Bioidentical Progesterone

Progesterone and estrogen balance each other out in the female body. Progesterone is necessary to negate the effects of estrogen and vice versa. This means that a lack of natural progesterone or an excess of it wreaks havoc on the body. Menopause and stress cause this imbalance leading to the unpleasant symptoms and reduced quality of life.

In menopause, several hormones are thrown off balance. Often in perimenopause, there is too little natural progesterone in a woman’s body; it can result in symptoms such as anxiety, breast tenderness, headaches, sleeplessness, weight gain (caused by improper levels of progesterone which prevent your thyroid from functioning properly) and more.

One cause of progesterone imbalance is estrogen dominance by outside factors such as environmental hormones (i.e., xenoestrogen found in the foods you eat), insulin resistance, poor nutrition, and insufficient exercise.

Chronic stress is also a big contributor to decreasing progesterone levels. When your body is stressed, it works to produce higher levels of the hormone cortisol which manages stress in your body. Because progesterone is the precursor to cortisol, when cortisol levels increase, progesterone levels decrease. So, too much stress in a woman’s life can lead to a progesterone deficiency, causing the estrogen dominance symptoms.

What is Bioidentical Progesterone?

Inconsistency in use of the terms “progesterone,” “progestin,” and “progestogen” has led to confusion over these substances. Progesterone refers to a single molecular structure that is identical to the progesterone molecule that the body makes. Progestogen is the category of hormone molecules (natural and synthetic) that act like progesterone in the uterus. Progestin generally refers to synthetic progestogens.

Progestins or the synthetic progesterone, only mimic the body’s progesterone closely enough to bind to progesterone receptor sites, but do not deliver the full range of “messages” a natural progesterone molecule does. A synthetic progestin, for example, may have similar effects on the endometrium, yet can initiate widely different actions elsewhere in the body (e.g., brain, mineralocorticoid receptors, etc.) depending on the classification of the particular progestin. On the other hand, Bioidentical Progesterone is a hormone produced from saponins found in soy and wild yam which is molecularly identical to the body’s progesterone. Since it is molecularly identical to the natural progesterone of the body, it was able to perform the same effects as the natural hormone and lesser side effects.

Revitalife Compounding pharmacy offers bioidentical progesterone preparations of various concentrations and dosage forms that will fit the patients’ individual needs. Our preparations can be beneficial for patient with:

Premenopausal deficiencies and Menopause
Nervousness, tension, anxiety, irritability, outbursts of anger
Constant painful menstruation
Swollen painful breast
Anxious premenstrual syndrome with major irritability
Heavy menstrual bleeding (menorrhagia)
Uterine fibroids
Breast cysts
PCOS / CA risk patients
Postmenopausal Osteoporosis
Primary or secondary amenorrhea
Infertility due to known corpus luteum insufficiency
Endometriosis
Estrogen-induced Endometrial Hyperplasia
Fibrocystic mastopathy

References:

Moskowitz D. A Comprehensive Review of the Safety and Efficacy of Bioidentical Hormones for the Management of Menopause and Related Health Risks. Alternative Medicine Review. Volume 11, Number 3, 2006: 208-223.
Hertoghe T. The Hormone Handbook. 2nd Edition. IMB-Publications. 2010