Seizures & Progesterone - A story of hope and promising results

Kay contacted the Natural-Progesterone-Advisory-Network.com early September 2009 looking for assistance after she was prescribed a compounded bioidentical progesterone cream.

Kay, who lives in Portland, Oregon, has a seizure disorder that leaves her bedridden 18-21 days a month with some type of seizure activity (several ‘episodes’ in a day is not unusual).

Results were almost immediate and significant.

Upon commencing progesterone supplementation, seizures dropped down to 5 a month. In her email to me, Kay wrote, “This is the first time I may have hope of regaining my life! But being on disability I can’t afford the product. Medicare took it off the market last December!”

Kay shares her story …

“I have seen another great month like I have never seen. I am sure the compounded natural progesterone cream is the answer to thousands of people’s lives like mine.

“Epilepsy is a hard and very misunderstood disease. This form is even harder due to it being hard to diagnose (does not show up on test) and almost every treatment on the market does not work - some make it worse!

“Doctors don’t want to admit hormones can be at the center of this form of epilepsy even though seizures begin (or escalate) at puberty then becomes monthly (at time of ovulation). The pattern is so clear, but it is like PMS - doctors don’t want to take hormone imbalance seriously!

“For every one of us with this form of seizure we have said there is a connection between the seizures & our monthly cycles. We have been laughed at, put on psychotic meds and even locked up by doctors!

“The doctor I have now has a heart like none other. His office is overflowing with patients suffering this form of epilepsy. He is interested in checking this out through my experiences. He has tried ‘man-made’ hormones in his patients over the years and saw nothing. So he doubts ‘natural’ hormones will be any different. The recent drop in my seizures has him wanting to peek more into it. His hands are somewhat tied due to working at a medical school that sticks with conventional ideas. But I know once he sees the change he will start more patients on this PATH TO LIVING!”

“The web sites are now filled with others success using natural progesterone to control seizures. This gives me even more confidence it is a key element.

“In fact, a pharmacist mixed a batch wrong (too weak?) one month & seizures flew through the roof! He demanded he did not make a mistake, but when he mixed a new batch seizures dropped dramatically. By mistake a tube of the old got mixed with the new and I began using it and seizures flew off the roof again! I noted the date and mix up, and went back to the new mix and seizures dropped to 5 days this month! Only one grand mal! I have not seen that since a child! This PROVED to me it WORKS! It is NOT all in my head! (it was like a double blind placebo controlled study at my own home!).”

What’s the research saying?

Progesterone is a powerful hormone that has been proven to confer profound neuroprotective effects that improve outcomes and reduce mortality following brain injuries. Donald Stein, PhD, has been at the forefront of testing progesterone and discovered that giving intravenous progesterone to male or female brain-injured rats reduces swelling in the brain and helps motor and functional recovery.

In a clinical trial involving 100 human patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury, adding progesterone reduced the death rate by almost 60% compared with placebo.

Emerging data indicate that progesterone has multiple non-reproductive functions in the central nervous system to regulate cognition, mood, inflammation, mitochondrial function, neurogenesis and regeneration, myelination and recovery from traumatic brain injury. The distribution of progesterone beyond hypothalamic borders, suggests a much broader role of progesterone in regulating neural function.

Other research links:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17011666
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19660659
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11108866
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17431228
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15135772
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15241189
http://www.natural-progesterone-advisory-network.com/research-progesterone-the-nervous-systembrain/

Paying it forward

Following on from Kay’s email, I personally wanted to do something to help her find a better day. So I offered her a ‘sponsorship’ arrangement for the next 6 months (at least) where I would fund her monthly supply of progesterone cream from proceeds from the Natural-Progesterone-Advisory-Network.com website.

I do not sell progesterone cream from the Natural-Progesterone-Advisory-Network.com website. The only items I sell from the site are my self-help ebooks. However, I do host a number of advertising links like Oasis Serene - a cream I personally use because it’s one of the cleanest and safest compounded bioidentical progesterone creams on the market today. When approached, Dr Loretta Lanphier, CEO of Oasis Advanced Wellness kindly agreed to help me setup a shipment of Oasis Serene progesterone cream to Kay each month.

There were no strings attached to this offer. I simply wanted to reach out from down here in Australia and help Kay in a very modest way. It’s what the Natural-Progesterone-Advisory-Network.com is all about - supporting women in their choice of bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT).

I got a real kick out of Kay’s response to my offer, “Your gift will be accepted with so much joy and thanks. Gifts like yours are hard to come by in today’s world. When I read your offer I admit I asked is this a trick - can it be real? I pinched myself and felt it! Your kindness is rare … it should not be … but to pass kindness on is the way to reseed this need! I will keep you informed of my progress.”

I telephoned Kay to make contact with the lady behind the emails, and because I needed to determine her current progesterone dosage per day so we could match it.

In order to match her current prescription, Kay needed to use Oasis Serene Plus (1500 mg of USP progesterone per ounce) at either 3/4 tsp daily which would give her 186 mg (a dab more would get close to 200 mg) or 1 tsp which would give her 250 mg. Either way one jar would last approximately 7 days (+/-). That’s a total of four (4) jars of cream per month at a cost of US$176.

Any wonder women like Kay seek financial assistance due to the high doses required for treatment!

Each month, therefore, I would sponsor the cost of three (3) jars of progesterone cream (= US$132) and Dr Loretta Lanphier at Oasis Advanced Wellness kindly agreed to donate one (1) jar of cream (= US$44).

