Progesterone, estrogen's cousin, is the hormone that helps maintain pregnancy. It is produced in a woman's eggs, adrenal glands and placenta (when a woman is pregnant). Known as the “relaxing hormone,” progesterone has a mildly sedative effect.
Fatigue and Sleep Issues
Estrogen is intimately linked to serotonin, and serotonin makes melatonin. Melatonin is the primary sleep hormone. This means, if you've been sleeping less and feeling fatigued, you could have low estrogen.
This medicine may cause some people to become dizzy or drowsy. Make sure you know how you react to this medicine before you drive, use machines, or do anything else that could be dangerous if you are not alert. Before you have any medical tests, tell the medical doctor in charge that you are taking this medicine.
Mood swings are another effect of low estrogen. You may feel sad, anxious, or frustrated. Shifting hormone levels and night sweats may disrupt your sleep. This can cause fatigue, which may make mood swings worse.
Progesterone and your monthly cycle
Your progesterone levels are usually highest in week three of your cycle. This can make you feel more tired.
Estrogen can reduce menopausal symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats and vaginal dryness. If you have a uterus, you'll likely need to take progesterone along with the estrogen. Estrogen without progesterone increases the risk of uterine cancer.
For most women, progesterone is good for mood because it converts to a neurosteroid called allopregnanolone which calms GABA receptors. Progesterone's calming neurosteroid effect is why progesterone capsules are usually tranquillizing and why times of high progesterone (luteal phase and pregnancy) can cause sleepiness.
If progesterone does make you dizzy or drowsy, take your daily dose at bedtime. you should know that progesterone may cause dizziness, lightheadedness, and fainting when you get up too quickly from a lying position. This is more common when you first start taking progesterone.
Known as the “relaxing hormone,” progesterone has a mildly sedative effect.
If your high estrogen is caused in part by low progesterone, you may experience mood swings during your cycle. Studies show that a sharp decrease in progesterone can lead to premenstrual symptoms such as mood changes or postpartum depression.
Your brain has a lot of estrogen receptors, and when estrogen declines, so does some of the regulation that it provides. For example, estrogen helps control cortisol, the stress hormone. When that regulation is weakened, the increased stress response can result in crushing fatigue.
Thyroxine. The thyroid is responsible for creating thyroid hormones including thyroxine. Every cell in the body has thyroxine receptors found on its DNA, making it one very important hormone for your energy production. It essentially controls our ability to produce energy.
Progesterone levels begin to rise after ovulation through the end of the menstrual cycle. Symptoms of high progesterone are similar to premenstrual syndrome and can include anxiety and agitation, bloating, breast swelling and tenderness, depression, fatigue, and weight gain.
What happens if I have too much progesterone? There are no known serious medical consequences due to the body making too much progesterone. Levels of progesterone do increase naturally in pregnancy as mentioned above. High levels of progesterone are associated with the condition congenital adrenal hyperplasia.
Topical progesterone takes two to three months to reach the peak therapeutic effect. However, oral progesterone's effect on sleep is very quick, within 30 to 60 minutes. This helps us to determine the right dose for each individual woman. It is always best to start low and slow when it comes to hormone therapy.
Doctors recommend that Progesterone be taken before bed since it has a sedative effect and helps resume normal sleep cycles. It is important to note that Progesterone is a bioidentical hormone, and not a drug treatment. A bioidentical hormone replenishes the chemicals naturally made in your body.
Progesterone naturally metabolizes in brain tissues to the metabolite allopregnanolone, which is known to produce calming, anti-anxiety and possibly enhanced memory effects.
Unopposed estrogen is called estrogen dominance in some medical literature. Without progesterone's balancing influence, estrogen can work overtime in your body and cause cell overgrowths, like tumors in your uterine lining.
Of course, in some cases you might take progesterone on its own without estrogen. For instance, some women use progesterone therapy during menopause when they cannot use estrogen. Bioidentical progesterone comes from plants like soy and wild yams. It's then made into a medication your body can metabolize.
Since progesterone maintains your uterine lining during pregnancy so a fetus can grow, low levels can make it hard for you to stay pregnant. You need progesterone levels to stay high until you're ready to give birth. If you have low progesterone, you're at risk for pregnancy complications such as: Ectopic pregnancy.
Reasons for fatigue in females include high sleep debt, being out of sync with your circadian rhythm, your menstrual cycle and period, pregnancy, menopause, hormonal contraceptives, poor diet, lack of exercise, stress and anxiety, medication side effects, and medical conditions like thyroid issues or anemia.