Periods every two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!

DANGERS of natural progesterone cream 

My experience with these so called natural progesterone creams was also not good... Even my Gyno said they mess women up... 

*This is not my info ... this is taken from Zimmer Nutrition making women aware ... charts are on their web . At last some facts ...

Natural Progesterone Cream Dangers

Creating an unhealthy balance!

The use of progesterone creams has skyrocketed in the last decade. The cause was mostly due to the writings of Dr. John Lee, M.D. who wrote “What your doctor did not tell you about menopause” and “What your doctor did not tell you about pre-menopause.” Many reading this will be familiar with his writings, but for those who are not, here is a short synopsis.

Dr. Lee essentially had the insight to identify the risks associated with estrogen replacement therapy well before the bubble burst in 2002 when a study was halted due to the negative effects of estrogen. Before 2002 the evidence showing the risks of using estrogen replacement was ignored by many in the medical establishment.

Dr. Lee not only recognized the risks, but also came up with a solution. He rationalized that since progesterone was the antagonist to estrogen (the balancing hormone for estrogen) that using progesterone creams could balance the so-called estrogen dominance that was plaguing our population.

The term “estrogen dominance” was coined to describe the relative increase in the amount of estrogens that our bodies were being exposed to from prescriptions, hormone treated animal products and other estrogen-like molecules (pesticides, chemicals). The concept was that these estrogens and weak estrogen-like molecules were wreaking havoc on our systems by increasing the influence of a powerful hormone that stimulates growth and cell activities. This estrogen dominant state was then blamed for a staggering list of symptoms as outlined in Chart 1: Estrogen Dominance Symptoms.

Whether estrogen dominance actually exists is a subject of debate. Most alternative health professionals have accepted the arguments for the condition and readily endorse the concept. Many traditional doctors do not accept the concept and readily dismiss it.

I can tell you that I rarely find levels of estrogen that out of the normal range in my patients. This observation alone would seem to argue against the presence of estrogen dominance. But just like everything related to health, the story is not so simple and/or straight-forward.

The theory of estrogen dominance encompasses more than just measured estrogen levels. It also suggests that there are unwanted estrogen influences from synthetic, chemical estrogen-like molecules to which we are abundantly exposed. It also suggests that the receptors which relay the estrogen signal might be amplified under certain vitamin deficiency states. In addition, the problem may be due to lower than normal progesterone levels. Thus, even a normal amount of estrogens would create a situation of estrogen dominance.

Those who believe in the estrogen dominance theory simply point to the benefits that some women have claimed from using progesterone creams. After reading Dr. Lee’s books you would certainly think that progesterone cream was the next great cure for most female ailments. Since the actions of estrogen could be rationalized as being the cause of so many female problems and since so many women supposedly found relief in using progesterone (the balancer of estrogen), the acceptance of the estrogen dominance theory was quick and widespread.

So what should we believe? Is estrogen dominance real or is it an inaccurate fabrication? Unfortunately, I cannot give you the answer to these questions although I do believe in the concept. The good thing is that for the sake of this article it really makes no difference as to which side of the fence you sit when it comes to this issue.

The reason is that whether or not a person actually has estrogen dominance makes no difference when we consider the dangers of the prolonged use of progesterone creams.

Creating a Dangerous Imbalance

Because of the acceptance of the estrogen dominance theory the use of progesterone creams spread like a weed. Although I was definitely a part of this movement at the beginning, I was disturbed by how progesterone creams were being promoted.

I got call after call from multi-level marketing skin care company representatives trying to get me signed up to use their company’s progesterone cream product. I realized that the people who were promoting the use of these creams had training that went something like this:

“Hey, you can make a bunch of money by selling our products and getting people to sign up under you. And, our products are the very best ever as you will learn by reading the materials provided by our company.” Followed by, “I was having X, Y, and Z problems that were changed by using our Super Pure progesterone cream. My life has been changed and you can now go out and help change other people’s lives for the better. And, did I mention that you could make a lot of money?”

I challenged these people by letting them know that I thought they had no business telling people to take hormones without proper training and without testing a patient’s baseline hormone levels. The bottom line was that they simply didn’t care and women all over the U.S. were convinced that they needed progesterone cream.

So, why is any of this a problem? What is wrong with using progesterone creams in this manner?

Those who know me well are familiar with my belief that one of the keys to finding good health lies within finding proper balance. Notice that I said proper balance. Believe it or not, the body can become balanced in a suboptimal way. In other words, your body may become stable (balanced) even though it is not healthy. For example, a person may have an elevated blood pressure of 140/86 that has become stable. Although their blood pressure has become stable (balanced) at this higher number, it is not at a healthy level. A proper balance for this person may be 126/78. We should work for a proper balance.

This concept of creating a proper balance is where the danger comes from using progesterone creams. I have now found that women who use progesterone creams have unnatural and completely imbalanced levels of progesterone throughout their cycle. The best way to illustrate this is to show you a month-long test from an actual patient.

Figure 1: Estradiol and Progesterone Test 1

Look at Figure 1: Estradiol and Progesterone Test 1. As you can see from the legend of this test, found on the bottom left side, that the (circles ●) represent progesterone. The Blue area represents the expected normal ranges for progesterone. At the beginning of the cycle there is typically little progesterone being produced. Thus, the Blue area is towards the bottom. Right after ovulation progesterone is produced in significant amounts. You can see how the Blue area goes way up after this time. If the female egg is not fertilized progesterone levels fall drastically and menstruation begins. All of the (circles ●) should fall somewhere within the Blue area. You can see that the progesterone levels (circles ●) are buried across the top indicating super high levels of progesterone throughout this patient’s cycle.

