Why Do Women's Progesterone Levels Drop After Giving Birth?

[cyclops]

"Dr. Sears also refers to progesterone as your “feel-good hormone.” It’s what’s responsible for giving pregnant women that “glow” and feeling upbeat and happy. But if your progesterone levels drop, you can start feeling rundown, depressed and anxious. In fact, after a woman gives birth, her progesterone levels drop dramatically and can result in post-partum depression. And in most cases, a little boost of progesterone is all it takes to help you feel happier and calmer."

If the above is true, why is it so? What is the reason that a women's progesterone levels would drop enough after birth that is causes problems for her? Does this only happen in unhealthy women...meaning healthy women would have the proper amount of progesterone even after giving birth?

 

[schultz]

"Dr. Sears also refers to progesterone as your “feel-good hormone.” It’s what’s responsible for giving pregnant women that “glow” and feeling upbeat and happy. But if your progesterone levels drop, you can start feeling rundown, depressed and anxious. In fact, after a woman gives birth, her progesterone levels drop dramatically and can result in post-partum depression. And in most cases, a little boost of progesterone is all it takes to help you feel happier and calmer."

If the above is true, why is it so? What is the reason that a women's progesterone levels would drop enough after birth that is causes problems for her? Does this only happen in unhealthy women...meaning healthy women would have the proper amount of progesterone even after giving birth?

I think your going in the right direction with that train of thought. Healthy women, or people for that matter, are not estrogen "dominant". That's actually a good question though, what is the point of the progesterone dropping? My guess is to eventually prepare the woman for another pregnancy. Either that or it is metabolically expensive to have a super high progesterone? Or even something to do with breast feeding. Could a very high progesterone lower prolactin to a point that the woman wouldn't lactate? Now that I think about it, what triggers the woman to get her period back after pregnancy? My wife doesn't get hers for at least a year I think after giving birth. If you didn't breast feed would you get your period back sooner?

I'm not sure I helped lol.

 

[Kyle M]

The corpus luteum that was associated with the ovarian follicle that became fertilized stops producing progesterone after birth.

 

[tara]

Progesterone levels increase dramatically to sustain the pregnancy.
High progesterone levels prevent the next pregnancy.
Breast feeding can delay the resumption of the menstrual cycle (doesn't always prevent it), but even without periods, it's not a reliable contraceptive.
All the stress factors that tend to favour higher estrogen could also be relevant, and maybe make it more likely that progesterone drops too low? There can be a lot of stress and work in mothering a baby, and depending on one's situation, it can be hard to get all the nourishment and rest and support needed to replenish oneself ...

 

[alywest]

I also believe it has to do with low thyroid function. I know my progesterone dropped dramatically after giving birth and my thyroid was nowhere near where it should have been at the time. I was taking levo and a small amount of a generic t3 but now I know that was pretty much worthless. now that I have taken actual cytomel and also tyronene I know that the generic t3 is crap. I tried it as a substitute for cytomel after my insurance stopped and I didn't want to pay full price for cytomel. I might as well have been taking sugar pills, it was total crap.

 

[tara]

I went from a lovely few months without migraines to nasty migraines within a week of births too, presumably as progesterone plummeted, but I guess also thyroid falls and prolactin rises, ....

I also believe it has to do with low thyroid function. I know my progesterone dropped dramatically after giving birth and my thyroid was nowhere near where it should have been at the time.

Yeah, I'll bet that would be a factor in it dropping lower than ideal too, and I'm pretty sure it dropped too low for me as well.

 

[Kyle M]

placenta

 

[alywest]

I went from a lovely few months without migraines to nasty migraines within a week of births too, presumably as progesterone plummeted, but I guess also thyroid falls and prolactin rises, ....

Do you think that the progesterone has to drop so that prolactin can rise for the sake of breastfeeding? We all talk about prolactin as negative on this site but it does actually serve a purpose, right? I am honestly asking. Ironically I was barely able to breastfeed and had to quit and I also attributed that to thyroid deficiency, I would guess that the thyroid dictates what needs to be produced in what quantities and when to an extent, but if the thyroid is off, then every other hormone is going to be off. After having my second baby I felt like I was just empty. Like just completely empty. I don't even know how else to describe the feeling. I actually asked my doc to put me on antidepressants because I was so miserable. I didn't know about any of this stuff yet. The thyroid was actually prescribed by my OB-GY because my TSH was high even by their standards during pregnancy. I don't know how it flew below the radar during my first pregnancy.

 

[alywest]

placenta

I had seriously considered getting my placenta encapsulated and now I wish I had if I had really understood how off my hormones were and how much it would affect me postpartum. If I ever have another child I will do it. I'm not sure I will have them use my placenta to make a "painting," that's where I draw the line.

 

[Kyle M]

I had seriously considered getting my placenta encapsulated and now I wish I had if I had really understood how off my hormones were and how much it would affect me postpartum. If I ever have another child I will do it. I'm not sure I will have them use my placenta to make a "painting," that's where I draw the line.

You could try taking progesterone rather than dealing with the placenta thing, if that's more convenient. It might be a good idea, if you can manage it, to get your progesterone levels tested a few times during your pregnancy, and then try and dose yourself to prevent a huge drop post-birth.

