Anyone Taking Progesterone During Their Cycle?

[SQu]

I had spotting on day 19 with progesterone throughout cycle. This time I'm waiting till day 12 unless I feel I can't do without it. Because (yay!) Zero PMS etc at the mo. So I have the luxury of aiming for a 28 day cycle again.

 

[Lisalou]

Great thread..Is anyone using Haiduts progesterene and what would a megadose be☺

 

[Elle]

I took it through my last period and now I'm approaching my next period and debating whether to continue through this one, too. I'm still seeing changes, so I hate to stop. If I start at the usual time (and the others here seem to have maintained their normal cycle, so it's likely I will too), I think I will continue through at least one more. If I'm much later than usual, I may at least take a lower dosage. I've read (from a non-Peat source, so ???) that if you don't want to conceive, you can start progesterone on the 8th day of your cycle instead of the 12th, so I may try that.

I spotted about halfway through, but it was when I accidentally didn't take the same amount one day, so I can attest to the fact that even dosing is important.

 

[whodathunkit]

I had spotting on day 19 with progesterone throughout cycle. This time I'm waiting till day 12 unless I feel I can't do without it. Because (yay!) Zero PMS etc at the mo. So I have the luxury of aiming for a 28 day cycle again.

@SQu, good news! Good for you! Let us know how it goes. Are you using anything besides prog (like DHEA, etc.) to achieve this?

A normal 28-day cycle is my ultimate goal, too. But I have to keep my mind on the fact that the primary reason I'm doing this is to try to shrink my fibroids. I get distracted from that sometimes. My fibroids are big and cause heavy bleeding, helping to cause anemia (although I'm sure the heavy bleeding is not the whole story behind the anemia as the docs seem to think). Most months in the past 3-5 years I've lost about a pint of blood. Sometimes more.

I haven't had a hysterectomy because I have a strong feeling my fibroids have adhered to my other organs so there's a good chance I'd be one of those hysterectomy horror stories you hear about: try for a sweet, simple bellybutton laparoscopy, can't do it, so incise the abdomen, go in, nick the bladder or the intestines trying to remove adhesions, necessitating more surgery, potential lifelong additoinal problems, yada yada. IMO better the devil ye know. Otherwise I would have had it yanked. It's been such a PITA. Now I'm glad I didn't get a hyster because I actually think I can beat this, but there have been times when I just wanted to scream like Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners: "GET IT OUT, NORTON, GET IT OUT!!!"

Some years ago my gyn and my GP put me on a course of high-dose bioidentical prog to try to reduce them, since I refused to have surgery. I tried it trans vag for a couple of weeks, but the sides (bloating, irritability, etc.) were horrendous so I had to quit. Just like all my previous attempts, except that time the dose was way bigger so the sides were magnified. That was my last attempt at progesterone, until 3 weeks ago. I wonder how much trouble I could have been saved if one of my doctors had understood and talked seriously to me about the absolute need to have a well-functioning liver (my liver function was shite at that time) if you're trying to overcome estrogen dominance with progesterone. I knew about liver health but just wasn't connecting the dots at the time. Apparently they didn't seem to understand it either, so their reaction to my symptoms was pretty much oh well, I guess progesterone just doesn't work for you. It doesn't for some women. Are you *sure* you don't want to have surgery?

Anyway, I did indeed "fall off the roof" (Gramma's euphemism for starting your period) yesterday, so we'll see what happens. I anticipate holding this course with progesterone (i.e., large daily doses) and very low fat Peat-style eating for some months to see what happens. So far I'm pleased. Mood is improved even if there's been some lability the past week (understandable now in light of falling off the roof yesterday), and the tumors seem much more stable in size. Historically they swell and shrink without apparent rhyme or reason, and can be incredibly sensitive to things like coffee and gelatin (always made them swell in the past). They often swell terribly right before I start. But this time there was no swelling prior to onset, and while I'd prefer they were smaller, the size they've "stabilized" at in the last couple weeks is smaller overall than the average of the shrinking and swelling in the past. If that makes sense.

Sorry for TMI. It's just really interesting to me the way our bodies react to different combinations of therapeutic healing measures.

 

[SQu]

Are you using anything besides prog (like DHEA, etc.) to achieve this?

No dhea. Thyroid, lots of salt, gelatin ( I know you can't tho) aspirin I swear by. My usual supps but as PMS was a major thing for me and still is if I don't manage it, my supps probably play quite a role.

Most months in the past 3-5 years I've lost about a pint of blood.

Wow. Best of luck with that. For my heavy times I have found gelatin and salt very useful but of course there's no comparison with fibroids.

