Elevated Progesterone?

[Connor888]

I got my blood work back earlier today from my blood test. Looks like my progesterone is high.. Is there anything I can do about this?

The only thing I take right now is pregnenolone and thyroid. Was going to start trying small amounts of progesterone too but I best not now.

 

[mrchibbs]

As I said in a pm, it’s not high at all. Test is meaningless. According to them, progesterone levels of 0.0 are perfectly normal and healthy. They’re retards I tell you.

The test reference range was changed 2 years ago for shady reasons.

@Broco6679 knows more about this.

 

[Connor888]

As I said in a pm, it’s not high at all. Test is meaningless. According to them, progesterone levels of 0.0 are perfectly normal and healthy. They’re retards I tell you.

The test reference range was changed 2 years ago for shady reasons.

@Broco6679 knows more about this.

yeah i know this was before i pm'd you. good to know though thank you

 

[mrchibbs]

yeah i know this was before i pm'd you. good to know though thank you

Yeah I’m commenting so that there is a public record of this conversation, and hopefully others can chime in.

 

[Connor888]

Yeah I’m commenting so that there is a public record of this conversation, and hopefully others can chime in.

ah right ok thats fair enough. yeah it would be interesting to hear more about this

 

[danishispsychic]

i dont agree. progesterone can be high and it happened to me and caused all sorts of issues. i would recommend dropping the pregnenolone.

 

[Broco6679]

A progesterone value of 1.56 nmol/L is perfectly normal. As @mrchibbs mentioned, the problem lies within the range, not your value. Here is a comment I made in a previous thread discussing this very topic:

It happened after there was a large scale change to the progesterone assay. I flagged it up with the company who runs my labs, and they sent me the updated assay manual without much explanation or justification. You can read it here, if you're interested.

Before this change, the reference range used to be 0.70 - 4.2 nmol/L. Now, with the new assay, the range is < 0.474 nmol/L in the UK, and 0.0 - 0.2 ng/ml in the US. So, according to the new range, a progesterone level of 0.0 in a man is not only normal, but also healthy...

I had my own progesterone tested when the old assay was used, and it came back at 1.2 nmol/L. I've also had it tested twice on the new assay, and it came back at 1.2 and 1.4 nmol/L respectively - both the same as the previous result, and both 4x higher than the top of the 'normal' range.

Moreover, the little data we have investigating male progesterone does seem to fall in line with my own results and the old range.

Progesterone: The Forgotten Hormone In Men?
"We analyzed serum samples from 1015 men aged 20–90 years and serum samples from 330 postmenopausal women aged 50–90 years by a radioimmunoassay for progesterone. We found 1.21+ 0.41 SD nmol/l (0.38+0.13 ng/ml) for men and 1.24+1.18 SD nmol/l (0.38+0.37 ng/ml) for women, i.e. there were no differences between men and women."

So, my results fall in line with the old data / assay, even when testing via the new assay. I used to be an active member in the testosterone replacement therapy community before I came off it a year ago, and I've seen close to 100 individual men's progesterone labs on the new assay, and there wasn't a single one that didn't test high. After the change, every other day there was a new post on various trt forums with the title "Why is my progesterone high?" or "High progesterone - how to lower it?".

One of the better known TRT doctors, Dr Justin Saya of Defy medical, made a comment about it here, if anyone is interested. He sees men's progesterone levels everyday in his practice, and has reported the same thing himself. He is one of the only doctors in said community who acknowledges the importance of progesterone in men and actively prescribes it, all while being lambasted by other 'experts' in the field for prescribing a 'female' hormone. He will also prescribe armour thyroid if symptoms of hypothyroidism are present, but labs look normal. Says a lot about his knowledge and understanding of endocrinology, which most doctors in that field completely lack.

FWIW, I use the same lab (county pathology via medichecks) and mine also shows 'high':

When I had my progesterone ran back when I was on trt w/ a suppressed hpta, my progesterone was undetectable, which is to be expected (though is absolutely not desirable, despite the range stating otherwise). This again suggests that the values given are indeed accurate, but the range itself is not:

Your value is roughly what I would consider optimal for a male, which suggests that the preg is being preferentially converted in a favorable manor. I'd be interested to see your dhea and testosterone if you had them checked.

