10 Reasons You Can’t Live Without Progesterone

Comments: 4 | March 21st, 2018




Ladies, are you struggling with PMS, painful, heavy periods, restless sleep, infertility, anxiety, fluid retention, brain fog, depressed moods or migraines? Are these symptoms interfering with your life? Are you missing too many days of work due to painful PMS? Are you gaining so many extra pounds that you don’t feel good about yourself? Are your moods up and down and upsetting your husband and kids? Are you not feeling well enough to spend time with your friends?

Well, we have good news. Did you know that God created you with a powerful little hormone that can resolve these symptoms? That’s right, it’s called progesterone. When your progesterone levels are optimal and in balance, then your negative health symptoms go away. You will be amazed at its list of health benefits and you will never want to be deficient in progesterone again!

Here are 10 reasons you can’t live without progesterone: 

1. Fertility/Pregnancy –   Progesterone promotes survival of the embryo and fetus throughout pregnancy. It is important for the process of normal embryo implantation and early embryonic growth and development. (1,3) Progesterone deficiency can lead to miscarriage.(3) Luteal phase deficiency in natural cycles is a cause of infertility and pregnancy loss.(2)

2. PMS – Progesterone relieves the symptoms of premenstrual syndrome and regulates the menstrual cycle. Research shows that progesterone therapy for PMS resulted in much lower depression, irritability, anxiety, mood swings, abdominal bloating, sleeplessness, and breast tenderness during progesterone treatment.(4)

3. Cancer Prevention – Progesterone protects against endometrial and breast cancer. The conclusion of the 1981 Johns Hopkins study found that infertile women with progesterone deficiency had a premenopausal breast cancer risk that was 540% greater than that of women whose infertility was not related to their hormone status. Not only that, but these women had a 1,000% greater risk of death from all types of cancer. (5) Research shows that progesterone suppressed the cells from spreading and induced cell death in malignant mesothelioma cancer cells (6) and that it also can inhibit growth and cause cell death in breast cancer cells. (7)

4. Thyroid Function –  Progesterone promotes assimilation of thyroid hormone into the cells, which allows your thyroid to work properly and give you energy.  Research concluded that progesterone therapy increases free thyroxine (T4).(8)

5. Bone Health –  Progesterone promotes bone building.  Research found progesterone to be extraordinarily effective in reversing osteoporosis. (9, 10)  There is evidence that progesterone may prevent and treat women’s osteoporosis. Progesterone stimulates osteoblasts and prevents bone loss in pre- and possibly perimenopausal women. Studies indicate that progesterone – likely working through bone formation pathways -plays an active role in maintaining women’s bone and in osteoporosis prevention. (11) Research shows that transdermal progesterone had bone-sparing effects. (12)

6. Sleep – Progesterone has a calming effect that helps promote sound sleep. Research shows that estrogen plus progesterone was more effective than estrogen alone in decreasing the prevalence of periodic limb movement, hot flashes, and grinding of the teeth at night, or sleepiness and attention difficulty during the day. The prevalence of breathing irregularities, arousal from sleep, anxiety, and memory impairment were decreased in both groups following progesterone treatment. (13) Studies show that decreases in progesterone levels can cause disturbed sleep. Progesterone has both sedative and anti-anxiety effects, stimulating benzodiazipine receptors, which play an important role in sleep cycle. Decrease in progesterone in postmenopausal woman is one of the causative factors of sleep apnea. Repetitive sleep induced collapse of the pharyngeal airway could happen so the postmenopausal women have higher frequency of apnea than premenopausal women. (14)

7. Fluid Retention/Weight Gain – Progesterone relieves fluid retention caused by an imbalance of estrogen and progesterone.  Research demonstrates that female obesity is linked to deficient progesterone secretion.(15) A higher body weight was associated with a lower progesterone level, even in ovulatory women. (16)

8. Brain Healing – Progesterone reduces swelling and improves mental clarity after a traumatic brain injury. Estrogen and progesterone are now being studied as neuroprotective and neuroregenerative agents in stroke and traumatic brain injuries. Collectively, the hormones reduce the consequences of the injury cascade by enhancing anti-oxidant mechanisms and reducing excitotoxicity.  Progesterone appears to be helpful in the post-injury treatment of both male and female subjects with acute traumatic brain damage. (17) Estrogen and progesterone treatments improve memory retention.(18)

