Q: What is Progesterone?
A: Progesterone is a C-21 steroid hormone involved in the female menstrual cycle, pregnancy (supports gestation) and embryogenesis of humans and other species. Progesterone belongs to a class of hormones called progestogens, and is the major naturally occurring human progestogen. Progesterone should not be confused with progestins, which are synthetically produced progestogens. Progesterone is one of the three hormones known as "steroid" or "sex" hormones. Progesterone helps the female body regulate its menstrual cycles; it's essential for creating and maintaining a pregnancy, it balances the effects of estrogen, and most of your other hormones are made from it.
Q: What is the difference between synthetic hormones (HRT) and bioidentical or natural hormones?
A: Bioidentical hormones are manufactured in the lab to have the same molecular structure as the hormones made by your own body. By contrast, synthetic hormones are intentionally different. Drug companies can’t patent a bioidentical structure, so they change the molecular structure to be different from that of your body (Premarin, Prempro and Provera being the most widely used examples).
Q: What is Estrogen Dominance?
A: Estrogen dominance refers to what happens in the body when the normal balance of estrogen to progesterone is upset by excess estrogen and/or inadequate progesterone. Estrogen is a potent and potentially dangerous hormone when not balanced by adequate progesterone. Unopposed estrogen creates a strong risk for breast cancer and reproductive cancers. The fall of progesterone levels at menopause is proportionately much greater than the fall of estrogen levels. While estrogen falls only 40 to 60 percent from baseline on average, progesterone can decline to nearly zero. Irregular or difficult menstrual cycles and infertility issues in premenopausal women often occur because of low progesterone levels on and off throughout the premenopausal years. When the correct level of progesterone is balanced with the estrogen level... most symptoms of PMS, pre-menopause and menopause often simply disappear.
Q: What is Bio-Identical Progesterone?
A: The USP progesterone used for hormone replacement is extracted from a very specific type of wild yam that grows in Mexico, or from soybeans. In the laboratory this substance is chemically synthesized into real human progesterone. Progesterone is a highly fat-soluble compound exceedingly well absorbed when applied transdermally or onto the skin. According to hormone researcher David Zava, Ph.D., progesterone is by far the most lipophilic, or fat-loving, of the steroid hormones.
Q: Why use bio-identical hormones?
A: Synthetic hormones differ in molecular configuration from endogenous (made in the body) hormones. Because drug companies cannot patent a bio-identical structure, synthetic hormones were created to be intentionally different than your body's molecular structure. Synthetic hormones do not provide the same total physiologic activity as the hormones they are intended to replace, and all will provoke undesirable side effects not found with the human hormone. The benefit of a bio-identical hormone is that our bodies can easily metabolize them as they were designed to do.
Q: Why shouldn't I just take a Progesterone pill?
A: A transdermal cream is recommended rather than oral progesterone, because some 80% to 90% of the oral dose is lost through the liver. Thus, at least 200 to 400 mg daily is needed orally to achieve a physiologic dose of 15 to 24 mg daily. Such high doses create undesirable metabolites and unnecessarily overload the liver. Transdermal and transvaginal routes are not subject to the initial liver passage.(2)
Please note: Dr. John D. Lee, MD, renowned innovator in the area of natural progesterone modalities, is the author of "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer", "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause", "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause", and more. Much of the information found here is further explained in these books. Please refer to the articles page to see these and other resources.
(1) “Hormone Balance Made Simple” Dr. John Lee, MD (2) All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.) (3) Dr. John R. Lee's three rules for hormone replacement therapy Cited “Million Woman Study in the UK”, Published in The Lancet, Gives New Insight into HRT and Breast Cancer Cited Wikipedia, Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a U.S. registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity.
