differ quite a bit in their ingredient/ingredient combos. Often times it also contains a Progestin

 

The term "detox" is totally overused. It may be fun to think the reason you feel like crap is because you are "detoxing" but generally its not the way the body works.

I really appreciate the quick reply.  I will try to answer your questions to the best of my abilities.

I just turned 35 and have not had children yet.  I asked doctors for a hormone test and due to my haste to get bloodwork done, I didn't realize it was only FSH and LH levels.  No progesterone or estradiol tested.  Not sure if I can now having started the birth control. 

I asked my doctor for natural progesterone, Prometrium.  It's an oral pill in sunflower oil.  Started at 100mg and side effects really ramped up after adding 200mg with anxiety and hot flashes I couldn't come down from.  Doc wanted me at 400mg to stop bleeding. 

The birth control I am on is called Alesse.  It is low dose combo pill and I am to take 2 twice a day till bleeding slows and work my way down to 1 a day.  I asked for a low dose because I know my sensitivity to hormones.
 

I'm not feeling any adverse effects yet from Alesse but bleeding is still ongoing. Do I feel better on Alesse because it is giving me a balanced dose? I also have Lyme disease and with the mess of medication withdrawals, I feel like my body is deficient in everything. My theory is that maybe my progesterone and estrogen were almost nonexistent (only with estrogen just a tad higher than progesterone) and adding progesterone to it caused a complete depletion of estrogen?  Or it could have been the complete opposite and kept raising estrogen since progesterone gets converted to estrogen.

Well i have learned the hard way that detox doesn't actually mean one singular action.  It will tilt the whole axis of the body.  I wonder if Genistein would have a positive effect on me.  I need to research whether it crosses the brain barrier because anything breaching that seems like a problem.

Edited by castillo, 29 July 2018 - 07:56 AM.

The body is pretty good finding balance at a young age like yours. I would stop taking any supps some weeks and see how it goes.

I have stopped that supplement back in June.  Great....now the birth control I am on is causing me nausea. I don't know whether to back down to only 1 pill twice a day rather than 2 twice a day.  or back down to 1 a day regardless if I am still bleeding.  God help me.

Which bc are you taking twice a day?   Also your doc probably reminded you of this,   but any time you switch from one hormone to another or simply stop taking one your body adjusts.   It takes a bit o'  time.   I've missed periods because of malnutrition or being too thin,   and running,   and had too many periods from stress at school and then later from birth control.   Progesterone pill especially needs to be taken ON TIME because I bled every damn day since I was always taking it at different times.    Even a few hours late in taking it,   I'd bleed.     We are still obviously in the dark ages when it comes to hormones -- especially women's.   This is most likely because women were only useful for many years for procreating and serving.    I took Alesse,   I don't remember why I quit,   but I also do not remember considering it low dosage.   I'll have to re-check.   I've found most docs useless for caring about how to fix a problem and I just would end up reading how hormones work,   what to take to correct problems,   and then asked the dr myself for the exact b.c.   Otherwise I'd be dead from a stroke.

Which bc are you taking twice a day?   Also your doc probably reminded you of this,   but any time you switch from one hormone to another or simply stop taking one your body adjusts.   It takes a bit o'  time.   I've missed periods because of malnutrition or being too thin,   and running,   and had too many periods from stress at school and then later from birth control.   Progesterone pill especially needs to be taken ON TIME because I bled every damn day since I was always taking it at different times.    Even a few hours late in taking it,   I'd bleed.     We are still obviously in the dark ages when it comes to hormones -- especially women's.   This is most likely because women were only useful for many years for procreating and serving.    I took Alesse,   I don't remember why I quit,   but I also do not remember considering it low dosage.   I'll have to re-check.   I've found most docs useless for caring about how to fix a problem and I just would end up reading how hormones work,   what to take to correct problems,   and then asked the dr myself for the exact b.c.   Otherwise I'd be dead from a stroke.

There's so much truth in your post I don't even know where to start.  There certainly is a lack of information regarding women's health. I wasn't particularly late in any of my pill intakes.  Progesterone was always at the same time and in fact I had to increase it but each dose was timed.  There were a few days inbetween before I started the Alesse.  Last night was terrible.  The nausea it caused was horrendous with stomach convulsions and I dry heaved foam.  I can only imagine what I would have gone through if he had given me a high dose birth control, which he wanted to.  I tried to be as informed as I could be with the natural progesterone but I never would have precipitated the effects I would endure seeing that it had good reviews with many ladies experiencing heavy bleeds.  My only solution for now is to take my double Alesse doses with some gravol but I'm not sure how I will function during the day.  I really regret touching that glutathione.  This is more suffering than is worth it.

Edited by castillo, 30 July 2018 - 12:43 AM.

i have known lots of women who had nausea with b.c.  (hormones will do that to ya)  but not extreme,  and when it was,   they switched to something else.   You are having some bad reactions,   and I do know this much:  switching from one hormone to another,  to another,  etc.,   can be ROUGH.   Mood swings for me were always worse than nausea,   but both are bad!   I'll see if I can find anything in my old nursing notes,   but I wouldn't get my hopes up....

This is a pill i have taken in the past for pregnancy preventative purposes and I was always fine.  Just the doses used to stop bleeding needs to be higher and these higher double doses are making me nauseated.  I hope these doses will at least stop the bleeding.  I'm using Gravol for now and even with it, the nausea is breaking through.  No mood swings for me, just depressed and anxious that this issue is still with me.

Upon more research, it seems Glutathione has a neurological effect which can explain a lot of why I'm experiencing this prolonged bleeding.  Now if only I knew how to stop it from that standpoint.  I just hope time will heal it somehow.

Edited by castillo, 30 July 2018 - 10:24 PM.