Saw Palmetto And Birth Control?

I was wondering the same thing as you, I am about to start taking saw palmetto extract as I have slightly elevated testosteron levels and am hoping this will help. However, I am taking the pill and found this website:
http://www.O varian-cysts-pcos.Com/saw-palmetto.Html
where it tells you that it might affect your birth control.
I will continue taking the pill as it is part of my treatment but I think I will definitely use extra protection while taking it as you can never be 100% sure that the saw palmetto won't affect the pill.
Have a read on the website, it seems professional and they explain how saw palmetto works and when you read it it kind of makes sense that it could affect other hormone products.
Did the saw palmetto help you with your androgen tendencies? I have body hair growing in places usual for men and not for women, did you have something similar, and if so, did the saw palmetto get rid of it? I also suffer from quite a lot of spots, will the saw palmetto be able to help me with that as well?
Sorry for asking questions right back but you are the first person I have found that seems to have a similar problem as me and I would love to know how you got on with the saw palmetto and in which way it was able to help you.

I hope that I could help you just a little bit regarding your question and would really appreciate any info you can give me on the saw palmetto and how it helped you.

Thanks,
lena

Saw palmetto is great, you can up to 2,400 mgs a day with no toxic effects. Your could probably down a whole bottle and the worst thing to happen is the runs! I take about 1800 mgs a day. The lower doses listed on a bottle you might buy are for typical users. It won't stop facial hair problems and you will still have excess levels of testosterone. But I do notice when I take it I sleep better and tend to feel more emotionally balanced.

I went on the "nuvaring" and any birth control will lower androgens. However if you are like me you may find odd side effects with birth control that most women don't deal with, possibly because some of your other hormones are off kilter and probably so.

I tried laser treatment after 14 years of electrolysis and it worked wonders. It costs a lot ($1200 for chin and lip, more for my bikini area). But if it kills your self esteem it may be worth it. It was for me! There are benefits of higher androgens. Testosterone helps burn fat and make lean muscle. It makes you more sexual, and if you have a boyfriend he won't mind that! When I halted some of my androgens with the nuvaring I didn't like that I felt sexually repressed and didn't orgasm easily. I felt like another person on it.

I have spoken to 2 people who used saw palmetto on birth control. I do not think it is significant, because it mainly impacts androgens and not so much the hormones that control fertility. The only herb they have shown you need to avoid on birth control is st john's wort. Every other herb they say it might effect it because they haven't studied herbal products and don't know.

If you are concerned, you may want to look at getting a diaphragm. I have opted to continue using whatever natural alternatives I like and not have to worry about that. Not to mention the hell of getting used to jacked up hormone levels. Best of luck to you!

Thank you for your fast reply.
Fortunately I don't have much facial hair growth, there are a couple of odd long black hairs but I can pull them out. It bothers me in my bikini area though.
When you say that the saw palmetto balances your moods, may I ask what kind of mood problems you had? It's just that since my puberty my mom has been telling me how terrible I am just because I easily got angry and used to shout at my parents quite a lot. Also I always had quite drastic mood swings, one minute I would be happy and the next I felt extremely down for no apparent reason.
I have been taking breast gain plus for about four months and have noticed that since taking it my moods are much more balanced, even though my breasts haven't really grown :-(.
Do you have small breasts because of your hormone imbalance as well?
I hope I am not asking you too many and most of all, too personal questions, it is just so good to be able to speak to someone who has had similar experiences to mine.
I think a lot of my friends thought and still think that I am odd, just because of how my moods always went unpredictably all over the place and it has caused me quite a lot of hassle since puberty.
I am 22 now and really hope that with the saw palmetto extract I have finally found something that can sort me out.
As for contraceptives I was taking a pill called valette for about five years, it is german so i'm not sure whether you have heard of it. The only side effect I experienced from that was that I felt quite down. Then when I came to britain I started taking a pill called "yasmin", which my body is coping with really well. I don't have any mood problems directly linked to it and it actually seems to improve them slightly. I am a lot worse when i'm not on any form of contraceptive pill.
I just thought I would tell you about yasmin in case you ever wanted to try another pill. However, I think your imbalance might be more severe than mine so obiously it could be very different for you when taking it.

I don't get mood swings except for pms. Although I am a hot head I feel like I am more calm taking saw palmetto. Yasmin is a good choice for people with adrogens, as it has an anti-androgen property. Nuvaring is good too. I got no facial hair or other androgen issues on it. I just didn't like all the other issues I had.

Breast gain formulas, in my experience do not fare well for women with androgens higher than average. Believe it or not, androgens are created usually in women who have low estrogen and the body may make testosterone instead of estrogen from things that are "estrogenic" like the herbs you take. I would consider bovine ovary. Check out the website http://beboard.Proboar ds23.Com/index.Cgi, it has a lot of info on breast enhancement. I am not a supporter of it, though have tried it and found a wealth of hormone info here. My breast grew- but at a cost of jacked up hormone levels that caused unpleasant effects. That's the same reason I do not do oral birth control. To answer youu question, I do have small breasts. Fortunately I am with a man who loves my body and that helps. When I was younger it bothered me but no more. I guess I have just learned that I have a lot of good qualities. Thank god there's plenty of "fanny" men out there!

