Rub the required amount of cream thoroughly into the skin. To maintain the bodys' sensitivity to progesterone it helps to choose a different area to apply it to each day.

WOMEN

If you have been on HRT (hormone replacement therapy) or have a naturally high level of oestrogen, progesterone will make you more sensitive to the oestrogen in your body, so for the first two or three months the symptoms caused by excessive oestrogen may affect you. If this is the case it is advisable to increase the daily application until these symptoms have gone, with the advice of your health specialist. The main symptoms are:

• breast tenderness
• bloating/weight gain from water retention
• spotting or a temporary appearance of your periods
• hypoglycemia
• bruising
• depression
• chronic fatigue
• hot flushes

For those women on HRT who wish to discontinue it, the gentlest course is to taper off taking the pills/patches/inserts over a period of 2-6 months. Depending on the severity of previous symptoms and how long the HRT was taken, the longer the tapering off period should be. Please note, natural progesterone cannot be used with any form of synthetic progestogen.

GENERAL

Any additional stress, good or bad, can cause your symptoms to recur. If this should happen then increase the daily application until they go.

Tests to find the level of progesterone in the blood of women are also of little value for a number of reasons. The level varies from approximately 5mg per day in the first half of the month up to 50 mg per day in the second half. Men make from 5 to 15mg per day on a continuous basis. The ovary secretes progesterone in small spurts and the amount can vary within half an hour. Low levels have been found in women who are not ovulating. A high level means nothing because if adrenalin is present none of it can be used. It has also been found that after a large meal the level of progesterone drops. The level also drops during the long nights experienced in northern latitudes. If a women is on the Pill the progestins contained in it lower the level of progesterone, sometimes so much that she may suffer from severe PMS. If a women is on supplementary progesterone it is usually in a cream or oil base, which means that it will be carried in the blood on a red blood cell membrane. Often tests only check the plasma which would show up no progesterone. Saliva tests are generally more reliable, but if a blood test is done it should be carried out during the 5 to 10 days before a period. This is to check whether ovulation has occurred, as the level should be at its highest point then.

Contact Judy Evans for more information about hormone saliva testing.