How do I know whether to buy a 1.6% or 3.2% cream?

Firstly, let’s explain how to interpret the progesterone content of your jar or tube of cream.

The percentage of progesterone contained in your cream determines how much is administered each application:

• 1.6% ~ 16mg per 1 gram application


• 2% ~ 20mg per 1 gram application


• 3.2% ~ 32mg per 1 gram application


• 4% ~ 40mg per 1 gram application


• 6% ~ 60mg per 1 gram application


• 8% ~ 80mg per 1 gram application


• 10% ~ 100mg per 1 gram application

Cream said to contain 1.6% progesterone would equate to 16mg per application. 3.2% would mean your cream contains 32mg of progesterone per recommended dose. Just try to keep in mind that a 1% cream would equal 10mg, 2% equals 20mg, 10% equals 100mg, and so on.

Incidently, 16mg to 20mg is Dr John Lee?s recommended average dose.

Some women, however, opt for the higher concentrations simply because it works out more economical, and they rub on less cream. There are women, particularly the post menopausal group, who find the 32mg an ideal ‘maintenance’ dosage to balance the symptoms that tend to accompany change of life.

It’s important to carefully follow application instructions. Measure your cream according to the dose indicator outlined by the cream manufacturer. For example, if you are using a tube of 1.6% cream the manufacturer might recommend squeezing roughly 2cm of cream onto the skin - 2cm in this case being equal to 16mg of progesterone, 4cm would give you 32mg.

Alternatively, some creams measure their applications by ? or ? teaspoon. Again, you shouldn’t have to guess here. All relevant information should come packaged with the cream. If it doesn’t, ask for information to be sent to you.

High progesterone doses within the range of 100mg per application are usually prescribed as treatment of estrogen-driven conditions such as endometriosis, PCOS, uterine hyperplasia, fibroids, migraines, severe PMS or severe post natal depression. High dosage typically continues for three or four months before women report a turn around and can start weaning back.

The Natural-Progesterone-Advisory-Network.com website has observed women treating specific conditions with high levels of progesterone beyond six months or more, and it’s interesting that they report loss of cream efficiency and their estrogen dominance symptoms reappear. We believe this is due to failure to reduce dosage according to symptom reduction or lack of breaks from cream, leading to receptors ‘tuning down’.

Further, increasing dosage and frequency of cream application can lead to progesterone overdosing, which we’ll go into in detail in another chapter. A good rule of thumb - least is best. If you have been using high doses of progesterone cream, we suggest you wean back to levels where you are asymptomatic. If you find your cream has become ineffective for reasons listed above, taking a break from cream altogether for a month of so is another way to enhance cream effectiveness.

Another tip we have discovered is changing the route of delivery. That is alternating with intra-vaginal at minimal doses. This will stimulate different receptors and possibly improve cream performance. Women become caught in a cycle where increased body fat raises estrogen levels, and estrogen increases the tendency to accumulate body fat. If you are significantly estrogen dominant, we suggest you consider losing weight thereby reducing your estrogen dominance.

Progesterone dosage will correlate with your degree of estrogen dominance. The worse the symptoms, the more cream you apply. It follows then that your goal should be to reduce estrogen dominance through lifestyle changes, diet, exercise, and making sure that your liver is doing its job, with a view to reducing the progesterone cream back to its absolute minimum.

Progesterone is not the answer to every ailment. We cannot emphasize strongly enough a woman’s need to look at other big players in her overall hormonal health (eg diet, nutritional supplements, lifestyle changes). All too often women read Dr John Lee’s publications and naively expect all their symptoms to vanish with the introduction of progesterone cream. For the record, John clearly states that hormone imbalance is multi-factorial. That progesterone is not a ’silver bullet’. Chances are you’ll have to do more to help yourself than slap on some progesterone cream!

So many women have commented, “But I thought this was going to be easy!” Hormones fluctuate throughout the day, as they do in your lifetime. You need to understand this, and learn to read your body’s bio-rhythms.