Progesterone, Menses, And Contraception

[belscb]

I've read the other threads so far on using progesterone as a contraceptive, but I'm confused and figured starting a new thread might bring more clarity here.

If the goal is to use progesterone as birth control, then in theory it seems the goal should be to supplement until menstruation ceases, right? At that point you would be simulating simulating progesterone levels during pregnancy. Kind of like having a fake pregnancy, I suppose. And of course, it's extremely rare for ovulation to occur during pregnancy (though it can happen). In theory, it seems this method should be very healthy and very effective. And it should be easy to tell if it's working, because menses should cease.

Am I missing something here? Why does nobody talk about it in this way? And why isn't the metric of success in this context whether or not menstruation stops? Is it possible that estrogen supplementation might be necessary in order to truly simulate a pregnancy, since estrogen levels are also higher during pregnancy? Heresy, I know, and I don't think I'd ever want to see somebody actually take estrogen. At this point I'm mostly just trying to understand if there's a HEALTHY way to use hormones as a very effective birth control. And it seems like the best strategy would be to simulate a pregnancy, one way or another.

 

[wild-bee]

Hi belscb, using progesterone as contraception does not require stopping menstruation - just ovulation, 10mg a day of oil from CD8 has been suggested to achieve this. I have used between 50-100mg pg cream CD1-14 for the last 18 months and have not ovulated since I started doing that (confirmed by negative OPK). For me it has been very effective and easy to do plus I get lighter, less painful periods and no bad moods (but also some bad side effects due to improper dosing/timing). However I also worry at the back of my mind that it stops my body producing it's own progesterone as this is triggered by ovulation therefore I have to supplement more after CD14 to compensate and it feels a bit like a waste of cream (and money- real progesterone is expensive!)

I am currently experimenting with progesterone to completely stop my cycle - so far the highest dose I dared take was 300mg cream post CD14 and this extended my cycle by 14 days until I lost my nerve and reduced the dose back down

I have two ideas I want to try:
1. stop periods with progesterone, supplement with estriol to grow my pregnancy induced ***s back
then
2. identify a low dose of progesterone to allow ovulation but keep cervial mucus thick (like the progesterone only mini-pill)

 

[belscb]

Interesting. My guess is that a higher dose of progesterone to completely stops menstruation might be the healthiest option. Hypothetically, a regime like that could even be turned into a new form of prescription birth control---one that has healthy side effects instead of harmful side effects! Please do keep me updated on that (maybe on this thread, so I don't accidentally miss the notification?). This is super interesting.

You would actually consider supplementing with estriol? That seems a little scary, even with a correspondingly high does of progesterone. But really, I guess it should be fine, considering the levels that happen naturally during pregnancy anyway.

 

[nikkmm]

Hi belscb, using progesterone as contraception does not require stopping menstruation - just ovulation, 10mg a day of oil from CD8 has been suggested to achieve this. I have used between 50-100mg pg cream CD1-14 for the last 18 months and have not ovulated since I started doing that (confirmed by negative OPK). For me it has been very effective and easy to do plus I get lighter, less painful periods and no bad moods (but also some bad side effects due to improper dosing/timing). However I also worry at the back of my mind that it stops my body producing it's own progesterone as this is triggered by ovulation therefore I have to supplement more after CD14 to compensate and it feels a bit like a waste of cream (and money- real progesterone is expensive!)

I am currently experimenting with progesterone to completely stop my cycle - so far the highest dose I dared take was 300mg cream post CD14 and this extended my cycle by 14 days until I lost my nerve and reduced the dose back down

I have two ideas I want to try:
1. stop periods with progesterone, supplement with estriol to grow my pregnancy induced ***s back
then
2. identify a low dose of progesterone to allow ovulation but keep cervial mucus thick (like the progesterone only mini-pill)

I did the same. I used Ona’s progesterone cream. 10% strength 1/4 tsp twice a day. 125 mg progesterone in each application. Total 250 mg daily. And I was generous with the dosages so probably more like 300 mg per day. I started from cycle day 1 of a cycle a few months ago. Completely suppressed ovulation. And I had the best sleep I’ve ever had in my life for an entire month. Temps were up and I didn’t use thyroid meds at all. But it absolutely killed my sex drive, gave me a kind of memory/brain fog, and made me so hungry I could not stop eating. I gained weight, especially in my chest and thighs. I couldn’t fit into my clothes. I think that was a pregnancy mimicking dose for me. Roughly 15 hours after my last dose (3 hours late from my next due dose) at cycle day 30 a period started. It was just a withdrawal style bleed much like when using the BCP. As wonderful as the sleep was, the brain issues coupled with zero sex and weight gain were enough for me to not try it again. Now I am trying a low dose (15 mg 2x/day) during follicular phase and a higher dose (60 mg 2x/day) during luteal phase. Hasn’t affected sex drive (thankfully) or increased appetite too much but has increased cycle length a bit. Unfortunately the amazing sleep is gone as well

 

[belscb]

Interesting. Thanks for the input, nikkmm.

 

[wild-bee]

Interesting. My guess is that a higher dose of progesterone to completely stops menstruation might be the healthiest option. Hypothetically, a regime like that could even be turned into a new form of prescription birth control---one that has healthy side effects instead of harmful side effects! Please do keep me updated on that (maybe on this thread, so I don't accidentally miss the notification?). This is super interesting.

