Pregnancy and Natural Progesterone

The levels of progesterone in a woman’s body rise and fall dramatically with her monthly cycles. At ovulation, the production of progesterone rapidly rises from 2-3mg per day to an average of 22mg per day, peaking as high as 30mg per day a week or so after ovulation.

After ten or twelve days, if fertilisation does not occur, ovarian production of progesterone falls significantly. It is this sudden decline in progesterone levels (as well as estrogen levels) that triggers a period (menstruation), and another menstrual cycle will begin.

If pregnancy occurs, progesterone production increases and the shedding of the lining of the uterus is prevented, preserving the developing embryo. As pregnancy progresses, progesterone production is taken over by the placenta and its secretion increases gradually to levels of 300-400mg per day during the third trimester.

During pregnancy, rising progesterone levels prevent the premature shedding of the uterine lining (pro-gestation). If progesterone levels drop due to inadequate progesterone production, then a premature delivery could result, or bring about a miscarriage in the early trimesters.

Progesterone also influences the development of the breasts during pregnancy in preparation for producing milk after the birth. It has an impact on ligaments and muscles throughout the body as well, essentially to allow the suppleness and expansion necessary for giving birth. This also accounts for some of the problems which may be experienced during pregnancy - backache, constipation, and low-blood-pressure, for example.

Although the data are not entirely clear, it appears that progesterone may also have an effect on transport time of the ovum in the fallopian tube, and it may make the ovum more susceptible to sperm penetration.

One-of-a-kind studies in the use of progesterone

Dr. Pritchett and many of the other Moscati Health Center doctors studied extended progesterone use under Dr. Thomas Hilgers of Omaha at the Pope Paul the Sixth Institute.

This Nebraska doctor is the world leader in the study, one reason people come from all over the globe to learn from him. Thirteen years ago, Hilgers used a new technique to help a Hastings woman carry her pregnancy to full term. Today, that mother has four healthy teenage girls including triplets and the doctor is the world leader in using the hormone progesterone.

He explains most doctors only prescribe progesterone for problem pregnancies like Horton’s into the first trimester. Hilgers said, though, he has found for many women who miscarry, their progesterone levels are low, so he continues to prescribe the hormone into the second and third trimester. He said it can have dramatic effects.

Although other doctors say extended use of the hormone does not help at all and there is not enough research to support the practice, Dr. Pritchett said success stories are repeated again and again at the center with this treatment.

"It’s been withheld actually probably for too long and we really need to use it. I call progesterone the great, undiscovered, American hormone," Hilgers said.

Is progesterone nature’s immunosuppressant?

The Medical College of Georgia researcher and biochemist, Dr. Vadivel Ganapathy, has spent years studying the placenta and how all sorts of substances, from nutrients to street drugs, are transferred from mother to baby by this two-pound temporary organ of pregnancy.

But he’s long wondered if the placenta, in addition to supplying a developing baby with the nutrition and oxygen he needs to thrive, was also helping suppress the mother’s immune system so the fetus could survive.

"There is the problem about how pregnant mothers tolerate the placenta and the fetus even though the genetic makeup of the placenta is partly different than that of the mother," Dr. Ganapathy said. "The fetus gets half his genetic makeup from each parent, so when this genetically foreign being implants on the uterine wall he should be rejected — like a transplanted organ — by the mother’s immune system."

A major research finding in 1998 from another team of MCG researchers led by Drs. Andrew L. Mellor and David Munn (see Tolerance Key to Cancer Survival) showed that early in pregnancy, at the time of implantation, placental cells express an enzyme (indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase, or IDO) that locally disables the mother’s immune system. "Our IDO mechanism was one that, if you suddenly interrupt it, the fetus can’t do without," said Dr. Munn, pediatric hematologist-oncologist who also is a co-investigator on Dr. Ganapathy’s study. Dr. Munn has no doubt that the body has multiple mechanisms to protect the fetus and so procreation. "I think we can state with confidence that the mother and fetus use multiple mechanisms to make sure that the fetus is not rejected," he said.

Evidence about at least one other mechanism began showing up years ago when an article, published in a 1977 issue of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences asked, "Progesterone and Maintenance of Pregnancy: Is Progesterone Nature’s Immunosuppressant?" The question apparently didn’t get answered then, but with the three-year NIH grant Dr. Ganapathy recently secured, it just may.

