Is natural progesterone safe for me to use the rest of my life?

Dear Catherine

I just had my 50th birthday, and I have been using natural progesterone for 10 months. I love what it has done for me and want to continue using it. However, should one stop using it after a certain amount of time? Is it safe for me to use the rest of my life? Also, I am still having timely periods. Is taking the progesterone causing me to keep having periods? Shouldn’t my periods be done by 50 yrs of age?

Thank you,
Sheryl

Dear Sheryl

Thank you for your letter and a belated ‘Many Happy Returns’ on your special day.

Is progesterone supplementation causing you to continue having a period? The short answer is ?No?. The presence of a menstrual cycle, whether regular or erratic (and heavy), suggests a woman’s ovaries are producing sufficient estrogen to stimulate the buildup of tissue and blood in the uterus. These levels will begin to fluctuate (perimenopause) and eventually estrogen will decline (by 40-60%) to effectively turn off proliferation of the uterus (menopause).

Sheryl, you omit to mention whether you?re adhering to cyclic breaks in accordance with your menstrual cycle. If you are not giving your body a break from cream each month, I would strongly urge you to do so. When supplementing human-identical hormones, simulating an ?on? and ?off? phase during our monthly cycle is more in keeping with our body?s natural ebb and flow of sex hormones. Similarly, it prevents down-regulation of cell receptor sites.

Is it safe for women to use progesterone long term, and into old age? Awfully contentious question, that one! I guess it hangs out there waiting to be explored further pending clinical trials. But what we do know is this. Mainstream medicine acknowledges that unopposed estrogen greatly increases the risk of endometrial cancer and probably promotes breast cancer.

Experts agree that environmental risk factors such as diet and toxin exposure account for 80 percent of breast cancer, and genetic factors account for 20 percent. There is a strong association between estrogen and cancers. Breast cancer, which affects 1 in 8 women, is more likely to occur in premenopausal women with normal or high estrogen levels and LOW progesterone levels, typically after age 35 when anovulatory menstrual cycles (no ovulation=no progesterone) tend to occur. Industrial pollutants (xenoestrogens) have a potent estrogenic effect on our endocrine system, and are being recognised as a pervasive environmental threat.

In short, Sheryl, a woman’s risk of estrogen-driven cancers appears to correlate with her overall exposure to unopposed estrogen during the course of her lifetime.

We know that progesterone, whilst not a cure for cancer, can dramatically decrease cell multiplication rates, thus providing women with a degree of protection against estrogen-driven cancers. But any decision to remain on progesterone replacement therapy long term ought to be discussed frankly with a physician skilled in BHRT and natural medicine.

In light, love & laughter,

Catherine P. Rollins
CEO, Making Plans Pty Ltd
Natural-Progesterone-Advisory-Network.com