Progesterone Is Just as Important as Estrogen for Women’s Health
It’s time to bring progesterone into the conversation about women’s health. That’s according to Canadian endocrinology professor Jerilynn Prior in her paper “Women’s reproductive system as balanced estradiol and progesterone actions—a revolutionary, paradigm-shifting concept in women’s health.” In the paper, Professor Prior makes the case that historically there has been a “cultural over-emphasis on estrogen” while “progesterone tends to be ignored or associated with negative effects.”
How to Survive the Great Progesterone Crash of Perimenopause
In your forties, you may find you don’t cope as well with stress. It happens because losing progesterone during perimenopause can destabilize the HPA (adrenal) axis or stress response system.
This recalibration of the nervous system is why perimenopause is associated with an increased risk of anxiety, depression, and insomnia.
Guide to Using Progesterone for Women’s Health
Body-identical or bioidentical progesterone can treat women’s health conditions such as PCOS, PMDD, migraines, endometriosis, adenomyosis, and perimenopause.
Progesterone is called oral micronized progesterone and requires a doctor’s prescription. Brand names include PrometriumⓇ, UtrogestanⓇ, TevaⓇ, and FamenitaⓇ, depending on your country. Alternatively, progesterone cream is available over-the-counter in some countries and can help with mild symptoms but is generally not as effective as progesterone capsules.
Here’s what you need to know.
Medications That Cause Weight Gain
Why do antihistamines cause weight gain? And how does hormonal birth control affect metabolism?
In episode eleven of my podcast and Youtube video, I look at how common medications affect metabolism; why birth control that is androgenic is more likely to cause weight gain; and whether natural progesterone causes weight gain or weight loss.
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Cyclic Progesterone Therapy for PCOS
Progesterone has anti-androgen benefits and can promote ovulation. That makes progesterone therapeutic for polycystic ovary syndrome, as described in my recent paper The central role of ovulatory disturbances in the etiology of androgenic polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)—Evidence for treatment with cyclic progesterone.
Do Women Need Periods?
With the news that women don’t need pill-bleeds came the headline “women don’t need periods,” which is completely wrong.
It’s true that women don’t need pill-bleeds because pill-bleeds are not periods. But women do need natural menstrual cycles, and here’s why.