How Can We Know If We Need Progesterone? (women)

[Bluebell]

Quoting Destiny from another thread:

"Once my thyroid is healed and I cleansed my body of the PUFAs I wont need either thyroid or progesterone ideally.

Dr Peat emailed me: "I think continuing the progesterone would help to normalize thyroid responses. If you adjust the thyroid dose every two weeks according to how you feel, and according to your temperatures and pulse rate, there should be a point where your cycle is right, without needing progesterone. During the winter the need for thyroid is higher, because of the short days, so it's important to watch for decreasing need when the days are longer in the spring." "

I am wondering how we can know if we need to take progesterone, or not, as women?

 

[HDD]

From Progesterone Summaries-

"With a diet high in protein (e.g., at least 70-100 grams per day, including eggs) and vitamin A (not carotene), I have found that the dose of progesterone can be reduced each month. Using thyroid will usually reduce the amount of progesterone needed. Occasionally, a woman won't feel any effect even from 100 mg. of progesterone; I think this indicates that they need to use thyroid and diet, to normalize their estrogen, prolactin, and cortisol.

Progesterone stimulates the ovaries and adrenals to produce progesterone, and it also activates the thyroid, so one dose can sometimes have prolonged effects. It shouldn't be necessary to keep using progesterone indefinitely, unless the ovaries have been removed. In slender post-menopausal women, 10 mg. per day is usually enough to prevent progesterone deficiency symptoms."

 

[4peatssake]

Quoting Destiny from another thread:

"Once my thyroid is healed and I cleansed my body of the PUFAs I wont need either thyroid or progesterone ideally.

Dr Peat emailed me: "I think continuing the progesterone would help to normalize thyroid responses. If you adjust the thyroid dose every two weeks according to how you feel, and according to your temperatures and pulse rate, there should be a point where your cycle is right, without needing progesterone. During the winter the need for thyroid is higher, because of the short days, so it's important to watch for decreasing need when the days are longer in the spring." "

I am wondering how we can know if we need to take progesterone, or not, as women?

Dr. Peat writes extensively on progesterone. It is an area of his expertise. I think it's a critical area of study for women, especially hypothyroid women. Had I known earlier what I know now, I could have avoided a tremendous amount of suffering. The situation we find ourselves in now - with a medical establishment in most cases completely ignorant of the true source of our problems - it is essential for us to take charge of our own health and understand what is going on - and wrong - in our bodies.

The individual who suffers from one aspect of the progesterone (and/or thyroid) deficiency will tend to develop other problems at different times. With cyclic depressions or migraine headaches at age 22, there will possibly be breast disease later, and often there will be problems with pregnancy. These people with a history of severe symptoms are the ones most likely to have severe problems around menopause. Prenatal exposure to poorly balanced hormones seems to predispose the child to later hormone problems.

In my case, I had cyclic depressions from my late teens and "unexplained infertility" by the time I was 30. Hypothyroidism was never a consideration.

In a progesterone deficiency, we produce too much cortisol, and excessive cortisol causes osteoporosis, aging of the skin, damage to brain cells, and the accumulation of fat, especially on the back and abdomen.

Experiments have shown that progesterone relieves anxiety, improves memory, protects brain cells, and even prevents epileptic seizures. It promotes respiration, and has been used to correct emphysema. In the circulatory system, it prevents bulging veins by increasing the tone of blood vessels, and improves the efficiency of the heart. It reverses many of the signs of aging in the skin, and promotes healthy bone growth. It can relieve many types of arthritis, and helps a variety of immunological problems.

If progesterone is taken dissolved in vitamin E, it is absorbed very efficiently, and distributed quickly to all of the tissues. If a woman has ovaries, progesterone helps them to regulate themselves and their hormone production. It helps to restore normal functioning of the thyroid and other glands. If her ovaries have been removed, progesterone should be taken consistently to replace the lost supply. A progesterone deficiency has often been associated with increased susceptibility to cancer, and progesterone has been used to treat some types of cancer.