The (squares ■) represent estrogen levels and the Green shows the expected levels of estrogen for the female cycle. At this point estrogen was not high and was basically at normal expected levels. Notice, however, at the very bottom of this test that her testosterone levels were off the chart high.

Figure 2: Estradiol and Progesterone Test 2

This patient started taking progesterone cream about 1 year prior to this test after hearing about it from one of these multi-level marketing representatives. Notice the complete imbalance she has created in her body. Her progesterone and testosterone levels were abnormally very high. We then waited 7 months to see if her level of progesterone would come back down to normal. The results of this follow-up test are shown in Figure 2: Estradiol and Progesterone Test 2. You can see that even after 7 months her levels of progesterone (circles ●) were still grossly elevated throughout her cycle. But now her levels of estrogen (squares ■) had also increased significantly. Her testosterone continued to be off the chart high.

Explaining What Happened…

I think that it is important to evaluate how this patient got herself into this mess.

Figure 3: Hormone Synthesis

This patient started taking progesterone cream after being convinced that it would help her many symptoms. She used the smallest recommended dose for the two weeks before the start of her period as directed in Dr. Lee’s book. In the beginning (first couple of months) she really felt as if the cream had made a significant difference in her symptoms. The fact was that a number of months later she realized that she continued to have her symptoms, but was reluctant to stop using the cream for fear of making them worse. And, since progesterone cream was completely safe she saw no reason to stop its use.

****Progesterone cream dissolves in fat and canthus be stored in your fatty tissue. The levels of progesterone steadily increase within fat tissue with prolonged use. After a while, the amount being added every month, along with the amount being released from the fatty stores, causes elevated progesterone levels throughout the female cycle.

So, instead of supplementing a little progesterone during a short period of time the body becomes subjected to elevated levels throughout the female cycle The body can then take the extra progesterone and make it into either testosterone or extra estrogen. Excess testosterone can also be made into estrogen. (See Figure 3: Hormone Synthesis below)Thus, the body is thrown into a dangerous hormonal imbalance that does not serve to promote proper health.

The ironic part of this is that Dr. Lee, himself, had this to say about hormone balance:

“There’s no doubt that it’s not a good idea for most women to take large doses of progesterone in any form over a long period of time. That’s just not good medicine, it’s not balanced, it’s not common sense, and it’s bound to cause trouble sooner or later.”

So, the founder of the progesterone cream movement himself acknowledged that creating an imbalanced state is not good medicine and is bound to cause trouble sooner or later.

The problem is that I currently do not see how anyone could use progesterone creams for any prolonged period of time without creating this dangerous imbalance. My patient highlighted in this article only used the minimum dose of the cream for less than two weeks a month. It has taken 7 months at the writing of this article and she is still grossly imbalanced thanks to progesterone cream. However, now her testosterone and estrogen have also been driven to unnaturally high levels.

The disturbing aspect of this story is that there is very little information that I can find on the internet to warn people about this danger of using progesterone cream. The only warning I found was weak at best. This is not a “safe as water” hormone and the cavalier attitude towards its use has to be changed or there will be negative ramifications.

As a clinician, I cannot envision how progesterone cream can be used for more than maybe a couple of months, due to this fat tissue saturation problem. very strong suggestion is that any women who has taken or continues to take progesterone cream should immediately get their hormone levels checked with a month-long salivary test like the one shown in this article. 

This info is from zimmer nutrition web ... charts are shown on this site 

 

Hi Jayneejay,

It's not cream. It's a compounded prescription through my naturopath doctor that is taken under my tougue at night.

My levels were so low that she started me on a very low dose. I feel great other than the wacky periods.

Hi hun

when you go to the gyno take it with you ..

as this may be the problem 

jay xx

I go tomorrow so I will take it with me.

But I always thought progesterone prevented you from bleeding. Why would I have more periods?????

Hi hun

normally its given for heavy periods, or endometriosis or similar ..

not for a normal healthy woman ..

if your in peri menopause and given it then its maybemessed your hormones up.

see what the Gyno says tomorrow ..

good luck hun

jay xx

Thanks - I will let her know. I am having my levels rechecked as well. I won't take any birth control pills - especially at my age. I am trying to get through this as naturally as possible. All this started when I lost weight. I was never obese, I just needed to lose a few pounds and then ended up losing too much weight. Now I am just about right and the periods are out of wack. Feel great though, just wish I could get through menopause and be done with all this stuff.

Hi 

no i know you wont want the pill, just trying to explain it ..

its hard to explain .. 😩

i am post meno age 50 .. Natural route ..

had 10 year peri..

your post meno after 12 months no periods as you may know..

i wish you luck tomorrow 

i must dash now, i am in spain and its 12.45am 

let me know how you get on

good luck 

jay xx

Hi Kerry

I also ( i am post meno now) 

Went 6 months no period then had one more ( before i had my final three periods my symptoms were severe migraine for 4 days solid, feeling very sickly) 

Now i am post menopause after over 12 months no period since my last one ..

All confirmed by vaginal ultra sound showing thinned 4mm uterine wall and non functioning ovaries no follicles..

I didnt take HRT had 10 year Peri

Now aged 50 

It gets better 😀 honest 

Jay xx