Guidelines for Using Natural Progesterone Creams

Your goal is to find the right amount of progesterone cream for you.  Medical professionals can give you guidelines but it will be up to you to determine what amount makes you feel your best.  Natural progesterone cream is very safe, so you don’t have to be concerned about using too much when you are testing various dosages.  You just need to keep in mind that your goal is hormonal balance, so it is preferable to find the minimum amount of progesterone that works for you.  You want your hormones to work together harmoniously without any of them overwhelming the others.

Dr. Lee’s dosage recommendations are based on the use of a progesterone cream that comes in a 2 ounce container and contains 960 mg. of progesterone.  He does not recommend using high dosage progesterone creams that have 3,000 mg. or more in a 2 ounce tube.  Again, balance is the key.  You want to use a dose that will approximately equal the amount of progesterone your own body would produce under normal circumstances.

For a woman who is not too close to menopause and not pregnant, Dr. Lee recommends using about 1/4 teaspoon a day of the cream for the first one or two months. That will usually restore a natural balance to your system.  It is normally safe to drop the dosage to 1/8 teaspoon a day in the following months to maintain those levels.

Women who are closer to menopause may need a slightly higher dosage.

According to Dr. Lee, relief of symptoms is the best way to judge if you are using the right dose.  If you don’t get and maintain relief, you need to adjust your dosage up or down a little.

Dr. Lee has other guidelines for women who are not ovulating, women without ovaries, women with endometriosis, uterine fibroids, breast fibrocysts, women with specific PMS symptoms and women using estrogen supplements.  If you fall into any of those categories, you may want to pick up a copy of What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause to learn more. In fact, the book is so enlightening, it would be a good idea for all women to read it.

A Few Tips for Using Natural Progesterone Cream

Dr. Lee also offers a few guidelines for getting the best results from your progesterone cream.  He recommends that you apply it twice a day, using a small amount in the morning and the majority of the dose at bedtime.

For greatest absorption, spread the cream on as large an area as possible, preferably on an area of skin that is thin with capillary density, like your neck, face, inner arms or chest.

Take a break from the cream for 3 to 7 days a month.  If you experience a quick reappearance of symptoms, only break for 3 days, but 7 is recommended.

You be the judge.  When you start feeling good again, you’ve probably found the right dose of progesterone cream for you.

Related posts:

1. Why Transdermal Hormone Creams Work the Best
2. Balance Progesterone Creme Review
3. Low Thyroid Function and Hormone Imbalance

One Woman’s Wild Yam Story

In Dr. John Lee’s  book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause, Virginia Hopkins tells us about one woman’s experience with wild yam, also known as diosgenin or Dioscorea, the Latin name for Mexican wild yam.  The woman’s name was Sally and she had been diagnosed with osteoporosis.  Sally went to a health food store, told the clerk about her condition, and asked what could help her.  The clerk gave Sally a jar of what he said was “progesterone” cream.

Sally used the cream faithfully over the next 9 months, then, unfortunately, she fell and broke her hip.  When they conducted tests, Sally was informed that her bone density had actually gotten worse instead of better.  But how could that be?  Wasn’t the progesterone cream she’d been using suppose to help her fight osteoporosis?

After some investigation, it turned out that the cream that Sally had been applying wasn’t progesterone at all!  Instead, it was a cream containing diosgenin.  The label listed it as wild yam extract.

Why Wild Yam is Confused with Natural Progesterone

Wild yam has been used as an herbal remedy for centuries.  Native Americans, Chinese healers and others used it to soothe colic, gastritis, joint pain, asthma, morning sickness, impotency and other conditions.  Because it does have antispasmodic abilities, it even helped ease menstrual cramps and labor pains.

Wild yam does have some therapeutic benefits but it is not the same as progesterone.  The diosgenin in wild yam can be converted to progesterone in a laboratory but a chemical conversion process must take place in order for this to happen. The end product is  known as pharmaceutical progesterone and it is not natural in any way, shape, or form.  Because using wild yam is much less costly than real progesterone, many companies substitute the cheaper ingredient but if you purchase their products you are being shortchanged.  You will not get the benefits of  natural progesterone that you were seeking when you purchased the product. Your body does not have the ability to perform the necessary conversion to change diosgenin into progesterone or any other sex hormone.

Choosing the Right Progesterone Cream

When you purchase progesterone cream, make sure you buy a quality cream from a reliable manufacture.  Dr. Lee’s book on premenopause  contains a partial list of manufacturers that produce creams with real progesterone in a high enough level to prove effective.  A few of the brand names he mentions are Renewed Balance, Gentle Changes, and Progestacare.

There is no doubt that wild yam is a useful herb for several maladies.  Many women report renewed energy after using it and there is some evidence that wild yam is supportive of the adrenal glands.  It is not progesterone, though, and your body will never turn it into progesterone.  Avoid the myth and, when in search of a natural progesterone cream, aviod wild yams.

