Progesterone Cream for Healthy Happy Pregnancy
by Eckhart, MD
Make sure to work with your health care practitioner, physician or professional care giver before using Natural Progesterone Cream to induce pregnancy. Fertility Medical Doctors, the physicians that specialize in test tube babies, routinely use progesterone to keep the pregnancy and foster fertility. Progesterone fosters a nice nest, the endometrium, for the embryo to implant in the inside of the uterus.
I have had 2 patients that immediately got pregnant after a 2 week course of progesterone cream after unsuccessfully trying to conceive for several years. In all probability, they had an insufficient amount of progesterone to induce the endometrium, inside lining of the uterus, to create a nice nest for the embryo to implant in. A small amount of progesterone was all that was needed to get the pregnancy going.
Progesterone cream was used by John Lee, MD to also help infertility after the age of 35 for women. Progesterone may be used to trigger ovulation, and get the woman to conceive.
Many times as women pass the age of 35, they have regular cycles, but they are making only estradiol and NOT progesterone. This is because after the age of 35, the follicles come up, do NOT ovulate and go back down. Normally, the follicle would pop out an egg, and then the used follicle becomes the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum then produces progesterone.
However, after the age of 35, the follicle comes up and then goes back down. No egg is released. No corpus luteum is produced. No progesterone is produced. After the age of 35, only estradiol is produced during most menstrual cycles. This ensures estrogen dominance.
In addition, many of the chemicals put on the skin just happen to mimic estrogen. This leads to your body thinking you have more estrogen.
Using Progesterone for Infertility
from "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause" by John Lee, MD page 244.
"The use of natural progesterone can give women the power to enhance their fertility without a lot of expensive office visits and prescription hormones. It also flies in the face of mainstream medicine's approach to fertility, which doesn't trouble me since their success rate in acheiving conception is depressingly low. It's no wonder--they are precribing the wrong hormones! Synthetic estrogens and progestins generally cause more harm than they solve.
I believe that estrogen dominance from progesterone deficiency has casued a near epidemic of infertility among women in their midthirties. Excess estrogen seems to stimulate the ovaries to overproduce follicles, which, combined with delayed childbearing, results in an early burnout of the follicles. If you are having difficulty in conceiving, you may be able to use progesterone to your advantage.
I had a number of patients in my practice who had been unable to conceive. For two to four months, I had them use natural progesterone from days five to 26 in the cycle (stopping on day 26 to bring on menstruation). Using the progesterone prior to ovulation effectively supressed ovulation. After a few months of this, I had them stop progesterone use. If you still have follicles left, they seem to respond to a few months of suppression with enthusiasm, and the successful maturation and release of an egg. Some of my patients who had been trying to conceive for years had very good luck conceiving with this method. There are even a few children named after me!
On the other side of the coin is the fact that using progesterone prior to ovulation can supress ovulation. In a normal munstrual cycle, the release of progesterone by one ovary functions as a signal to the ovther ovary not to ovulate-- Nature's brilliant plan for avoiding multiple births. If your're using progesterone cream prior to ovulation, chances are good both ovaries will interpret its presence as a sign that the other ovary has ovulated, thus effectively suppressing ovulation.
If you decide to use progesterone while trying to conceive, be sure to begin using it only after you have ovulated each month. You can track your ovulation by taking your temperature each morning before you get out of bed. When you ovulate, the release of progesterone will cause a slight rise in body temperature. Once that has happedned, you can safely continue using the progesterone cream.
If you think you maybe pregnant and want the pregnancy, do NOT stop the progesterone until you have done a pregnancy test, as a sudden drop in progesterone levels would signal the body to shed the uterine lining, possibly inducing an abortion. While the urine pregnancy tests you can buy at a drugstore are reliable after day 28 of your cycle, a blood pregnancy test is reliable within several days of conception. (You usually do not need a doctor's prescription to get a blood pregnancy test at a local medical lab.) If it is positive and you want to remain pregnant, you should continure to use progesterone cream to prevent the scheduled menstrual shedding and to protect the developing fetus from early miscarriage. Progesterone should be continured at least until the third month of pregnancy, when the placenta becomes the major producer of progesterone, at which time you can GRADUALLY taper your progesterone supplementation. If blood progesterone levels remain good, you can discontinue it altogether. By the third trimester, the placenta will be making hundreds of times more progesterone than you would be getting with the cream alone."