I got my hormones tested when I was 15 and went to a specialist again just a year ago, apparently there is nothing wrong with my oestrogen levels, it is just my testosterone that is a bit higher than normal. I am feeling the bgp pills are kicking in now and as I said before, the stuff is actually helping me mood wise, although my spots have gotten worse with it.
When i'm finished taking the bgp which is in about a month I will start taking the saw palmetto and the fenugreek and see how I get on with that.
My breasts are tiny, I can't fit them into a bra and they look smaller than ones of a 12 year old. My boyfriend loves my breasts the way they are, which I am really glad about although it doesn't really bother me what other people think. It is that I hate not being able to go out and buy a dress I like, or to find a bikini top that will fit me. That's the reason why I am hoping that my breasts will grow just that extra bit so that I will fit into more clothes than I do just now. I just don't like going shopping because of it just because there are a lot of things I would like to wear but which I just don't fit in to.
I tried the link you gave me but it didn't work, would you mind checking it and posting it again?
Thanks for all your information and advice, I appreciate it.
Lena

Sorry, the board is...Http://beboard.Proboards23.Com/

Thank you for all your advise and replies. I checked out the website and found some of it really helpful.
I am going to start taking the saw palmetto in a couple of days and would like to have some more info on it if you wouldn't mind sharing.
When you say you take 1800mg of it, do you mean the extract or the berries?
Also I spoke to someone in a health store today who advised me to take agnus castus for my hormone imbalance, and when I went to read up on it I found this website http://www.Geocities.Com/nutriflip/naturop athy/agnuscastus.Html
and was wondering if this could help me? Apparently it is quite widely used to treat hormone imbalances but I am not sure if it would be the right thing to treat high testosterone levels. I am starting to get so confused about all this the more I read about it.
If you can give me any advice on this I would very much appreciate it.

Chasteberry (agnus castus) will suppress testosterone as well. It may even be more effective. It is high in plant progestins. Plant estrogens are not way people take it. (which is what you may want). The only thing I cannot tell you is if it is safe to take long term or what the risks are. I have taken low doses for a week here and there to help pms, it works for that.

Thank you for your help, I think I will start taking it, the only thing I am a bit worried about is that I read that you aren't meant to be taking it together with the contraceptive pill or other hormonal products. I will come off the pill for that but I would like to take fenugreek as well and I am not sure if this is classified as a hormonal product. Do you know if it would be okay for me to take saw palmetto, agnus castus and fenugreek together?
Have you come to any more conclusions about taking saw palmetto and the contraceptive pill together? Do you think it is safe? I heard too many people say that it might affect it that I don't want to take the risk so I will be using alternative contraception while taking it.
Thanks again for everything, you have been very helpful,
lena

The problem is that the medical society does not bother to test these alternative therapies, they have no clue how they would interfere. Therefore they give the safe answer of "don't do it".

Saw palmetto should not affect bc because it mainly suppresses testosterone, a hormone unrelated to fertility. The other two might because they affect progesterone and estrogen levels which determine whether your body is fertile or not. I would think it would cause a slight decrease in protection but not all together make it null and void. The big question is which is more important, breast growth or pregnancy risk? If you really think your with mr. Right you may not mind the gamble, but that is up to you and how you feel. If there is just no way that you want to get pregnant I would avoid the breast growth stuff.

I am an avid user of alternative therapies and get sick on bc. Therefore I have chosen the diaphragm. If you are concerned about these things you want in your life affecting the pills I would switch to something like that. It is only 92% effective in controlling pregnancy versus 98% like the pill. But there will be no more questions wondering what will affect this and that, skipping doses, etc. With all these herbs your effective rate is probably slighty reduced where the diapragm may be just as effective. I take meds for epilepsy and was told they slightly reduce the effectiveness of synthetic hormones for bc. So why bother to put all those bc pills in my body anyway? I just enjoy the freedom a lot more. There is a cool link on diapragms and caps from other users that is super informative.....
Http://groups.Y ahoo.Com/group/diaphragmsandcaps/

I think I will just be using condoms, the diaphragm doesn't sound safe enough for me, i'm only 22 and don't want any kids just now although I have the right man. :-) he likes my boobs fine the way they are, its just for myself that I want them bigger, not for any one else. I don't fit into any cup size at all and I would just love to fit into tops without them flabbing around my chest.

Anyway, can you tell me if you are taking the saw palmetto extract or the berries? I have heard there is a difference and so far I have been told not to take more than about 320mg of the extract and I was comparing that with your comment about being able to take a lot more without doing any harm. Is that with the berries or with the extract as well?

I think I will be starting with the saw palmetto next month and go off the pill then and see what will happen, but before that I want to be a bit more certain about the dosage I can take it at.
Thanks for all your help,
lena