Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods and hormones
Body literacy is learning to observe, chart, and interpret an ovulatory menstrual cycle.
Progesterone is important for women’s health. Yet for decades, it has been ignored or wrongly blamed for side effects it doesn’t cause. How did that happen?
Progesterone was discovered shortly after estrogen, missing the chance to be included in the simplified narrative of “testosterone for men and estrogen for women.” To complicate things further, progesterone couldn’t initially be made into an oral medication, so it was sidelined in favor of synthetic progestins.
Almost all types of hormonal birth control switch off ovarian function and, therefore, switch off the ovarian hormones estradiol, testosterone, and progesterone. Here’s a bit more about each method.
The pill is commonly prescribed to “regulate periods,” but it can’t actually do that because withdrawal bleeds from contraceptive drugs are not real menstrual cycles.
In episode one of my podcast/YouTube video, I discuss real periods versus pill bleeds and why there’s no medical reason to bleed monthly on the pill.
I also look at the difference between contraceptive drugs and real hormones.
The next time your doctor orders a progesterone test, ask yourself: “When is the right day to do this test?”
Forget “day 21 progesterone.” There’s no need to test progesterone until about one week before your period. That will depend on how long your cycle actually is.
Here’s what you need to know about progesterone testing.