Now he is exploring the rather common-sense hypothesis that since high-levels of progesterone are needed to activate the sigma receptor in the placenta and that the high levels occur only during pregnancy, this must be one way the placenta helps control the mother’s immune system so the fetus is not rejected.

"It’s a very positive hypothesis, but it’s still a hypothesis," Dr. Ganapathy said. "There are progesterone receptors in the placenta and in other tissues but to activate them you only need a tiny amount of progesterone. The placenta is producing a ton of it. Therefore the purpose of the placenta-produced progesterone cannot be to activate progesterone receptors," he said.

The work has potential for not only better understanding the mystery of how the fetus survives but also how the immune system works and, possibly, why sometimes miscarriages occur. "Some women who are infertile may have genetic mutations in the sigma receptors so that progesterone is made by the placenta but the receptor is not functional," Dr. Ganapathy said.

Protective properties of Progesterone

Dr. Katharina Dalton is one of the many scientists and doctors who have discovered that progesterone in the natural form protects the fetus from miscarriage.

Her studies many, many years ago lead her to conclude that preeclampsia (also called toxemia, characterized by high blood pressure, swelling — particularly of the hands and face — and protein in the urine) could show up in the middle months, and that when given progesterone, the results were excellent and statistically significant.

After conception progesterone prevents miscarriages resulting from excess estrogen

It is interesting to note the consistency of the research, as in Dr. Peat’s study, indication that "pregnancy toxemia and tendency to miscarry or deliver prematurely are often corrected by progesterone." Dr. Peat goes on to say, "My dissertation research, which established that an estrogen excess kills the embryo by suffocation, and that progesterone protects the embryo by promoting the delivery of both oxygen and glucose, didn’t strike a responsive chord in the journals which are heavily influenced by funds from the drug industry."

It is a fact that if a pregnant woman produces too much estrogen, her embryo can be suffocated (hypoxia). Dr. Lita Lee cautions that during the ninth week of pregnancy, a woman can lose her baby if she is a "high estrogen producer and/or [is] consuming commercial meat, poultry and dairy products containing synthetic estrogen (DES)."

However, she goes on to say that natural progesterone "has been known to protect against the toxic effects of excess estrogen, including abortion." Make certain, if hormones are prescribed during pregnancy, that they are not the synthetic progestins or estrogens but the natural micronized bio-identical products. We now know that artificial hormones can be dangerous to the foetus during pregnancy.

Pregnant women should NOT suddenly stop using progesterone!

Important Message!

If you have been using progesterone in order to get pregnant and you are successful, DO NOT suddently withdraw the progesterone cream. A sudden drop in progesterone levels may trigger a miscarriage.

Regular dosage can be maintained and gradually increased to 80mg right through until the last trimester. At this stage the placenta is well and truly producing adequate levels of progesterone to maintain the pregnancy. The baby’s placenta takes over the production of progesterone at the beginning of the second trimester, and this is when a miscarriage is likely to occur if this production is not adequate.

Women with a history of miscarriage or premature delivery choose, for their own peace of mind, to continue using progesterone through to the week prior to expected delivery. The placenta is producing such huge amounts of progesterone that any extra progesterone over and above will not harm mother or baby.

Women with a history of ‘high risk’ pregnancies are encouraged to continue progesterone supplementation up until delivery. However, Dr Lee warns that should you decide to stop applying progesterone, make sure you wean off your dose ever so gradually.

Safety of using progesterone in early pregnancy

You may be concerned about the safety of using progesterone supplementation in early pregnancy. There is no accurate figure, but well over a million children worldwide have been subjected to such therapy during their mother’s pregnancies.

There has never been any pattern of birth defects reported in patients so treated. However, there can be no guarantees that there will be no birth defects since 2% of all births are associated with some sort of birth defect (usually mild). But, there is no reported increase in the rate of birth defects with progesterone therapy prescribed in early pregnancy.

To protect the foetus the body secretes ten to fifteen times more progesterone during pregnancy than at other times. Dr. Lee tells us that the placenta becomes the major source of progesterone. per day during the third trimester. What a great protection we have during pregnancy with this incredible hormone! And with no known dangerous side effects.

The human-identical progesterone compound we discuss here is identical to the natural hormone produced by the body.