So…I just finished up my first series of post-peak HCG shots to take care of that PMS and type-III luteal defect and I’m finding that I feel worse than normal. Like, way worse. Like, completely not in control of my normally quick emotional response to the extent that I have to put a muzzle on myself or leave the room to keep from punching people. I have been pretty resistant to starting any type of fertility treatment because of the side effects of taking all these drugs and sometimes I already feel like it takes all my control to not lash out at the world, so I’m curious if this is just me or if other people have felt the same. I thought what I had read and been told about HCG is that its supposed to make PMS symptoms better, not worse. Instead I just feel amped up, shaky, super fast heartbeat, and really aggressive.
My husband informed me that body builders use HCG to pump up so it basically acts like a steroid, which explains my quick-to-anger-ness.
(Which might also explain the chest acne, haven’t had that in years.)
(He also asked me not to punch him).
I thought HCG was like, baby fertility drugs?
So, dear internets-who-have-HCG-experience, is this normal? Did/do you have similar responses to HCG? Am I just crazy?
This roided up girl appreciates your comments…
Before going on HCG I took progesterone via lozenge and then vaginally (the latter was kinda gross, thank God that didn’t last long!). HCG is the gentlest way that I’ve taken progesterone. The other ways made me tired and achy and it was such a relief that I didn’t have those side-effects with HCG.
Perhaps you can ask if you can switch to another form of progesterone?
HCG made me the same way. It did wonders for my lp defect though. It also helped with some pesky brown bleeding before cd 1. I tried PIO first and I was less psycho but I still had brown bleeding prior to cd 1 and it didn’t help my lp much.
In hindsight I figured it made sense. The first few weeks that I was pregnant I was crazy! It was like the worst case of PMS ever! Very emotional, snappy, etc. Well, since HCG is the pregnancy hormone I figured it wasn’t all that strange.
Maybe give it another cycle and if it’s not better see if they can switch you to something else.
Oh, and I had a major acne flare up too. Chest, back, face…it was gross and annoying.
Results came back and they raised my progesterone too though, so I guess that’s good. Will give it another shot based on those positive results.
I was on HCG for PMS and my lp too. HCG makes some women feel truly amazing (so I’ve been told). I did not feel amazing. I did not necessarily feel bad either… at least not emotionally bad. I felt physically awful though, and although it lengthened my lp phase to a perfect 14 days, it was definitely messing up my cycle in other ways (as you may recall from my blog :)). Definitely record all your symptoms and report to your doctor at the end of each cycle. That will help you both determine if this is really working for you. I made the mistake of not submitting my chart every month, and after a couple months of misery, my doctor finally did see my chart and took me off HCG immediately! I am now on vaginal progesterone (well, waiting to use it because I am having the longest pre-peak phase in history it seems :)). I am anxious to see if prog. suppositories will do for me what HCG wasn’t quite able to do.
Interesting, thanks for your comment! Yeah, emotionally bad may be easier to control (at least situation-ally) than physically bad. I did get a 14 day-er this cycle but for me that’s not unusual for me. I hope your progesterone works better for you this cycle! I will be watching :)
I know you probably want to slap me but how is your ft3 and ft4…?
is it bad that i don’t know what those are? if they’re the thyroid (don’t have my stuff in front of me) my reverse T3 is high, and i’m actually starting T3 next month…
I have a hard time commenting on ur blog, hopefully this works. I too had a bad reaction to hcg. Yes, its suppose to help pms! But in my case, it made my pms worse. Napro md took me off of it!
I used HCG for 3 cycles and I didn’t notice any side effects – sorry, that I can’t be much help. It did lengthen my luteal phase though to 16 (normally it was 12-13). Have you tried the progesterone pills like JB said?
I’ve only ever used the cream, but without a doctor’s supervision.
I think bodybuilders use HCG to counteract the effect that taking steroids has on their hormones (steroids are kind of a man-bits killer), not to actually build muscle with.
Good point. The napro doctor’s said since its a hormone though it can have different effects on different people, so I guess we’ll try another month just to be sure.
I’m glad you posted about this, b/c I might be getting an HCG injection next cycle.
Are you taking it orally?
Sorry – just saw that you had injections. (I don’t even know if taking it orally is an option, I guess.)
Yeah, did the injection and I didn’t think it was bad. Had to given them all to myself. I hope next cycle will be better, I think I just expected it to take everything away and it didn’t.
If your post-Peak hormones are both low, ask if you can take progesterone and estradiol in their pure forms. Everyone reacts differently to hCG (and all meds, for that matter), and you shouldn’t have to deal with those horrible side effects where there are alternatives.
Also, ask about low dose Naltrexone for PMS. It has made a world of difference for my (mostly emotional) PMS symptoms.
Yeah, I’m not sure what this Naltrexone is supposed to do but so many people seem to be on it…
I’m on the vaginal form of progesterone right now, and my levels are still lower than my doctor likes, so I’ll probably be joining you with HCG… I’m a little concerned about those side effects though.
I was in a combination of new drugs + new situation, so hopefully this next cycle I’ll try to control my environment a little more and see if that helps. Do be nice to yourself. I’m already emotional/PMSy during that time and I think I just went full bore because I thought I was invincible on HCG, but I definitely wasn’t and was extremely irritable and just angry. Again, hoping next month is better.
I love being on LDN! It’s hard at the beginning, but it’s a great drug!
What is it technically for? Mood swings?
I haven’t taken HCG before but I hope the side effects are just temporary or can be counteracted by LDN or something. Sorry to hear you are feeling off.
Were definitely temporary. Two days after the last shot I felt back to normal. Weird.
I second TCIE suggestion…..Naltrexone helped my PMS SO much!