My offer also included a complimentary copy of any of my self-help ebooks Kay might wish to read, and all the one-on-one support she might require.

Kay reports on her progress (Feb 2010)

Before starting any progesterone cream my seizures were:

• 18-21 days a month with some type of seizure activity (some days I would have several)
• 8-10 grand mal seizures a month (where I pass out & sometimes hurt myself)
• 10-13 days medium seizures (needing rescue meds to put a halt to auras that will not stop)
• 1 day very mild auras (rare for mild days - most would turn to med-strong)

All these would keep me from leaving the house due to safety reasons (I do not have a family or friends to look over me if I have a seizure in public, so danger is greater).

Stress would cause more grand-mals and more need of rescue meds and harder days to predict if they were going to come.

My life was very depressing. I prayed to God to let it all stop.

Starting the pharmacy mixed cream I found seizures dropped but it seemed they did not mix it very well each time. On some days I had allot of breakthrough bleeding (had too much ?) and other days increased seizures.(not enough?) even though I used a syringe to measure each dose. One time they mixed it where it increased the seizures to almost daily! I had to go to the ER 2 times due to the seizures not shutting off!

In Jan 2010 (just started to change the mix to Oasis from the leftover pharmacy mix) I had:

• 4 grand mals
• 6 medium strength seizures (needing rescue meds)

In Feb 2010 I had a month I have never seen! (on Oasis cream every day)

• 0 (zero) grand mals!
• 3 days medium strength seizures (did not pass out but needed rescue meds to stop them)
• 3 days very slight auras

I felt more comfortable in getting out.

This is just 1 months so far on 100% Oasis. But I pray it is a door opening for all with my type of seizures-diseases considered “uncontrollable”.

I had a few days that were overwhelmed by stress as you could not imagine, but seizures stayed away!

If the first month and a half says anything, then you may have opened a BIG DOOR!

I see my neurologist for seizures next month and I’m going to show him the seizure chart. I think he will be AMAZED … and perhaps consider trialling other patients on bioidentical progesterone cream. He said he’d heard of studies but had never talked to anyone about tests. I think he too is impressed but wants to see more. I also see a neuro-psychologist (who helps people cope with brain & spinal cord injuries & chronic pain), and will share with him these early but very promising results.

I THANK YOU AGAIN SO MUCH FOR YOUR KINDNESS …

Kay reports on her progress (May 2010)

I am writing first to tell you I have had ONLY 1 grand mal seizure in 60 days!!!

There were a few days I needed my rescue meds to stop close calls still, but they were less.
This is good due to the surgery I am about to have. Seizures could tear everything up (shoulder injury) & there is no 2nd chances, so things have a better chance to heal now.

I copied the trials you sent me as well as other research stories & gave them to my seizure doctor. For some reason he & the office seems not to be interested. He is usually on top & in front of things like this. I don’t know why he is so reluctant.

I plan on giving the same papers to my rehab. doctor tomorrow who runs a clinic for head & spine injuries. I told him about this months ago & he said he was aware of limited “talk” but I told him of the research that is over 8 years old! He is not aware of them nor the one that just ended in March. The one you thought I might be eligible for is in another state so I have zero way to participate. You usually need to live in the state for regular blood test etc.

Also I have spoken to 3 people about my success who either have a family member w/ seizures or knows someone who has it. I gave them all the info including your web site. They are very impressed & interested.

God bless you
Kay

Kay reports on her progress (June 2010)

I have now had only ONE Grand mal in over 3 month! I still need my rescue meds once in a while if I feel one come that won’t leave.

I started to cut back slowly to see how little progesterone I can use and still get the same effect. It may be that you need high doses in the beginning but as the body gets more balanced you can cut back. I don’t know. I am experimenting.

If you have other women trying this, tell them having your periods mixed up (breakthrough bleeding, missed periods etc) for a while is NORMAL. It will get back on track as the balancing act begins.

Tell them to use it every day - no breaks - as if it were birth control. The days a woman would stop using hormones for birth control (the week before) is the “HOT TIME” for most seizures! These hormones changes trigger the seizures. So no changing the dosage.

With the (Oasis) cream, I believe this is a GREAT TRIAL that show the cream is working.

Stress is like gas on a fire when it comes to seizures. Here I am so overwhelmed (I keep questioning if life is worth it) yet seizures are dropping! Seizures are staying pretty quiet for now.

WHY WILL DOCTORS NOT RECOGNIZE THE CREAM IS WORKING I DON’T UNDERSTAND!

We have the GOLDEN KEY for THOUSANDS yet no one will listen!

Thanks again & God Bless
Kay

A note from Catherine …

Results thus far have Kay “over the moon”, and she accredits this profound outcome to the quality of [Oasis] cream she’s now using. And there may yet be room for more improvement.

I’m hopeful this article provides ‘hope’ to courageous & indefatigable women like Kay (and men too!) who happen upon it or who are guided to it, while providing empirical ‘clinical parameters’ to healthcare professional who are actively seeking reliable and very specific information on progesterone’s impact on brain/nerve injury patients.

I do believe that, as evolving human beings, we are realising that when there is before us an opportunity to ‘make a difference’ with a random act of kindness, we should embrace it. In that way, the world does become a better place for our efforts.

If we do not lay ourselves at the service of mankind, whom should we serve? –John Adams

In light, love & laughter,

Catherine P. Rollins
Founder / CEO
Natural-Progesterone-Advisory-Network.com

“Supporting Women in their Choice of Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT)”