Understanding the Need for Progesterone Supplementation

Do I need Progesterone Supplementation
The answer is most likely yes. Especially if you are over age 40 and/or have had a hysterectomy. The decline of very important hormones starts in the thirties and studies suggest that an accelerated decrease in progesterone production by the body usually begins several years before menopause. During the peri-menopausal years it is progesterone, not estrogen, which is the first hormone to decline in women contrary to common belief.
Challenges to hormonal balance can also be much more than just age related. Seemingly unavoidable chemical toxins are wreaking havoc on women’s reproductive systems contributing to a rise in cases of early menopause and the resulting hormonal imbalance. Toxins are found everywhere – cosmetics, cleaning products, in the lining of food cans, pesticides and even the thermal paper used for store receipts. Recent research at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found women with the highest blood and urine levels of 15 endocrine- disrupting chemicals experienced menopause up to four years earlier than those with the lowest levels.
Dr. Amber Cooper, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University stated, “Even [experiencing] menopause a few years earlier than usual could have a significant effect on bone health, on cardiovascular health, on memory, and quality of life for women, in general.”
When menopause does arrive and after the ovaries discontinue their production of estrogen and progesterone, only small amounts are produced by the adrenals which in most cases are insufficient, resulting in dramatic biological and health changes. The decline of progesterone production by the body usually contributes to menopausal and post-menopausal symptoms and even as some studies suggest, osteoporosis.
Ironically, it is at this time that 40 to 60 percent of women in the USA are still prescribed unopposed estrogen in a synthetic (manufactured) form, and in some cases a synthetic progestin as well, resulting in many unpleasant and negative side effects, as well as placing many women at risk (see “Is There a Difference between Progesterone and Progestin?”). On the other hand, there is impressive evidence that natural progesterone, often called the “balancing hormone,” provides countless benefits and supplementation may safely correct critical hormonal imbalance and progesterone deficiencies in women.

Check out this interesting blog post about Natural Progesterone
https://goo.gl/w1SjVs