Is breast pain and swelling related to the progesterone cream I just started using?
Dear Catherine,
I am 45 years old and bought natural progesterone cream on the 24th day on my cycle. My breast was hurting, but that was not unusual for me. I have always had breast pain and swelling starting a good 2 weeks before my period. This time, however; my pain did not end when my period ended, which is by the way lasted only one day.
My left breast doubled in size with red circles around the nipples and was painful to the touch. Being the weekend, I talked to an “On-call” doctor at my primary-care physician’s office who told me to take Ibuprofen. So I did take twice a day 800 mg, and it helped a lot with the swelling. Today, Monday, the pain is gone, but there is still a hardened “ball” inside my breast and some swelling. Is this related to the progesterone cream? I have not experienced anything like this before. The On-call doctor said, that it is very possible that the progesterone cream triggered this condition, so I was told to call my doctor which I am going to do today.
A year ago, I have asked my primary care doctor to check estrogen levels, so we did a blood test. She called me with the test results, and all she said was that I am not in menopause and the hormone test results are normal. By the way, I have never been on birth control pills, but I have infertility. There was only one pregnancy at age 39 and resulted in miscarriage at week 11. There must be something very wrong here. Also, I don’t understand why aren’t physicians buying into using natural progesterone? Is there a doctor in the San Jose, California area you can refer me to?
Thank you in advance for your advice,
Piroska
Dear Piroska,
One of progesterone’s functions is to restore the normal sensitivity of estrogen receptors. When progesterone is restored, estrogen receptor sensitivity is restored also. It is not surprising that, in some cases, women develop symptoms of estrogen dominance (water retention, headaches, weight gain, swollen breasts) when progesterone is first supplemented. In your particular case, breast pain and swelling in the fortnight leading up to your period suggests you are already in a state of estrogen dominance and, with the introduction of progesterone, you have perhaps exacerbated these symptoms.
Side effects of progesterone can include breast tenderness and swelling that, according to antidotal evidence, disappear with the passage of time and dosage adjustment.
Progesterone may indeed resolve breast tenderness and swelling within 2-3 months, nonetheless, you definitely need to take appropriate steps to get under the care of a physician as soon as humanly possible, one who embraces bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) in conjunction with salivary hormone profiles. Serum (blood) testing is not a good way to measure fat-soluble hormones like progesterone because only a small fraction of it is carried by the watery serum. Unlike blood testing, saliva analysis is looking at the cellular level (the biologically active compounds) and saliva is therefore truly representative of what is clinically relevant.
Breast tissue is extremely vascular and, therefore, progesterone absorbs very quickly into the blood stream and surrounding tissue. So try rubbing small amounts of progesterone cream directly onto your breasts several times a day to target breast tissue and oppose estrogen’s action in the body. It is quite safe to use progesterone in doses ranging from 20 mg/day up to 400 mg/day. This is vitally important since we now know that women run a greater risk of breast cancer when their estrogen levels are not balanced by adequate levels of progesterone. And the chances of you over-dosing on progesterone in these early months is fairly unlikely.
As a rule, you can treat fibrocystic breasts with 40 mg/day of bioidentical progesterone for the first 2-3 months then, after the breasts revert to normal, you can maintain optimal health using 20 mg a day. But every woman is different, so don’t be afraid to use more if you feel you need it.
That your pain failed to ease after your period isn’t surprising. From Day 7 (roughly around the end of a woman’s period) onwards your body starts producing MORE estrogen, compounding your state of estrogen dominance and peaking around Day 11-12. Progesterone production (necessary to turn off cell proliferation triggered by estrogen) occurs at ovulation around Day 12 and peaks at Day 21. If you fail to ovulate every month, and at age 45 that’s highly likely, then you are essentially in a state of progesterone deficiency.
Progesterone deficiency is also linked to miscarriages in the early trimesters.
Breasts are a fantastic barometer to guide us with our hormonal balancing. In fact, many women use their breasts to assess their progesterone dosage. If you are using too much progesterone after you’ve had a period of balance, you may experience itching, tingling, or soreness of the nipples. Breast engorgement, a feeling of fullness, a dull ache, or general breast tenderness appears to be the first indication to reduce dosage. If symptoms are relieved upon reduction of dosage after 2 days, then you know you’re on the right track, backed up, of course, with regular saliva assays.
To be perfectly candid here, Piroska, life probably isn’t going to be ‘breezy’ during those early months when you re-introduce progesterone back into your body and your estrogen receptors ‘wake up’. There’s going to be a degree of discomfort and concern on your part. However, providing your doctor has checked everything out and feels there’s nothing sinister present, then you have much to gain by sticking with progesterone supplementation. The outcomes in terms of renewed health and protection against breast cancer ARE worth whatever discomfort you face.
For an update on why doctors remain cautious and wary of a drug like natural progesterone, suggest you read my article ‘Freedom to Choose a Safer Form of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)’.