 

[whodathunkit]

gelatin ( I know you can't tho)

Actually, I can now! A good clean liver seems to be helping me a lot with all the things Peat says oppose estrogen (progesterone, glycine/gelatin, thyroid, etc.) that have given me a fit in past. I can even drink coffee now without getting symptoms in my fibroids, although I still have to be careful with its effect on the nervous system because I don't seem to detox it like a normal person. Too much will still make me jitter and jive, esp. on top of thyroid. But to not have my fibroids react to it with swelling and anger is huge. It's amazing how exquisitely sensitive fibroid tumors can be sometimes to changes in body chemistry.

 

[SQu]

The search I did for slowing bleeding that led me to the 58g gelatin a day recommendation also found me a quote by RP that suggested the gelatin worked by being anti inflammatory. IIRC. Will look it up. Because that could be relevant to fibroids maybe. Especially when you say things like "react with swelling and anger", that makes me think of anti inflammatories. Aspirin? In not high doses (my liver's not up to it), strong contender for my favourite supp esp premenstrually.

 

[Bluebell]

I found that even huge doses of progesterone didn't make my menstrual pain and maladies disappear, although it helped a little. Then I realized this was due to my big, huge inflammatory degenerative state in my body and only when I significantly improved it, did my menstrual troubles disappear. I employed many strategies for that, besides the progesterone. I don't even take progesterone anymore -took it 10 months non stop-, it's like I'm producing my own now and estrogen is in check!

@PakPik that is fantastic. Would you be willing to share details of how you fixed it?

 

[whodathunkit]

@PakPik, @thebigpeatowski, @SQu, @tara: have any of you used the HealthNatura Progesterone product? Simply Progesterone 1oz

It's about time for me to order Progesterone again and this seems like a decently priced alternative to Progest-E, which I understand has deviated from Peat's patented formula since the patent expired.

Do any of you have experience with its efficacy v. Progest-E?

 

[Peata]

Is anyone taking pregnenolone instead? It's supposed to convert to progesterone.

 

[whodathunkit]

Is anyone taking pregnenolone instead? It's supposed to convert to progesterone.

I tried preg for a couple weeks, but it was in addition to the progesterone. It seemed to make me more irritable, possibly converting into allopreg...?

Hopefully someone else with more experience with preg will chime in. That was my short-lived experiment with it. I may circle back around one day after my health is more stable, but right now progesterone seems to be doing me quite a bit of good. I'm almost over the lightest menstrual cycle I've had in probably a decade. It seems to be going a little longer than normal but it got off to a very light start, and the blood loss was dramatically less. So, a big win for progesterone, IMHO.

 

[thebigpeatowski]

P

Is anyone taking pregnenolone instead? It's supposed to convert to progesterone.

Pregnenolone makes me irritable and skin breaks out terribly, I still don't understand why.

 

[Peata]

P


Pregnenolone makes me irritable and skin breaks out terribly, I still don't understand why.

Do you recall how much you were taking?

I found the irritability was lowered blood sugar (at least in my case), and now I take it with/around food and haven't had the problem since. I don't know if this was what you were experiencing though. I take 50 mg. day lately.

 

[thebigpeatowski]

I was taking 50 mg. capsules and sometimes more....I've only tried it a few times, it hasn't gone well yet. I used the Swanson brand, maybe I should try a different brand?

I REALLY want to love pregnenolone.

 

[Blossom]

It's about time for me to order Progesterone again and this seems like a decently priced alternative to Progest-E, which I understand has deviated from Peat's patented formula since the patent expired.

Do any of you have experience with its efficacy v. Progest-E?

I use it and it seems to work just as well as Progest-e. I do find the dosing easier since the drops of progesterone consistently come out the same size.

 

[whodathunkit]

use it and it seems to work just as well as Progest-e. I do find the dosing easier since the drops of progesterone consistently come out the same size.

Thanks, Blossom. I ordered both, received them yesterday. I'll be able to give them both a good comparison trial. :)

 

[tara]

@tara: have any of you used the HealthNatura Progesterone product? Simply Progesterone 1oz

Nope. Only used progest-e so far.

 

[thebigpeatowski]

have any of you used the HealthNatura Progesterone product?

I haven't tried this product yet either, but now I'm intrigued.....so I wanna hear feedback from ya'lls.

 

[SQu]

Pregnenolone makes me irritable and skin breaks out terribly, I still don't understand why

I used to react strongly and badly so I concluded it was powerful stuff worth revisiting. Just restarted after long break and ... Feels just like progesterone. Stress coping much better. Mood better. Sleep better (though no doubt this like everything else will wear off).

 

[Peata]

I used to react strongly and badly so I concluded it was powerful stuff worth revisiting. Just restarted after long break and ... Feels just like progesterone. Stress coping much better. Mood better. Sleep better (though no doubt this like everything else will wear off).

Same here, but how much pregnenolone do you take, sue?

Oh, on the effect wearing off - I've heard others say they don't use it daily or use it for so many weeks then a week off. Not sure if this is necessary or if they are doing it to prevent the effects from wearing off, or what. But if it stops working, it's an idea to try a short break and see if good effects resume.