Known as the “relaxing hormone,” progesterone has a mildly sedative effect.
Commonly reported side effects of progesterone include: abdominal cramps, depression, dizziness, and headache. Other side effects include: anxiety, cough, diarrhea, fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, nausea, bloating, emotional lability, and irritability.
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.
While progesterone doesn't directly cause weight gain, it does increase your hunger levels which may make you feel like you're eating more and therefore gaining weight. But progesterone is just a small player in hormone balance and weight management. There are other hormone imbalances that may cause weight gain.
progesterone food
Grapefruit juice may increase the blood levels of certain medications such as progesterone. You may want to limit your consumption of grapefruit and grapefruit juice during treatment with progesterone.
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.
Progesterone intolerance is when you are particularly sensitive to the hormone progesterone or, most likely, its synthetic form, progestogen. The body reacts to the progesterone or progestogen, causing symptoms that can be similar to premenstrual syndrome.
Melatonin is the hormone best known to affect sleep, being low during the daytime but rising once darkness sets in, leading to sleep. Melatonin is secreted by the pineal gland, to which the SCN projects via multiple synapses to drive the Circadian rhythm of production of this hormone.
It plays an important role in brain function and is often called the “feel good hormone” because of its mood-enhancing and anti-depressant effects. Optimum levels of progesterone promote feelings of calm and well-being, while low levels can cause anxiety, irritability, and anger.
During peri-menopause, the first hormone that decreases is usually progesterone. This can lead to estrogen dominance, a common symptom of which is weight gain, causing you to store more fat around your stomach area.
Progesterone can increase your energy levels. It does this by stimulating the thyroid and speeding up metabolism. Adequate progesterone levels are essential for a healthy sex drive. As progesterone levels change during your cycle, it can affect your sex drive.
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.
Magnesium plays a very important role in hormone regulation and is therefore one of the nutrients that boost progesterone levels.
So, does alcohol affect progesterone levels? The short answer is: yes. One of the most significant hormones that the consumption of alcohol affects is progesterone. The excessive intake of alcohol critically decreases levels of progesterone in the body.
Bananas are a great source of vitamin b6, which works to decrease estrogen and increase progesterone levels, helping your body find an optimal balance.
Leptin is a hormone that regulates your appetite and, as a result, supports weight loss efforts. Excess estrogen causes the abdominal tissues to retain more water. This can lead to bloating. Progesterone can help balance out your hormones to prevent abdominal bloating.
In all these effects note that progesterone does not directly cause weight loss. Instead it reduces the effect of other hormones in the body which are causing the weight gain. Think of it as allowing rather than causing the body to lose weight.
In other words, bioidentical progesterone triggers a metabolic response allowing weight loss to occur. When progesterone is added back into the body via bioidentical progesterone cream, it acts as a natural diuretic, thereby reducing the bloating.
When fertilization doesn't occur your progesterone levels drop resulting in an imbalance of your sexual hormones. During this period you are likely to feel more irritable, anxious and experience mood swings. You might recognize this imbalance as Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) (1).