9. Moods, Anxiety, and Depression – Progesterone acts as a natural antidepressant, enhances mood and relieves anxiety.  It also relieves postpartum depression, which is caused by the drastic drop in progesterone after childbirth. Research shows that progesterone showed a significant improvement in symptoms relating to tension, mood swings, irritability, and anxiety, and confirms the alleviation of some PMS symptoms relating to anxiety and irritability with progesterone. (19) Previous studies have shown that progesterone treatment in ovariectomized rats produces an anti-anxiety response similar to that observed after the administration of benzodiazepine compounds. (20) Progesterone produces a clear dose-dependent anti-anxiety response.  These results demonstrate that progesterone shows the highest anti-anxiety potency when compared with all steroids evaluated. (21)

10. Migraines and Headaches – Progesterone relieves headaches and migraines. Migraine headache is more severe, disabling, and frequent during the menstrual intervals of the female reproductive cycle. Progesterone may play a role in modulating migraine headaches during luteal intervals of the menstrual cycle. (22) A high percentage of migraines in women is closely related to the menstrual cycle either at the time of ovulation or in the perimenstrual period. It can be assumed that rapid serum fluctuations due to the decline of estrogens and or progesterone trigger this type of headache. Hormonal treatment seems to be useful in order to avoid migraines. (23)

Bioidentical Progesterone vs. Provera
Be sure to supplement with bioidentical progesterone which is identical to the progesterone made by your body. Your body will recognize it and know what to do. You should be aware that most conventional doctors will prescribe Provera, which is not progesterone, for your symptoms. It is medroxyprogesterone, or progestin, a chemical that is foreign to the human body, and it has many negative side effects. Make sure you are putting the real thing, bioidentical progesterone, back into your body.

Are you suffering from low progesterone?

Take our symptom checker quiz to find out if your symptoms could be caused by a hormone imbalance such as a progesterone deficiency.

Related Content
Dr. Hotze on Bioidentical Hormones for Women – Part 1
Dr. Ellsworth on Bioidentical Hormones for Women – Part 2
Dr. Ellsworth on Bioidentical Hormones for Women – Part 3

Research
1. The Clinical Relevance of Luteal Phase Deficiency: A Committee Opinion
2. Progesterone and the Luteal Phase
3. Progesterone Implantation in Habitual Abortion
4. Treatment of Premenstrual Syndrome with Progesterone in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome
5. Breast Cancer Incidence in Women with a History of Progesterone Deficiency
6. Progesterone Induces Apoptosis in Malignant Mesothelioma Cells
7. Progesterone Inhibits Growth and Induces Apoptosis in Breast Cancer Cells: Inverse Effects on Bcl-2 and p53
8. Progesterone Therapy Increases Free Thyroxine Levels
9. Is Natural Progesterone the Missing Link in Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment?
10. Osteoporosis Reversal with Transdermal Progesterone
11. Progesterone and Bone: Actions Promoting Bone Health in Women
12. Soymilk or Progesterone for Prevention of Bone Loss – A 2 year Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial
13. Effects of Hormone Therapy with Estrogen and/or Progesterone on Sleep Pattern in Postmenopausal Women
14. Sleep Disorders in Postmenopausal Women
15. Pulsatile Luteinizing Hormone Amplitude and Progesterone Metabolite Excretion are Reduced in Obese Women
16. Predictors of Ovarian Steroid Secretion in Reproductive-Age Women
17. Brain damage, Sex Hormones and Recovery: A New Role for Progesterone and Estrogen?
18. Memory Retention is Modulated by Acute Estradiol and Progesterone Replacement
19. Efficacy of Progesterone Vaginal Suppositories in Alleviation of Nervous Symptoms in Patients with Premenstrual Syndrome
20. Anxiolytic Effect of Progesterone is Mediated by the Neurosteroid Allopregnanolone at Brain GABAA Receptors
21. Anti-Anxiety Effects of Progesterone and Some of its Reduced Metabolites: An Evaluation Using the Burying Behavior Test
22. Defining the Relationship Between Ovarian Hormones and Migraine Headache
23. Treatment of Menstrual Cycle Associated Migraine