Progest-e Bad Batch? Worst Period Ever

cmdshiftdel

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Aug 6, 2013
Messages
41
After posting here that I was using a topical progesterone (from imagine dermatology) that was not Progest-e, I was persuaded to change to Progest-e because of suspected lack of absorption. Prior to that I had used progesterone in coconut oil and it seemed to work alright (progestelle), but I had always assumed Peats would work better. I had tried it in the past, but hated the taste so much I wasn’t consistent.

So, I bought progest-e from Long Natural Health and used it twice a day, 4-6 drops total per day under tongue. I developed a painful nodule in the back of my throat, my under tongue area became inflamed, and my voice became crackly at times, but I kept going thinking it was not related and/or only temporary.

The whole reason I ever started taking progesterone was to curtail very painful periods I used to have. So after taking Progest-e for two weeks, I was expecting better results than progestelle because I thought the increased absorption would show major improvements.

Well, instead of seeing any improvement, I have had the worst period EVER in my entire life. I literally thought I was dying. I’m actually writing this from bed, from which I have been unable to move now for three days because of the severe pain. My ovaries felt like they were housing spinning daggers and I have been bleeding profusely, heavier than ever before. I even had strange cold chills followed by fever and just extreme pain all over. I’ve had bad periods before - but this was extraordinarily painful.

I now see some people mentioning on these forums that the vitamin e in progest-e is soy derived. But then those same people retract that statement in a later post. Ray Peat seems to say this is not true, but then Kenogen (the manufacturer) seems to say some people may have an allergy to the soy derived vit-e (all this from the same thread on progest-e). Argh. I didn’t even know this until today, so my arduous period wasn’t some reverse placebo effect.

I don’t know what is going on, whether this was a bad batch or there indeed is something to the soy thing- but I think I am done with Progest-e. I really feel like I almost died from pain shock.

Anybody else had this happen to them?

I think I want to make my own progesterone for personal consumption, so I can have total control and confidence in the ingredients. Does anybody have a diy recipe for progesterone in coconut oil? I wonder if I can just make my own with fractionated coconut oil and micronized progesterone powder. If so, where can I buy trustworthy progesterone powder? Maybe I can add non soy derived vitamin e also.
 

InChristAlone

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After posting here that I was using a topical progesterone (from imagine dermatology) that was not Progest-e, I was persuaded to change to Progest-e because of suspected lack of absorption. Prior to that I had used progesterone in coconut oil and it seemed to work alright (progestelle), but I had always assumed Peats would work better. I had tried it in the past, but hated the taste so much I wasn’t consistent.

So, I bought progest-e from Long Natural Health and used it twice a day, 4-6 drops total per day under tongue. I developed a painful nodule in the back of my throat, my under tongue area became inflamed, and my voice became crackly at times, but I kept going thinking it was not related and/or only temporary.

The whole reason I ever started taking progesterone was to curtail very painful periods I used to have. So after taking Progest-e for two weeks, I was expecting better results than progestelle because I thought the increased absorption would show major improvements.

Well, instead of seeing any improvement, I have had the worst period EVER in my entire life. I literally thought I was dying. I’m actually writing this from bed, from which I have been unable to move now for three days because of the severe pain. My ovaries felt like they were housing spinning daggers and I have been bleeding profusely, heavier than ever before. I even had strange cold chills followed by fever and just extreme pain all over. I’ve had bad periods before - but this was extraordinarily painful.

I now see some people mentioning on these forums that the vitamin e in progest-e is soy derived. But then those same people retract that statement in a later post. Ray Peat seems to say this is not true, but then Kenogen (the manufacturer) seems to say some people may have an allergy to the soy derived vit-e (all this from the same thread on progest-e). Argh. I didn’t even know this until today, so my arduous period wasn’t some reverse placebo effect.

I don’t know what is going on, whether this was a bad batch or there indeed is something to the soy thing- but I think I am done with Progest-e. I really feel like I almost died from pain shock.

