Progesterone

Body-Identical Progesterone

How Much is Safe & Effective?

*How Much Progesterone is Too Much?

While a very few websites and some very misguided social media groups are recommending ultra-high doses of progesterone daily, there is No Scientific Basis for using this extreme amount (100-500 mg/daily) and, in fact, has proven to be harmful!

Following, is a quote from a website selling a progesterone (Chinese) cream

For general use and to reverse mild symptoms 100-200mg/day progesterone is needed. If severe problems are experienced 400-500mg/day are needed.

This is bad advice.

The Key Principle

Supplementing with a hormone is not the same as supplementing, for example, with Vitamin C, where at times, more is better.  This principle of “more is better” does NOT apply to hormone supplementation.

Being seduced by this excessive quantity of progesterone daily (100-500 mg), is risky!  Why?  It does not parallel your body’s natural hormone cycles and will, in time, result in acute hormone imbalances and a desensitization of progesterone receptors, leading to acute “estrogen dominance” and all of the subsequent unpleasant symptoms, not the least of which, is an increased risk for female-specific cancers.

It does, however, enrich the sales of the company making these unfounded claims!

Rather than supplement with ultra-high doses of progesterone, in a desperate attempt to balance high levels of estrogensreduce the influx of environmental estrogens & successfully manage stress, while paralleling your body’s normal progesterone production.  This is safely accomplished with an optimally formulated progesterone cream, (free of Chinese progesterone).

This long-standing, common-sense approach to hormonal imbalances works in harmony with your natural biology.  And, it does so, safely!

Safe Way to Balance Your Hormones:

All the science and all the clinical experience of the past 48+ years, demonstrate that paralleling your body’s normal progesterone production, while avoiding environmental estrogens, & successfully managing stress, will allow you achieve the best of health, safely & naturally.

How Did We Get Here?

In about 1997 or so, Madison Pharmacy in the US. made the mistake of recommending extremely high and unsafe levels of progesterone. Dr. John Lee, modern day pioneer of Safe Progesterone therapy and five times the selling author, wrote a letter and published it for all the world to see. He condemned their ill-advice and strongly stated they should stop recommending these harmful levels of progesterone.
At that time, there were only a handful of progesterone cream companies and sadly, a few of them saw the opportunity to capitalize on these ultra high doses of progesterone and began recommending 400-500 mg of progesterone daily! If you do the math and calculate the cost of a jar of cream at $25, applying 400 mg/day would fool the customer into spending $75 every three days! A cycling woman who bought into this “business plan” would be spending $350 per month and overdosing herself with progesterone, all to the profit of an unscrupulous marketing entity.

What about high doses of oral progesterone?

To begin with, the liver will intercept 80 to 90% of all steroid hormones put into the stomach and convert them into a myriad of byproducts, some of which are harmful to your health. Doctors will prescribe 200 mg per day, hoping to give you a net dose of 20 mg per day. If you think oral progesterone is OK, I encourage you to look up the very undesirable list published by all the manufacturers of “cautions, warnings and side effects”, not the least of which is unnecessary damage to your liver.

Correct Topical Dose vs. Excess Topical or Oral Dose

When administered topically, at the proper physiological dose, one which is in harmony with your body’s natural circadian/hormonal rhythms, the liver is not at all affected and you also do not increase your risk for the following.
Common Symptoms Caused by Excessive Doses of Progesterone (topical & oral):
  1. Headaches
  2. Dizziness
  3. Back or Joint Pain
  4. Increased Sweating
  5. Nervous Tremors
  6. Speech Disorders
  7. Mental Confusion (this explains the thinking of the ED/FB group)
  8. Interference of Serotonin Production, Leading to Insomnia & Depression
  9. Lowered Libido
  10. Water Retention
  11. Increased Androgens leading to Increased Estrogen (ED)
  12. Suppression of T and B Lymphocytes (your immune system), Making You More Susceptible to Viral Infections, in particular, Upper Respiratory Infections
  13. Dry, chapped, itchy skin
  14. Transient visual disturbances
  15. Hearing difficulties
  16. Runaway appetite
  17. Weight gain
  18. Unusual headaches
  19. Male pattern baldness
  20. Dry hair
  21. Frequency and urgency in urination
  22. Extreme thirst
  23. Gynecomastia and nipple soreness
  24. Lymph node congestion, especially at groin
  25. Armpit smell
  26. Lower extremity edema
  27. Liver ache
  28. Cough and weak lung
  29. Heart palpitations
Initially, excessive levels of progesterone may ameliorate very unpleasant symptoms, leading you to believe, you have found that “magic bullet”!

Hershey Bar, Anyone?

However, this is just like having very low blood sugar, feeling cranky and then deciding to eat a Hershey bar. Yes it will raise your blood sugar immediately, but, in No Way is it Sustainable!
Because these high doses are not working in harmony with your own body, they will down-regulate progesterone receptors, making them more resistant to your master hormone and encouraging you to keep on increasing the dose to even higher, unsafe levels! Unfortunately this process inhibits the production of pregnenolone crippling your body from making DHEA, testosterone and estrogen.
While we really appreciate the devotion medical doctors have for the health of their patients, it is regrettable that their primary training for decades has been “fear-based medicine”, typically diagnosing and treating symptoms with harsh drugs recommended by the big Pharma.With that said, it is very encouraging to see that so many doctors are seeking safe, effective treatments which work in harmony with the human body.
Dr. Michael Lam, MD – this article is Golden:
Dr. John Lee, MD – 21 years experience, educating and recommending progesterone cream
Michael Graves CN – 28 years in experience educating and recommending progesterone cream