Check Your Progesterone Level in a Saliva Test

This lab test checks 8 different hormones for ovarian and adrenal function.

I was first introduced to natural progesterone at a Nurse Practitioner Convention held in Los Angeles in 2002. It was NOT included as a topic by any of the speakers. During one of the convention breaks, I was walking through the large convention area where different companies and individuals had booths set up to promote their products and services. One of these booths was hosted by a compounding pharmacy. I was VERY interested in natural hormones, because I was wanting to learn how to help my patients with hormonal symptoms after recent research Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) had shown that synthetic hormones were increasing risks for breast cancer, heart disease, dementia, and a host of other undesirables. After returning to my home in Utah, I continued to communicate with this pharmacy (College Pharmacy, as I recall). Then, serendipitously, one of the pharmacists I had been working with in compounding some prescriptions for my patients offered to send me to a convention in Texas hosted by PCCA (Professional Compounding Centers of America). At this convention I met Dr. David Zava, a colleague of the late Dr. John R. Lee. Dr. Zava is a breast cancer researcher/expert who founded ZRT Lab based in Oregon. In conjunction with Dr. Lee, David Zava published the book “What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Breast Cancer.” The publication date of this book was in 2002, prior to the announcements that the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) were being halted early.

If you haven’t already done so, I would recommend that you read Dr. John R. Lee’s books. He has written several. There also wrote a short booklet for men, Hormone Balance for Men. For women, he has written a book on Menopause as well as on Pre-menopause. In both of these books he dedicates a significant part of his writings to the wonderful and health promoting benefits of progesterone in women. Dr. Lee frequently referred to progestreone as the “feel good” hormone. These books are a must read for any woman interested in decreasing her risk for breast cancer, and for basic overall hormonal health.

What is progesterone? It’s one of the steroid hormones, and is produced by the ovary (through the process of ovulation and the formation of the corpus luteum on the surface of the ovary). The adrenal glands are capable of producing a limited amount of progesterone, but in the current stressful environment in which we live, most women’s adrenal glands are overworked and unable to function at optimal levels. In other words, if a woman’s lifestyle and/or use of certain medications is the root cause of her hormonal imbalance, it will be impossible for her body to function in a way that promotes the production of progesterone naturally in her body.

The major cause of low progesterone is an anovulatory cycle. Simply stated, if a woman doesn’t ovulate, she doesn’t make progesterone. Progesterone is produced by a structure called the corpus luteum. The corpus luteum forms at a spot on the ovary where the follicle breaks through. To review, If a woman doesn’t ovulate during the month, no corpus luteum will form, and so there will be no progesterone produced.

What happens when there is not enough progesterone? Since progesterone is the feel good hormone, when there is an anovulatory cycle, no progesterone is produced. When this happens, a woman may experience significant PMS symptoms, including decrease in her energy level, increased foggy thinking, irregular menstrual cycles, heavy bleeding, sleeping problems, low libido, irritability and depression, to mention just a few.

The most common medical treatments for symptoms of low progesterone include prescriptions for both an antidepressant and a birth control pill. The mechanism of action of the birth control pill is to make sure ovulation does NOT occur in the woman who takes it. That’s what birth control pills were made for – they prevent ovulation so that there will be no egg, so there will be no conception nor pregnancy. The result, however, is that there is also NO PROGESTERONE.

Besides the benefit of an improved sense of well-being, are there other benefits of natural progesterone?  Additional benefits of progesterone include: decreasing the risk of breast cancer, increasing bone mineral density (preventing against osteoporosis), and eliminating estrogen dominance. I’ll be writing more about estrogen dominance on another day when focusing on the estrogen hormones (estradiol, estrone and estriol).

For women who are having problems with infertility, she may have low progesterone. Progesterone levels need to be at optimal levels for conception to occur. Also, the levels of progesterone being produced by the corpus luteum have to be maintained at high enough levels for the pregnancy to continue 2-3 months before the placenta grows large enough to them assume the responsibility for making progesterone.

Medical providers today are not taught about natural hormone balancing as part of their educational and clinical requirements. I know that, because I’m a medical provider. Since over 90% of the funding for nursing and medical educational programs is by pharmaceutical companies, the only hormones that are given any attention are the ones that pharmaceutical companies can produce — the synthetic. There’s a reason for that (another topic for another day). It’s important for women to understand that if they’re going to a medical provider who hasn’t pursued education opportunities AFTER finishing his formal university/clinical training, he or she will be unable to treat hormonal imbalance symptoms. I know that too, because I had NO CLUE what to do for my patients once I learned that the way I had been taught was not good for my patients.

With the obvious risks of synthetic hormones (unequivocably proved as part of the WHI, it is my feeling that synthetic hormones should never be prescribed to a woman without first discussing at length the risks involved. I will also be writing more about the risks of synthetic hormones in another note.

In the world of hormone balancing, there are so many factors, it’s very difficult to discuss one hormone in isolation of talking about others. To avoid confusion, however, I will try to separate the topics appropriately.