Anybody else had this happen to them?

I think I want to make my own progesterone for personal consumption, so I can have total control and confidence in the ingredients. Does anybody have a diy recipe for progesterone in coconut oil? I wonder if I can just make my own with fractionated coconut oil and micronized progesterone powder. If so, where can I buy trustworthy progesterone powder? Maybe I can add non soy derived vitamin e also.
Are you sure you didn't experience a cyst or fibroid bursting? I remember when I first started using progesterone I was taken down with some pain around my ovaries but then it never happened again. I use Health Natura's Simply progesterone, it has less of the thick vitamin E, but it still has enough that I can't take it orally it sticks to my throat. So I take it vaginally. Although I've been feeling like I am getting cortisol excess. So I may take a break.
 

Peatful

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Dec 8, 2016
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Hi @isabella83

I don’t have any concrete answers-
But something very similar happened to me maybe 8-9 years ago.
Upon that episode-
I stopped the supplementation at once- tried to make sense of it all-
But never came up with any answers at the time.

As I look back now-
I was very malnourished, under eating, over exercising, baby at home, just stressed out.

My guess is if my nutrition was better, especially protein?, I could have handled smaller doses more successfully.
I was a cortisol junkie; and too unwell to handle the Progestell.

Thats all anecdotal-
But my best guess.

Don’t know if that applies to you.
 

alywest

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Joined
Apr 19, 2017
Messages
1,028
After posting here that I was using a topical progesterone (from imagine dermatology) that was not Progest-e, I was persuaded to change to Progest-e because of suspected lack of absorption. Prior to that I had used progesterone in coconut oil and it seemed to work alright (progestelle), but I had always assumed Peats would work better. I had tried it in the past, but hated the taste so much I wasn’t consistent.

So, I bought progest-e from Long Natural Health and used it twice a day, 4-6 drops total per day under tongue. I developed a painful nodule in the back of my throat, my under tongue area became inflamed, and my voice became crackly at times, but I kept going thinking it was not related and/or only temporary.

The whole reason I ever started taking progesterone was to curtail very painful periods I used to have. So after taking Progest-e for two weeks, I was expecting better results than progestelle because I thought the increased absorption would show major improvements.

Well, instead of seeing any improvement, I have had the worst period EVER in my entire life. I literally thought I was dying. I’m actually writing this from bed, from which I have been unable to move now for three days because of the severe pain. My ovaries felt like they were housing spinning daggers and I have been bleeding profusely, heavier than ever before. I even had strange cold chills followed by fever and just extreme pain all over. I’ve had bad periods before - but this was extraordinarily painful.

I now see some people mentioning on these forums that the vitamin e in progest-e is soy derived. But then those same people retract that statement in a later post. Ray Peat seems to say this is not true, but then Kenogen (the manufacturer) seems to say some people may have an allergy to the soy derived vit-e (all this from the same thread on progest-e). Argh. I didn’t even know this until today, so my arduous period wasn’t some reverse placebo effect.

I don’t know what is going on, whether this was a bad batch or there indeed is something to the soy thing- but I think I am done with Progest-e. I really feel like I almost died from pain shock.

Anybody else had this happen to them?

I think I want to make my own progesterone for personal consumption, so I can have total control and confidence in the ingredients. Does anybody have a diy recipe for progesterone in coconut oil? I wonder if I can just make my own with fractionated coconut oil and micronized progesterone powder. If so, where can I buy trustworthy progesterone powder? Maybe I can add non soy derived vitamin e also.
I retracted my statements about progest-e that I had read on another website because the president of Kenogen insisted to me that although the vitamin e is derived from soy, it's highly purified and therefore would contain no soy protein. I personally have had better luck with prescribed progesterone that I take orally or inserted into the vagina. I was able to get a reproductive health doctor to prescribe it when I told him I was taking it over the counter anyway. The prescription is bio-identically derived, it's the same micronized progesterone that is found in other formulations.
 