 

[Broco6679]

i dont agree. progesterone can be high and it happened to me and caused all sorts of issues. i would recommend dropping the pregnenolone.

Yes, there is such a thing as too high a progesterone. However, a value of 1.56 nmol/L in a man is by no means too high.

 

[mrchibbs]

@Broco6679 Thanks for sharing your knowledge man!

 

[Broco6679]

@Broco6679 Thanks for sharing your knowledge man!

My pleasure! I'm considering writing an article discussing the new progesterone range - and progesterone in men generally - as it's a real problem which doesn't seem to be addressed anywhere else online.

 

[mrchibbs]

My pleasure! I'm considering writing an article discussing the new progesterone range - and progesterone in men generally - as it's a real problem which doesn't seem to be addressed anywhere else online.

Do it! The more the merrier. We need knowledgeable people to write about what they know and create an community which interacts and brings forward these ideas.

 

[Peater Griffin]

i dont agree. progesterone can be high and it happened to me and caused all sorts of issues. i would recommend dropping the pregnenolone.

May I ask, what issues did you get from elevated progesterone?

 

[Charger]

My pleasure! I'm considering writing an article discussing the new progesterone range - and progesterone in men generally - as it's a real problem which doesn't seem to be addressed anywhere else online.

You seem knowledgeable on progesterone and it is hard to find information on it from a male perspective. What would be the best option for lowering elevated progesterone?

 

[mrchibbs]

You seem knowledgeable on progesterone and it is hard to find information on it from a male perspective. What would be the best option for lowering elevated progesterone?

If you read some of Broco6679's posts, you will realize it is highly unlikely that your progesterone is actually elevated. It's just the test range that's absurd.

 

[Charger]

If you read some of Broco6679's posts, you will realize it is highly unlikely that your progesterone is actually elevated. It's just the test range that's absurd.

Progesterone increases SHBG, lowers DHT and estrogen. Potentially increases serotonin as well.

If someone took Finasteride or Progesterone without being aware of these effects beforehand, the effects may not have been desirable in the first place and lowering progesterone could potentially be a resolution to the side effects some experience after taking 5ARis.

I don't want to debate whether or not Progesterone is good or bad in males, I just want to demystify it and know what directly lowers it if anything. It's clearly a very misunderstood hormone in general, because it's damn near impossible to get a direct answer on this even from who those who are knowledgeable and experienced with bodybuilding or endocrinology.

What I've gathered thus far that either directly or indirectly drops progesterone levels:
- Exemestane, supposedly lowers prog (along with estro) in a study, but never seen this reflected in bloodwork, may test it out and get labs done.
- Calcium D-Glucarate, 5000mg recommended by VigorousSteve, but will 'flush' all hormones including androgenic ones.
- Mifepristone/RU-486, lowers prog, but too expensive to be a realistic option.
- Going on exogenous hormones (TRT) and shutting off your own production.

Will update this if any others come to mind.

 

[mrchibbs]

The fact remains, nearly all of the cases of ''elevated progesterone'' are not real and simply the result of an absurd test range which now considers 0.0 to be a ''normal'' progesterone level.

Progesterone does not lower DHT, in fact oral progesterone increases testosterone biosynthesis in the leydig cell and in some cases increases DHT. There are several posts on the topic on this forum. Progesterone itself is not a 5ARI, Haidut has written about it before.

Many have indeed noticed an androgenic effect from progesterone. It's very much context-dependent.

Moreover, even if finasteride is made from progesterone, the two are not comparable in the sense that progesterone's half life does not lead to prolonged unwanted side-effects.

 

[mad539]

I did a progesterone test some months back and this was the result (lab from germany):

With 0.7 nmol/L the result says i'm way over the reference range. Now looking at the post of @Broco6679, i might be actually on the lower end of the "old" reference range.

 

[RealNeat]

This all begs the question, how accurate are blood tests for measuring progesterone?

 

[mrchibbs]

This all begs the question, how accurate are blood tests for measuring progesterone?

Not at all would be my guess