Personally, I think its pretty much a must for women during perimenopause, most assuredly for women who are hypothyroid. There are benefits, as well, to using it during menopause to protect against stress hormones. Symptoms dictate your needs and dosing, as with thyroid, is adjusted according to symptoms.

PERIMENOPAUSAL: The symptoms and body changes leading up to menopause are associated with decreasing production of progesterone, at a time when estrogen may be at a lifetime high. The cyclic use of progesterone, two weeks on, two weeks off, will often keep the normal menstrual cycle going. Three to our drops, providing ten or twelve milligrams of progesterone, is typical for a day, but some women prefer to repeat that amount. Progesterone is always more effective when the diet contains adequate protein, and when thee isn't an excessive amount of unsaturated fat in the diet..

POSTMENOPAUSAL: Some women continue the cyclic use of progesterone ater menopause, because the pituitary gland and brain may continue to cycle long after menstruation has stopped, and progesterone is an important regulator of pituitary and brain function. The cycling pituitary affects the adrenal glands and other organs, and progesterone tends to protect against the unopposed actions of prolactin, cortisol, and adrenal androgenic hormones. Progesterone's effects on the pituitary apparently contribute to its protective effect against osteoporosis, hypertension, hirsutism, etc. But some women prefer to use progesterone without interruption after the menopause, for its protective antistress effects. Slender people usually find that two or three drops are enough, but this amount may be repeated once or twice as needed to relieve symptoms. Adequate protein in the diet and good thyroid function help the body to produce its own progesterone; even if the ovaries have been removed, the adrenal glands and brain continue to produce progesterone.

Progesterone Summaries

 

[Bluebell]

Thanks so much both of you. I keep hearing so many positive things about it.

What about before menopause, before having had babies, is it advisable to try it then?

 

[HDD]

More from Progesterone Summaries-


"If progesterone is taken dissolved in vitamin E, it is absorbed very efficiently, and distributed quickly to all of the tissues. If a woman has ovaries, progesterone helps them to regulate themselves and their hormone production. It helps to restore normal functioning of the thyroid and other glands. If her ovaries have been removed, progesterone should be taken consistently to replace the lost supply. A progesterone deficiency has often been associated with increased susceptibility to cancer, and progesterone has been used to treat some types of cancer. "



"Since progesterone has none of the harmful side effects of other hormones (except for alteration of the menstrual cycle if it is taken at the wrong time of month), the basic procedure should be to use it in sufficient quantity to make the symptoms disappear, and to time its use so that menstrual cycles are not disrupted. This normally means using it only between ovulation and menstruation unless symptoms are sufficiently serious that a missed period is not important. The basic idea of giving enough to stop the symptoms can be refined by some information on a few of the factors that condition the need for progesterone."


"FOR PMS: The normal pattern of progesterone secretion during the month is for the ovaries to produce a large amount in the 2nd two weeks of the menstrual cycle, (i.e., day 14 through day 28) beginning at ovulation and ending around the beginning of menstruation, and then to produce little for the following two weeks. An average person produces about 30 milligrams daily during the 2nd two weeks. The solution I have used contains approximately 3 or 4 milligrams of progesterone per small drop. Three to four drops, or about 10 to 15 milligrams of progesterone, is often enough to bring the progesterone level up to normal. That amount can be taken days 14 through 28 of the menstrual cycle; this amount may be repeated once or twice during the day as needed to alleviate symptoms. Since an essential mechanism of progesterone's action involves its opposition to estrogen, smaller amounts are effective when estrogen production is low, and if estrogen is extremely high, even large supplements of progesterone will have no clear effect; in that case, it is essential to regulate estrogen metabolism, by improving the diet, correcting a thyroid deficiency, etc. (Unsaturated fat is antithyroid and synergizes with estrogen.) "

 

[Bluebell]

Thanks so much!

Ok, so even if I have a normal period, and am taking thyroid/doing Peat diet, it might be a good idea to start taking 3-4 drops per day, days 14-28 of my cycle?

How long do I keep taking the progesterone?