Peri-menopause has been quite the ride. I’ve written about it before.
Eating right, exercising, and supplementing with lots of great hormone-balancing supplements and herbs has helped with my menopausal symptoms, but one of the most potent solutions has been natural progesterone supplements.
Progesterone has many functions in a woman’s body, but the most well-known and important function in women of childbearing years is to make the endometrial lining thick and enriched to support a developing baby.
You’d think, then, that this hormone wouldn’t be very important or useful in the perimenopausal/post-menopausal woman. But symptoms of low progesterone are far-reaching, and include:
- weight gain
- decreased sex drive
- mood swings, and depression
- PMS, irregular menstrual cycle, heavy bleeding
- breast tenderness, fibrocystic breasts
- gallbladder problems
- thyroid dysfunction
- sleep issues
- decreased mental focus
Sound familiar, ladies?
I started taking natural progesterone by mouth over six months ago, and I have joked with my girlfriends that they are going to have to pry it out of my cold dead hands.
Not only are the “hormonal symptoms” improved, but my mental clarity and focus are SO much better. And sleep? It’s like I’m a teenager again—falling asleep in an instant, with none of the restless, 4:30 AM, why-can’t-I-sleep-I’m-so-tired, nonsense!
Progesterone supplementation can also be done using a cream, but I’ve been taking oral progesterone for a specific reason. With natural progesterone taken by mouth, the dose peaks in 2 hours and then is gone in 24. When you apply it on the skin, the absorption is more gradual and less consistent, and the skin can “store” it causing it to become congested, resulting in too much or too little getting to where it needs to be. The oral use makes for a better choice to deal with issues of sleep quality and focus.
Got more questions about bio-identical hormone restoration therapy? Book a 15-minute complimentary “meet-the-doctor” visit with Dr. Gervais Harry MD.