Related posts:

1. Finding the Right Dose of Natural Progesterone
2. Why Transdermal Hormone Creams Work the Best

Why Natural Progesterone Cream Works Best

There are several ways you can supplement progesterone in you body.  You can take progesterone orally, have it injected, or use progesterone suppositories, but these methods are not very effective. Another option is to use natural progesterone transdermal (applied on the skin) creams, an option that seems to have worked best for most.  Although progesterone injections have been very helpful in high risk pregnancies, if your goal is balanced hormones, progesterone cream is the most successful.

When you apply progesterone cream to your skin, it is absorbed through the top layer of  skin and into the subcutaneous  fat just beneath the surface where it is gradually released and spreads throughout the rest of your body.    This method most closely mimics the way your own ovaries release progesterone into your body.

How do we know this?   Say you took both a saliva test and a blood test to evaluate the levels of your hormones, then afterwards began using the progesterone cream.  In a few days you have your hormone levels tested again using both methods.  The increased level of progesterone would show up in the saliva test but you would see very little change in the blood test.  If, however, you continue to use the cream, then retake the tests in 3 months, you would see the progesterone levels are now higher in the blood test as well as the saliva test.  Transdermally applied progesterone cream acts in a time-released fashion, keeping your hormones more continuously balanced.

The normal oral dose of progesterone is anywhere from 100 to 400 mg per day, compared to 15 to 30 mg per day of a transdermal hormone cream.  Large doses of progesterone all at once cause the body to experience a peak level 1 to 2 hours after the progesterone has been taken.  Once the peak has been reached, levels fall rapidly and within 90 minutes are severely sagging again.  While this is an effective way to treat premenstrual migraines, it is not the optimal choice for treating other problems aggravated by  estrogen dominance.

When progesterone cream is the chosen method of supplying progesterone, saliva tests show that the levels remain high for 8 hours or more.  Therefore, two small doses a day will keep levels maintained for most of the day.

Another  problem with oral progesterone and other progesterone supplement methods is that they are absorbed rapidly rather than gradually.  They bombard the liver all at once.  The liver tries to metabolize it, but has trouble coping with large doses.  The liver is unable to keep up with the demand and instead of excreting all of the progesterone metabolites in bile, some of the breakdown products end up in the blood plasma.  Only about 10% of the progesterone taken ends up in circulation.

Real Proof Hormone Creams Work Best

Like the old saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding”.  The most convincing evidence that progesterone cream works better than oral progesterone and other progesterone supplements is the relief that is experienced by the women using it.  PMS symptoms recede, breast  fibrocysts disappear and  estrogen-encouraged breast cell proliferation, which is the first step towards cancer,  is inhibited after using transdermal progesterone cream.

It’s nice to know that you are free to discover the benefits of  natural progesterone creams for yourself.  You do not need a prescription and the progesterone creams are readily available online and from natural health products retailers.

Related posts:

1. When to use Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
2. Low Thyroid Function and Hormone Imbalance
3. Saliva Testing for Estrogen Dominance

Manufacturer’s Claims for Progesterone Naturally

The manufacturer of this creme claims that women who suffer from PMS or menopause symptoms will find relief with regular use of Balance Progesterone Naturally All Natural Body Creme.  The package contains application instructions for women in each phase of their life.  The expected result is a lessening of mood swings and emotional turmoil, fewer hot flashes, diminished night sweats and lessening or elimination of other symptoms.  The pump is designed to dispense the  precise amount needed for a single application.

One of the ingredients in Balance Progesterone Naturally is grape seed extract. Grape seed extract is rich in antioxidants and also promotes skin elasticity.  Other kind-to-the-skin ingredients include Shea butter, aloe vera gel and sunflower oil.  The ingredients list also includes several essential oils such as evening primrose, tea tree, and oil of rosemary.

Reviewers’ Opinions of Progesterone Naturally Creme

After studying reviews of this product at several different sites, it seems that the majority of customers have been very satisfied with the results of using Balance Progesterone Naturally All Natural Body Creme.  Several happy users claimed that their life had been changed substantially after a few months of regular applications.

Many stated that their cramps are not nearly as painful as they were before using Balance Progesterone Naturally.  They also reported that their emotional state was elevated.  One writer said ” This product really made a difference in my well being. I don’t feel like I’m on a constant roller coaster anymore from month to month. If you are low on progesterone this product is amazing!”

Her enthusiasm was matched in nearly review I read.  Many women reported their skin had cleared up and their acne was vanishing.  Others stated that they had tried other, less expensive progesterone creams but experienced disappointing results.

It seemed nearly every reviewer approved of the pump dispenser.  They stated that it took the guesswork out of the application.  The cream is easy to apply on a rotating schedule and the instructions were clear.

From all reports, Balance Progesterone Naturally All Natural Body Cream seems like a winner.  This is one product that has been soundly approved by reviewers.

Related posts:

1. Finding the Right Dose of Natural Progesterone
2. The Wild Yam Scam