 

[schultz]

I had seriously considered getting my placenta encapsulated and now I wish I had if I had really understood how off my hormones were and how much it would affect me postpartum. If I ever have another child I will do it. I'm not sure I will have them use my placenta to make a "painting," that's where I draw the line.

My goats eat their placenta after they give birth. They sit there and munch on it and it makes a kind of popping noise.

 

[alywest]

My goats eat their placenta after they give birth. They sit there and munch on it and it makes a kind of popping noise.

Oh wow, I have actually heard of people eating the placenta and I suppose it would be in accordance with Ray Peat's "whole animal" ideology. I would assume that drying and encapsulating the placenta would be akin to the dessicated liver, it would probably lose a lot of its value.

 

[alywest]

You could try taking progesterone rather than dealing with the placenta thing, if that's more convenient. It might be a good idea, if you can manage it, to get your progesterone levels tested a few times during your pregnancy, and then try and dose yourself to prevent a huge drop post-birth.

Agreed, I don't think I'll be going without progesterone for quite some time now that I've been privileged enough to come across Ray Peat. I know I'll need to stop taking it at some point because I will need to go into menopause.

 

[tara]

Do you think that the progesterone has to drop so that prolactin can rise for the sake of breastfeeding? We all talk about prolactin as negative on this site but it does actually serve a purpose, right?

I don't know the ins and outs of it, but I have assumed that prolactin plays a role in lactation, and women with babies could use some. From what I gather, excess is a problem. But I don't know what excess would mean in the context of a lactating mother feeding her baby.

 

[tara]

I know I'll need to stop taking it at some point because I will need to go into menopause.

Some menopausal women take it regularly, often cyclicly.

 

[tara]

Oh wow, I have actually heard of people eating the placenta and I suppose it would be in accordance with Ray Peat's "whole animal" ideology. I would assume that drying and encapsulating the placenta would be akin to the dessicated liver, it would probably lose a lot of its value.

Yeah, I gather it's been best practice in some cultures. But I think I would have struggled to face it. I guess it could be chopped or blended and frozen in icecube trays and added to something tasty a bit a day till it runs out. But not me.

 

[LadyRae]

Yeah, I gather it's been best practice in some cultures. But I think I would have struggled to face it. I guess it could be chopped or blended and frozen in icecube trays and added to something tasty a bit a day till it runs out. But not me.
[/QUOTE
@alywest @schult ltz
For the past 17 years I have been dehydrating and encapsulating women's placntas for them. I did a search here on the forum and this thread is all that came up.

I'm wondering if anyone else has been eating their placenta?

I have encapsulated all four of my children's placentas and I have even made smoothies with a raw chunk of the placenta directly after delivery...

After my fourth daughter's delivery, when I lost over half of my circulating blood, my friends made me a smoothie right there in the room with a big raw chunk of my placenta and a lot of the blood that came with it. Added in some strawberries and yogurt. They said that my Blue lips immediately turned pink and the color immediately returned to my areolas. Truly miraculous....

@schultz @Kyle M

 

[Peachy]

Progesterone drops and then it’s all about the oxytocin reflex when mom and baby become a dyad. Progesterone inhibits binding of oxytocin to its receptor.

Section 2.5: The physiological basis of breastfeeding - Infant and Young Child Feeding - NCBI Bookshelf

Progesterone Inhibits Oxytocin- and Prostaglandin F2alpha-Stimulated Increases in Intracellular Calcium Concentrations in Small and Large Ovine Luteal Cells

There is increasing evidence that the corpus luteum has an important role in regulating its own demise. A series of experiments was performed to study the effects of luteal concentrations of progesterone on the functions of steroidogenic luteal cells. ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[LadyRae]

I breastfed for over 10 years straight, and I tandem nursed my older two daughters, and also my younger two daughters.

Best time of my life! I was sleeping great, nursing in bed, I had vibrant energy and clear skin... The euphoric feeling that I got when my milk would let down was better than an orgasm.

Also, interestingly, even though I was nursing around the clock, I was always one of those women that would get her cycle back within a month of giving birth...

So if I was getting lots of oxytocin and my cycles were regular, how could my progesterone be low?

 

[Peachy]

I breastfed for over 10 years straight, and I tandem nursed my older two daughters, and also my younger two daughters.

Best time of my life! I was sleeping great, nursing in bed, I had vibrant energy and clear skin... The euphoric feeling that I got when my milk would let down was better than an orgasm.

Also, interestingly, even though I was nursing around the clock, I was always one of those women that would get her cycle back within a month of giving birth...

So if I was getting lots of oxytocin and my cycles were regular, how could my progesterone be low?

Progesterone would increase over time and maybe you just settle into it quickly. My period returned sooner with each child - with the first I never had it when nursing. But I still think I had low progesterone even when I had a regular cycle.

I was also cruising through life on those lovely nursing hormones. But eventually I’d get depleted because, knowing what I do now, I wasn’t eating enough.

When I started working on rebuilding my metabolism I was 3 years in nursing my 3rd. After a few months I started taking a bit of progesterone and right away I got the urge to wean (which I needed to do anyway to fully regain my strength). I don’t know if it was the hormonal shift, or if progesterone just gave me the fortitude I needed to make the transition.