karenmartel

Many women in their mid-thirties, most women during peri-menopause (mid-forties), and essentially all women during menopause (age 50 and beyond) are overloaded with estrogen and have too low progesterone.   Progesterone like estrogen is a sex hormone it helps prepare your body for conception and pregnancy and regulates the monthly menstrual cycle. It also plays a key role in sexual desire, something many women feel they are lacking in.  

Symptoms of low progesterone are:

• PMS
• Cyclical headaches
• Irregular menstrual cycles
• Heavy periods
• Bloating and water retention
• Low sex drive
• Insomnia
• Postpartum depression
• PCOS
• Anxiety
• Weight gain
• Weight loss resistance
• Hot flushes
• Menopause

What you can do about it...

Vitamin C at doses of 750 mg/day have been shown to raise progesterone levels. Chaste Berry (Vitex) 500-1000 mg a day is proven to reduce PMS and infertility presumably by raising progesterone

Ditch the estrogen  

Even if your levels of progesterone are in normal range yet you are having the symptoms of low progesterone then I highly advise ditching as much xenoestrogens in your environment as possible. If the ratio between estrogen and progesterone are off you can experience the symptoms of low progesterone. You can read more about how to lower your estrogen in my post on estrogen dominance.

Bio-identical Progesterone

As we age our bodies simply quit producing as much progesterone and no amounts of vitamin c or chaste berry will help at that point. Taking a natural form of progesterone called bio-identical progesterone can help eliminate the symptoms and discomfort of estrogen dominance without the side effects associated with synthetic hormone replacement therapy. Bio-identical progesterone has been shown to;

• Help with symptoms of menopause including hot flushes, mood swings, insomnia, night sweats, vaginal dryness. (Important: menopause is not an estrogen-deficiency disease. The symptoms experienced by menopausal women are actually the symptoms of estrogen dominance! The most effective and safe treatment of these menopause symptoms is to counteract the excess estrogens by using a natural progesterone cream.)
• Relieve the symptoms of PMS  
• Increases sex drive
• Improve weight loss resistance
• Help the body to lose weight
• Normalizes insulin blood sugar control. Helps to stabilize blood sugar levels, and control cravings for high-sugar.  
• Alleviate depression, progesterone is the raw material for the anti-stress hormones serotonin and dopamine.  
• Reduce anxiety
• Stimulates bone growth, protecting against osteoporosis. It also protects against arthritis, and as an anti-inflammatory, reduces arthritic pain.
• Assists the thyroid. Progesterone therapy helps to restore normal thyroid hormone action.

• Pregnancy. Helps avoid early miscarriage (propagates an embryo). Sufficient progesterone is vital during pregnancy. Especially if you are estrogen-dominant and progesterone-deficient, supplementing with natural progesterone can help you get and stay pregnant.
• Protects against ovarian, endometrial and breast cancers.
• Protects against fibro cysts, uterine fibroids and endometriosis.
• Normalises blood clotting.
• Progesterone is a diuretic.
• Heart disease - reduces blood clotting, reduces stress / better sleep, reduces high blood pressure by acting as a natural diuretic, improves the integrity and function of cell membranes.

I know from my own experience that supplementing with bio-identical progesterone has helped with my symptoms of PMS, postpartum and weight loss resistance. I have seen women get massive relief from anxiety, excess weight, insomnia, hot flushes, low sex drive and infertility.   You can talk to your MD or ND about a prescription for Bio-identical progesterone and to discuss if that could be an option for you.