Vinero

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I have had a similar experience. I have ordered progest E tons of times the last few years, more than 10 times at least.
The latest order I got, I did not experience any of the good effects of progesterone that I normally get. This is more than 6 months ago. Normally I get very relaxed, almost euphoric feeling from progesterone. A very pronounced anti-shock effect. But with this latest bottle I experienced absolutely nothing resembling that. I even used almost a half bottle one day, still nothing. I might have felt worse, I felt mildly toxic actually. I don't know what's in the bottle but it's not progesterone. I am convinced of that.
 

Kartoffel

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Sep 29, 2017
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If you feel that there is anything wrong with the progest-E, or even think that it doesn't contain any progesterone, you should contact the vendor or write to kenogen directly.

[email protected]
 

Lotte

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Dec 7, 2018
Messages
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@isabella 83

The symptoms you describe are not due to ProgestE, it seems that you have had a cyst rupture or a venous infarct of a fiboid. You may be allergic to soy, which might be the reason for the symptoms in your mouth an throat.
When progesterone is taken orally, it is quickly broken down by the liver, so it is important not to swallow it, but to rub it into the gums. For women it is in my opinion more comfortable to take progesterone vaginally.
 
OP
cmdshiftdel

cmdshiftdel

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Messages
41
I don’t think it was an ovarian cyst because I didn’t have pain at all until the first day of my period. The pain came on suddenly, intense & debilitating. It was as if I had taken no progesterone at all. It is gone now on day 4. I can only remember one period being like this in the very distant past, well before I knew about peat, but even that one wasn’t so bad. I used to have very bad periods, but this was far beyond the worst of those.

Prior to progest-e, I was using Imagine Dermatology topical progesterone, 20 mg per pump. I noticed my cycle shifted dramatically and another user pointed out it was probably due to very little absorption because of the solvent used in that formulation. I’d have to agree. I used this only for one cycle before dumping it and switching to progest-e.

Prior to above I was using progestelle, which is dissolved in coconut oil, 20 mg per day topical also. I never had period shifts with that, and my periods had become mild to tolerable except for occasional migraine which runs in my family. I was hoping progest-e would make my periods more mild than tolerable.

Even if I was only absorbing 20% of the aforementioned (4 mg), then two weeks of 12-18mg under the tongue of progest-e should have produced at least the same if not milder period. So I don’t know what to think.

I also was really surprised at the throat irritation, which I do not remember occurring when I used progest-e in the past. And when I used it before, I did not have a bad period.

I am really considering just making my own progesterone mix for personal use. I cannot go through this again. If I find a way to do it and a recipe that works, I will post it here. As far as emailing Kenogen, maybe I will but I have a feeling nothing will happen or the user (i.e., me) will get blamed. I can only say this happened to me and I’m super confused as to what exactly happened. I can’t imagine why a few more mgs absorbed per day of progesterone, which is exactly why I switched, would have such a negative effect. I haven’t had any unusual stressors lately or made any abrupt changes in nutrition either.

I’ll have to look into fibroid..just saw that reply.
 

meatbag

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Jan 15, 2016
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vitamin e thins the blood a lot and progest-e contains a lot of vitamin e per serving. Progesterone also thins the blood a lot if i remember right. Similar to aspirin
 
Joined
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as a guy I'm not experiencing periods obviously but the lastest batch of Progest-E works for me and my wife. It is darker than it used to be (or the bottle is) but works as usual.
 

Waynish

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Oct 11, 2016
Messages
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I would recommend the following:
1) Make a "progesterone testing" thread
2) Send all of the progesterone you think is bad to the leader
3) They mix it into one bottle
4) You all chip in to get that bottle tested (maybe $20/each)
5) If any significant impurities come back from the lab test, then further investigation has good direction & is warranted.
 

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