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Liz UK - 400mg Progesterone - Think I need to increase.

by Liz
(Uk )

Hi Wray,

I do hope you are now recovered and rested ?
It's reassuring to see you back in the forums again as I don't trust anyone but you, (And in my hormonal rages I have doubts with everyone and everything)
But really, you're my only point of reference :)

To recap.

I never had PMS until I was late 30s and it took me years to work out there was a cycle to the symptoms I started to experience.
My periods became heavier and I started losing blood clots, my breasts were swollen and sore for the first time in my life for 2 weeks before my period. Insomnia, hot flushes and night time anxiety before my period were all new and frightening to me.

Then I found your website around two years ago now and things started to make sense.

I have been using Progesterone (Natural) at 400 mg daily (every day, no break) for about one year. 200 mg is used as a pessary and 200 mg is applied to my skin 12 hours apart.

Prior to that, I was using various doses of between 100 mg & 200 mg daily for about one year and decided that I need to stick to a steady dose so increased to 400 mg and stuck there.

For the most part I am good, but not always.

I am now experiencing night sweats at intermittent times plus I wake up around 3 to 4 hours after I fall asleep **every night** regardless of my cycle and that has been going on for 6 months.

I am lucky that I work from home so for the most part I can drift back off after 20 minutes knowing I have no deadlines or alarm clock to wake me up.

My breasts are still swollen & sore the vast majority of the time only reverting to "normal" immediately after flow and then they start to swell up again within 3 days.

My cycles can be a just one week apart or perhaps 2 weeks but rarely more than that now and certainly never at the same time each month.

However, due to the amount of progesterone I am using I pass nothing more than some spotting. It's not even enough to warrant a panty liner to be honest.

As my cycle has no rhyme or reason anymore, PMS symptoms hit me from no where now.
Anxiety, anger, insomnia, depression, the usual suspects.

If this was happening just once a month and at the same time each month, I could honestly learn to live with it.
But as I say my cycles come more often and at no set or expected time so I am experiencing PMS symptoms 2 or 3 times a month at unexpected times.

Sometimes I don't realise the moods and insomnia IS hormonal until I get the spotting the next day or a few days later.

I am still carrying two stone of extra weight, more than I ever had before I hit 40 (I am 46 in January) and regardless of what I eat this "mid life" weight won't budge either.

I did go down a dress size when I increased progesterone to 400 mg daily but have stuck at the same weight since then which was a year ago.

With all that said, I am thinking of increasing from 400 mg to 600 mg on the understanding the closer to menopause a woman gets the more intense and/or the more frequent peri symptoms become.

I would appreciate your thoughts on this.

Many thanks in advance
Liz

Comments for Liz UK - 400mg Progesterone - Think I need to increase.

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Oct 27, 2014
 Liz UK - 400mg Progesterone - Think I need to increase.
by: Wray

Hi Liz Please consider following the Ketogenic Diet, before you increase the progesterone. I think you'll find many of your symptoms will, if not go, certainly be lessened. It will also aid in weight loss, it's the best and quickest means of loosing weight safely. I don't know what you currently eat, but very often we're eating too many sweet starches carbs without knowing it. Or we've been told we should eat it as it's 'healthy', i.e. whole grains and fruit. There's nothing more disruptive to our system than glucose. These are two more pages you can look through here and here. You might consider getting some or all of the following books, Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar--Your Brain's Silent Killers, and Primal Body, Primal Mind. All are so excellent I can't recommend any one above the other. Take care Wray

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