The Magic Of Progesterone

PROGESTERONE HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Progesterone can be amazing for optimizing your mood, supporting a healthy metabolism, and boosting brain health.

  • If you have too little progesterone, you have to get your stress down. As long as you’re hanging in high stress, your body will struggle to make adequate progesterone.

  • Progesterone induces a sense of calm, love, and connection by stimulating gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors.

  • The best time to check progesterone is when it rises to its highest level, around days 19 through 21 of your cycle.

WHAT IS PROGESTERONE? -

Around Day 14 of your cycle, an egg will be released (this is called ovulation). Following ovulation, a structure is left behind in the ovary called the corpus luteum, which secretes progesterone for about 2 weeks in what's called the luteal phase.

  • Progesterone induces a sense of calm, love, and connection by stimulating gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptors. GABA quiets the excitatory, stress, neurotransmitters and makes us feel relaxed and safe.

  • Progesterone is also important when it comes to your fertility. It rises following ovulation and creates an environment in the uterus to support a baby’s growth by thickening your uterine lining, reducing inflammation, and changing secretions

A tip for those trying to conceive: You want to start tracking your cycle and your basal body temperature, which can tell you when you ovulate every month. Increases in progesterone after ovulation cause your basal body temperature to rise 0.5°F, which can be picked up by a basal body thermometer. For couples pursuing pregnancy, the highest probability of conception appears to be with intercourse 1 to 2 days prior to ovulation. 

  • One study looked at using timed intercourse to get pregnant, this means they were intentionally having sex in that peak ovulation window. Researchers found that in couples who did not track cycles, only 50% conceived after 3 months. The couples that did track cycles and time their intercourse for maximal fertility, 76% conceived in the first MONTH of trying.

SYMPTOMS OF LOW PROGESTERONE:

Symptoms you might experience if your progesterone is low in relation to higher estrogen levels include -

  • PMS 7 to 10 days before your period

  • Headaches or migraines around your period

  • Anxiety

  • Painful, heavy, and difficult periods.

  • Breast tenderness

  • Feeling agitated, irritable, or feeling like you want to cry all the time.

  • History of miscarriages in your first trimester

  • Restless legs at night

  • Difficulty conceiving because progesterone creates that “baby loving” environment in your uterus.

TESTING YOUR PROGESTERONE LEVELS:

  • The best time to check progesterone is when it rises to its highest level, around days 19 through 21 of your cycle. Remember, that's about 5 to 7 days after you ovulate. Ideally, progesterone is between 15-33 ng/dL during this point in your cycle. Levels above 10 ng/dL indicate ovulation has occurred in your cycle. Anything lower, it's unlikely that you ovulated.

  • We also have to look at the level of progesterone in comparison to the levels of estrogen. When progesterone is low, it can show up as symptoms of estrogen dominance even if estrogen levels are normal. This is what's known as relative estrogen dominance.

TIPS TO START SUPPORTING YOUR PROGESTERONE:

  • Vitex is probably the go-to herb for all women's health practitioners. It helps support your body's own natural production of progesterone and has been shown to be favorable in women who are trying to conceive.

  • Vitamin B6 is necessary for progesterone production. Foods rich in B6 nutritional yeast, muesli, fortified vegan breakfast cereals, avocados, pistachios, wheat germ, acorn squash, banana, quinoa, sunflower seeds, corn on the cob, wholewheat spaghetti, Brussels sprouts, spring greens, chestnuts, hazelnuts, oranges, sesame seeds and tahini (sesame seed paste), tomatoes and walnuts.

  • Vitamin C is another essential nutrient for progesterone production and it is one of the nutrients depleted by birth control. We all know that citrus fruits are high in Vitamin C, but it can also be found in sweet red peppers, leafy green vegetables, and strawberries.

  • Working on stress management. If you can find productive ways to manage your stress through exercise and meditation then your progesterone levels may fix themselves.

THE PROGESTERONE STRESS CORRELATION:

If you have too little progesterone, you have to get your stress down. As long as you’re hanging in high stress, your body will struggle to make adequate progesterone.

  • When you’re under stress, your body prioritizes survival over fertility, which means it begins making more of your stress hormone, cortisol, at the expense of progesterone.

  • When you suffer from chronic stress, as many of us do, you experience HPA axis dysregulation.

  • In addition to stress, it is also common after age 35 to see progesterone decline because we ovulate less frequently.

Why else can progesterone plummet? We are social creatures and we need to be around other people. When we’re with our tribe, we actually have better progesterone levels. Not only that, social isolation, especially as we leave college, enter the workplace, or become mothers can really weigh on women. Spending time with friends who support us can help our mood and hormones.

In the beginning stages of menopause our hormones start to drop. Progesterone usually drops first, before estrogen, which can give us symptoms of estrogen dominance. This is especially the case if stress remains high at this point in life. Supporting progesterone through perimenopause with vitex, B vitamins that we've spoken about, and great lifestyle practices can be paramount to optimizing your hormones.

PROGESTERONE BHRT - 

Bioidentical progesterone is not the same as progestin found in oral contraceptives or hormonal IUDs. In fact, that progestin is a synthetic molecule that doesn't look anything like your progesterone. It can't give you the mood boosting benefits and it certainly does you no favors when it comes to water retention.

When would you elect using oral progesterone instead of topical? Oral exhibits the effects on mood, stimulating GABA, so if you're having trouble sleeping or you're feeling anxious, an oral progesterone might be your best bet. Progesterone can be amazing for optimizing your mood, supporting a healthy metabolism, and boosting brain health.

WHEN YOU HAVE ELEVATED PROGESTERONE LEVELS:

  • We typically only see this when women are supplementing with progesterone or using bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

  • You can have bloating and constipation because progesterone is a smooth muscle relaxant.

  • Issues with weight gain.

  • Some women experience insulin resistance, increased breast tenderness.

  • Waking up feeling groggy in the morning, or feeling sleepy throughout the day is also a sign of too much progesterone, as is having mood swings.

  • An increase in yeast infections when using topical progesterone.

Emma BarrettComment