Menu

My progesterone levels were depleted.


(North Caroline)

I am 50 years old and was having symptoms of being tired more often, emotional, anxious, trouble losing weight, or rather stored fat, trouble sleeping and my hair abruptly began falling out. Recently my doctor wanted me to have my hormone levels tested using a saliva test. Results came back indicating depleted progesterone levels and slightly lower levels of DHEA, normal estrogen levels, thyroid T3 and T4 levels low but normal. He prescribed 25 mg. of DHEA taken every other day and 100 mg of progesterone. I was wondering if this treatment seems appropriate and want to know how long after starting treatment would I notice a change in my symptoms, and specifically if my hair loss would stop and/or grow back.

Comments for My progesterone levels were depleted.

Click here to add your own comments

Mar 25, 2013
 My progesterone levels were depleted
by: Wray

Hi there 100mg/day progesterone is the minimum I find helps. If you have all those symptoms I feel you will probably need more. We do have info on our Peri-menopause page, and as you're almost at Menopause you might like to look through this page too. I would never give DHEA to a woman as it always follows the androgen route, Genova Diagnostics has an excellent chart showing the pathways of the hormones. These are a few papers here, here and here. Take care Wray
Mar 25, 2013
 dhea
by: Letitia

when my doctor gave me 25 mgs of dhea, which makes one feel better, it converted to estrogen and testosterone. When he reduced it to 10 mgs because I was low it worked better for me and did not increase the other two hormones.

I had to increase my progesterone in increments because going over 50 caused temporary morning sickness
Mar 25, 2013
 Letitia
by: Anonymous

You don't say if you are using creams or pills???

Letitia
Mar 25, 2013
 dhea
by: Wray

Hi Letitia Well if you're happy taking it then that's fine. Increasing progesterone slowly does cause a whole host of adverse symptoms to occur. Which is why I suggest amounts far higher than normal, to overcome the Oestrogen Dominance. Progesterone stimulates oestrogen, and each small increment will stimulate it. Take care Wray
Mar 25, 2013
 Progeterone
by: Letitia

You are probably correct Wray, but my Dr thoght I was being sick because of the progesterone, she did not think that it could be the estrogen that was infact making me sick I honestly do not think that it crossed her mind.

Any input Wray


Letitia
Mar 26, 2013
 Progeterone
by: Wray

Hi Letitia I'm not sure what input you wish me to give. It's obvious your doctor does not know of the feedback system within the body. Oestrogen spikes within a cell, this in turn causes progesterone to rise, which causes oestrogen to drop. But when progesterone has risen, it in turn causes oestrogen to rise etc. This same feedback occurs during our monthly cycle. Both hormones are at their lowest level during bleeding. Oestrogen begins rising on about days 3-5, but not enough to cause progesterone to rise. About 50 hours prior to ovulation, oestrogen rises exponentially. This stimulates progesterone to rise, which it also does exponentially. When at it's peak oestrogen begins dropping. The progesterone peak initiates a rise in LH which causes ovulation. This causes progesterone to rise further as the corpus luteum is now secreting it. The extra surge in progesterone causes oestrogen to rise again, which coincides with the peak of progesterone mid-luteal phase. With this rise in oestrogen progesterone begins dropping, principally because the corpus luteum is now regressing and is no longer secreting it. If the egg had been fertilised, oestrogen would not have risen and progesterone would have continued rising further still. Reaching a height of over 400mg during the third trimester of pregnancy. Our problems arise if insufficient progesterone is secreted during our monthly cycle. Or we are producing excess oestrogen from fat cells, but no progesterone to counter it. This is the case in Peri-menopause and Menopause. Take care Wray

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Progesterone faq.

Share this page:
Find this page helpful? Please tell others. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.

Search over 8,400 pages on this site...