The above Excerpt was from John Lee, MD.
Progesterone cream may be used to maintain a healthy pregnancy along with avoiding the chemicals on the skin that cause the unhealthy pregnancy. Again anything put on the skin is 10 times the oral dose. Make sure to work with your health care practitioner or health care professional while using progesterone cream in pregancy.
Where to Apply
Apply the progesterone cream to the skin anywhere where the circulation is good. Do not use where any lotion, perfume, or cosmetic is applied. You may apply it on the leg, the arm, the back, inner thigh and the chest. The topical progesterone cream is absorbed into the subcutaneous fat, and then slowly released into the blood stream where it is carried on the Red Blood Cell membranes and the chylomicrons (normal microscopic fat bubbles in the blood).
Rotate sites when applying Progestelle. If you just use one site, then the subcutaneous fat will saturate and you will not be able to absorb any more progesterone. For instance, if you keep doing right arm, right arm and right arm day after day, then you will not be able to absorb any more.
When you first try Progestelle, use only one drop at first so that if you have an allergy you will not get a big reaction. Usually, this is a reaction to the coconut oil, and NOT the progesterone. We do have other oils available.
Suggested Use
Use Progesterone Cream on days 12-26. Day 1 is the first day of your period. Use 20-40 mg/day of topical Natural Progesterone. Usually, you need 40 mg/day for the first 2-3 months, and then 20 mg/day for maintenance. However, there are some patients that are really good about their avoidance list and don't need to take progesterone after several months. Infrequently, some patients need to take progesterone for 6 months to 1 year to complete their menstrual period health.
If you have in increase in pain, bleeding, or discomfort, stop the progesterone cream immediately. Then, cut out all xenoestrogens and phytoestrogens according to the information that comes with the product. After cutting out all xenoestrogens and phytoestrogens for about 1-2 months, try the progesterone cream again.
The use of synthetic prescription birth control pills or synthetic prescription brand name hormones is not recommended. Synthetic prescription progestins will block Natural Progesterone. It is suggested that you use a condom without spermicide.
Increase in bloating, breast tenderness, and migraine headaches with the use of progesterone cream indicates the presence of some xenoestrogen (fake estrogen) or phytoestrogen.
Estrogen dominance will depress and decrease the activity of the thyroid receptor and will make you appear to be hypothyroid. Taking progesterone and cutting out xenoestrogens and phytoestrogens will revive the thyroid receptor back to normal and you will need less thyroid hormone. Make sure to work with your physician or health care professionally to decrease the thyroid dose. Hair should become fuller and the fat on the stomache and hips less.
Every woman absorbs, metabolizes and reacts to progesterone differently. So you may titrate the dose to what your body likes. Your job is to find the least amount of Progesterone Cream that you need to get the desired effect.
A woman usually makes about 20-40 mg/day during the luteal phase of her menstrual cycle. During one day of third trimester pregnancy, her body makes 400 mg/day of progesterone. So you can see that progesterone is quite safe. And there is a wide therapeutic range of progesterone that is effective and safe.
Interactions
Birth Control Pills
Birth Control Pills may contain a synthetic progestin that blocks the Natural Progesterone. So Birth Control Pills cannot be used with Natural Progesterone. Progesterone is NOT recommended for birth control.
Thyroid
Estrogen Dominance (too much estrogen usually from xenoestrogens and phytoestrogens) causes thyroid receptor desensitivity. In other words, you become less sensitive to thyroid hormone. Thyroid tests are usually normal or below normal. However, the estrogen dominant patient looks hypothyroid. Hypothyroid patients have thinning hair, low temperature, and develop fat on the hips and belly. After 4-6 months of getting rid of xenoestrogens and phytoestrogens, and taking progesterone the thyroid receptor perks up usually and becomes normal. As a result, hypothyroid symptoms decrease and you become normal. Also IF you are taking thyroid supplements, these thyroid supplements should be slowly tapered off working with your doctor.
Before or After Ovulation
Progesterone taken before ovulation will fool the body into thinking it is pregnant, and the ovaries will not ovulate. In essence, the progesterone is saving your eggs for the future. However, progesterone taken after ovulation may encourage conception. Progesterone encourages a nice "nest" lining for the embryo to implant. You should work with your health care practitioner when using progesterone during pregnancy and lactation.