You would actually consider supplementing with estriol? That seems a little scary, even with a correspondingly high does of progesterone. But really, I guess it should be fine, considering the levels that happen naturally during pregnancy anyway.

It does seem a waste of energy for my body to build up a fertile uterine lining every month only to disgard it unused but it's turning out quite hard to suppress menstruation completely so I'm not sure it's worth the hassle as the benefits I experience from the progesterone cream continue during my period anyway. My idea was that if I took enough progesterone to stop my period then estrogen would surely be fully opposed then I could add in some estriol cream without tipping the balance too much.

As far as updates go I swapped over to progesterone in vitamin e oil two cycles ago and it has not had the same effect as the cream :/
Lost any fullness the cream had given me within just a couple of weeks and got PMS again, upped the dose last month to 60mg per day + 100mg cream and still got my period but no PMS and almost zero pain. Tried a tiny bit of estriol cream for a couple of days and now have heavier bleeding than normal but no improvements in the chest area.

When I got pregnant I had boobs in two/three weeks. I'd really like them back but haven't worked out the magic combo

I did the same. I used Ona’s progesterone cream. 10% strength 1/4 tsp twice a day. 125 mg progesterone in each application. Total 250 mg daily. And I was generous with the dosages so probably more like 300 mg per day. I started from cycle day 1 of a cycle a few months ago. Completely suppressed ovulation. And I had the best sleep I’ve ever had in my life for an entire month. Temps were up and I didn’t use thyroid meds at all. But it absolutely killed my sex drive, gave me a kind of memory/brain fog, and made me so hungry I could not stop eating. I gained weight, especially in my chest and thighs. I couldn’t fit into my clothes. I think that was a pregnancy mimicking dose for me. Roughly 15 hours after my last dose (3 hours late from my next due dose) at cycle day 30 a period started. It was just a withdrawal style bleed much like when using the BCP. As wonderful as the sleep was, the brain issues coupled with zero sex and weight gain were enough for me to not try it again. Now I am trying a low dose (15 mg 2x/day) during follicular phase and a higher dose (60 mg 2x/day) during luteal phase. Hasn’t affected sex drive (thankfully) or increased appetite too much but has increased cycle length a bit. Unfortunately the amazing sleep is gone as well

Sounds like it raised your estrogen? Brain fog and weight gain are mentioned a lot on progesteronetherapy.com as estrogen dominance symptoms. I can relate to the hunger, fenugreek seed tea had this effect on me within a few days I have also slowly gained about 8lbs since using the cream but it's all gone round my belly and not anywhere nice! The oil definitely makes my sleep better, I might switch back to the cream and just take a few drops of oil at night. That's good you got your mojo back quickly, do you know if you're ovulating again?

 

[nikkmm]

It does seem a waste of energy for my body to build up a fertile uterine lining every month only to disgard it unused but it's turning out quite hard to suppress menstruation completely so I'm not sure it's worth the hassle as the benefits I experience from the progesterone cream continue during my period anyway. My idea was that if I took enough progesterone to stop my period then estrogen would surely be fully opposed then I could add in some estriol cream without tipping the balance too much.

As far as updates go I swapped over to progesterone in vitamin e oil two cycles ago and it has not had the same effect as the cream :/
Lost any fullness the cream had given me within just a couple of weeks and got PMS again, upped the dose last month to 60mg per day + 100mg cream and still got my period but no PMS and almost zero pain. Tried a tiny bit of estriol cream for a couple of days and now have heavier bleeding than normal but no improvements in the chest area.

When I got pregnant I had boobs in two/three weeks. I'd really like them back but haven't worked out the magic combo



Sounds like it raised your estrogen? Brain fog and weight gain are mentioned a lot on progesteronetherapy.com as estrogen dominance symptoms. I can relate to the hunger, fenugreek seed tea had this effect on me within a few days I have also slowly gained about 8lbs since using the cream but it's all gone round my belly and not anywhere nice! The oil definitely makes my sleep better, I might switch back to the cream and just take a few drops of oil at night. That's good you got your mojo back quickly, do you know if you're ovulating again?

Yes I started ovulating again. Low/medium doses (under 100mg topical daily, split into two doses) don’t affect my cycle. Progesterone is still tricky for me. At low doses it doesn’t do anything, at medium doses I get some estrogen symptoms and high doses gives me stress symptoms. Cortisol maybe. Finding the right dose is hard and using thyroid at the same time is impossible. I feel very hyperthyroid if I use progesterone cream and thyroid meds together, even just low doses of both. And not in a good way. In an uncomfortable, overly energized, can’t relax, overheated, anxious insomniac way. Like taking thyroid meds makes any extra progesterone go straight to cortisol.

 

[Jennifer]

I don't do well with hormone supplementation, even natural progesterone. Despite going through a bottle of Progest-E a week, it caused me to bleed like crazy for 10+ days straight every two weeks. Mine may be an extreme case but if there are any other women who have a hard time with hormone supplementation, here's a natural method of birth control that I've heard good things about...

Ovulation calculators like these, for example:

Lady Comp Ovulation Calculator - Ovulation Calculation safe & easy

Daysy - Your personal ovulation calculator - natural & safe

And here's a good book on natural birth control:

https://www.amazon.com/Taking-Charg...07-20&linkId=555f6dcee1f08aabc91ad0cda5f031a6