Click here to source an innovative GP in your area.
In light & love,
Catherine
Catherine P. Rollins is the author of ‘A Woman’s Guide to Using Natural Progesterone’ and Director of the highly popular website: Natural-Progesterone-Advisory-Network.com.
A follow-up letter …
Hello Catherine,
I was very sad after leaving from the doctor yesterday. I showed your E-mail to the doctor, and she started raising her voice and said to me, “then why don’t you go to see her instead! I don’t have time to read!”
Also, she said to me, “your blood test was normal 7 months ago! Your were not menopausal and your estrogen level was 75 which is very well within the range, not low and not high. Your complaining to me for the last 3 years!”
Anyhow, I told her that I am loosing my hair and I noticed that hair loss is extreme before my period. Even my husband is worried about it seeing so much hair on the towel, in the shower, and everywhere. I sweep the bathroom floor every morning because hair is everywhere.
She said, it is aging and nothing I can do about it. Some women have balding, she said. I told her, that I have thick, coarse hair on my face though and loosing it from my head.
Then, she decided to check my breast and told me I have a cyst or cysts. She did, however fill out the form for blood tests , so I will take blood tests for the following:
- comprehensive metabolic panel
- Estraidol
- FSH
- Prolactin
- TSH
- Testosterone
- Serum Progesterone
And I am going to take a mammogram and an outer breast ultrasound this afternoon. I will keep you posted.
Thank you for your compassion,
Piroska
Catherine responds …
Dear Piroska,
I’m so very sorry and saddened to read your story. Why is it such a big ask of your doctor that she take the time to listen to you, and remain open to ‘other’ perhaps more innovative forms of treatment? Whatever you do, Piroska, don’t let her attitude dissuade you. You have every right to challenge your doctor. After all, she may not know what she may not know!! Think about that for a moment. What if YOUR life hung on what your GP reads or decides not to read?
Male pattern baldness, excessive facial hair, swollen tender breasts all suggest hormone imbalance, specifically progesterone deficiency. Aging prematurely can be resolved with hormone balancing, and we’re not just talking progesterone here. You may need to include in this hormone replacement cocktail DHEA, melatonin, maybe minute amounts of testosterone and perhaps estriol cream (the safest form of estrogen) should your salivary hormone profile indicate levels are below a healthy reference range. I say again, a saliva assay can make information available that may be obscured when looking for information in the blood. This might explain why your GP isn’t ’seeing’ the problem.
I can understand why GPs hesitate to jump on board the progesterone movement in the USA when jars of cream that look like a cosmetic can be sourced over the counter without a script. But just because this particular drug isn’t offered via prescription doesn’t make it ineffective, inappropriate or dangerous. There’s good clinical evidence of its usage if your GP cared to dig a little deeper.
Dr John Lee maintained in his book ‘What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer‘ that the radiation zapped into our breasts, and the assault to breast tissue squeezing our breasts under imaging equipment during a mammogram (I’ve had 2 & they are not a pleasant experience) can actually contribute to breast cancer. So … lining up for a mammogram may not be in your best interests right now.
Fibrocystic breasts almost always respond to natural progesterone. And, as an adjunct to progesterone supplementation, adding vitamin E in dosages of 600 IU at bedtime, supplemental magnesium (300 milligrams a day), and vitamin B6 (50 milligrams per day) can do wonders! Avoiding caffeine, coffee, tea, colas, chocolate and cutting back on dietary fat would be another suggestion. Some women report improvement when they stopped wearing their bras.
Of course, the decision whether to continue using progesterone cream or not is entirely up to you. But you need to feel comfortable about your choices. And these choices ought to encompass as much fact as humanly possible. Therefore, I encourage you to read all you can on this subject.
Some time around the mid 90s, I was diagnosed with a lump in my breast which just happened to correlate with an estrogen implant my GP had stitched into my buttocks (she relied on BLOOD TESTS to determine that I was estrogen deficient when in fact my estrogen levels were dangerously high!). I was so frightened I deliberately missed my mammogram session three times … because I felt intuitively that the synthetic hormones were poisoning my body. My breasts were engorged, terribly lumpy and sore to the touch.
Anyway, I eventually lined up for a mammogram but only after I’d commenced progesterone replacement therapy (without my doctor’s consent, by the way). Results indicated that the lump had disappeared. As the months passed, my breasts returned to normal as did my reproductive cycle. I’ve remained remarkably healthy ever since.
I never returned to argue the point with that particular GP. Rather, I voted with my ‘feet’ … and found a more responsive, collaborative physician who sanctioned my choice of BHRT.
I guess what I’m saying here, Piroska, is that we sometimes have to be brave, listen to what our body is telling us, get our hands on reliable information, measure the risk of new therapies, and continue to seek out a safer alternative.
Natural progesterone is very effective in treating fibrocystic breast disease. Yet, inexplicably, this message has not yet reached the broader medical community.
