“Get to Know” Progesterone
May 14, 2013
The springtime is always a fun time of year: the birds are chirping early in the morning, the howling winter wind no longer rattles the window panes, and the essence of the fresh blooms on the trees is exhilarating. I just love opening the windows in April and May with the fresh scent of mowed grass; even if you live in a condo or apartment, it is a pleasure to drive by and experience the fruit of someone else’s springtime yard work.
Spring is also a time we celebrate our moms on Mother’s Day. Moms work diligently caring for family members, young and old, while often holding down a job (sometimes two). Juggling work with personal health and hormonal needs is not always an easy task.
There are several hormones that impact women in comparison of only a few that impact men (which we will be discussing in June). I treat many chronic female hormone issues that I discuss in great detail in “Dr. Bob’s Drugless Guide to Balancing Female Hormones”. We use a variety of assessments to evaluate health levels and create a foundation for the protocols required to restore balance and manage body systems. I know that sometimes a hormonal issue can be quite complicated and, frankly, I know many are confused on what to do and who to trust in regards to their health.
I want to discuss one of the two primary hormones that impact a female’s hormonal cycle: progesterone. It not mentioned as often as estrogen because it appears we have more than enough estrogen in our environment. Progesterone does not seem to be the “bad guy” like estrogen because it is often recommended as a lotion or cream for ladies who tend to have hormonal imbalances. I have a chart in the adrenal chapter of my female hormone book where I lay out a schematic of how cholesterol becomes pregnenelone, which goes on to become progesterone. It may surprise you to know that the human system uses progesterone to become cortisone or it must balance out the estrogen, like a teeter-totter.
If your progesterone is low for various reasons and estrogen is high for other reasons, which I will discuss throughout the month of May, you will have body signals of high estrogen (tender breasts with menses, heavy menses flow, cold hand and feet, and possible exhaustion). Progesterone is increased in pregnancy because the placenta makes plenty of it for the mom and baby. I know a woman has stress and diet-induced progesterone deficiency when she tells me that she felt the best while pregnant and pretty lousy after the baby was born.
A key to the whole process of progesterone and estrogen is the fact that we are bombarded with a massive amount of external or exogenous estrogen that overpowers the amount of progesterone the body is able to create and balance this enormous “sea of estrogen”. Estrogen and other toxic liver-compromising chemicals are literally everywhere: in the food we eat, the water we drink, and the lotions and potions we apply to our bodies.
Progesterone must balance estrogen or there will be a greater potential to have excess estrogen, which would be indicted by the body signals mentioned above. I have at least one female patient come into the office each week with a history of heavy menses and has had her uterus removed instead of getting to the cause of the problem by naturally creating a plan to reduce the impact of estrogen and creating more progesterone.
With today’s technology, we have the ability to assess the estrogen and progesterone levels in the saliva of our female patients. Saliva progesterone levels should be above 15; if we have low progesterone amounts with a high estrogen saturation, we need to create a plan to lower estrogen and increase progesterone. I will leave you with this thought: what you eat can negatively impact the amount of progesterone in your body.
