Progesterone Cream Side Effects

by Eckhart, MD

Favorable Side Effects

Progesterone Cream has favorable side effects.

Healthy body weight on hips and belly

Healthy full hair

Uneventful happy normal periods and cycles

Healthy happy painless breasts

Healthy happy ovaries

Healthy happy moods

Healthy smooth uterus

Healthy sex drive

Healthy Prostate

Healthy Cervix

Healthy transitions in life

Healthy head

Adverse Side Effects

Progesterone can have TEMPORARY adverse side effects. These TEMPORARY adverse side effects can be avoided by avoiding xenoestrogens in your environment. If women do NOT avoid xenoestrogens in their environment, THEN 30-40% of women taking progesterone in the form of progesterone cream, progesterone pills (Prometrium), progesterone oil, or progesterone suppositories will have adverse side effects. You can avoid progesterone bad side effects by avoiding xenoestrogens.

Temporary increased body weight on hips and belly

Temporary increased thinning hair.

Temporary increased menstrual cramping

Temporary increased in painful breasts

Temporary increased painful ovaries

Temporary increased mood swings

Temporary increased hot flashes

Temporary increased fibroid size on the uterus

Temporary increased headache

Temporary increased bloating

Temporary decreased sex drive

Again these temporary side effects are due to NOT avoiding xenoestrogens. Anything put on the skin has 10 times the potency of an oral dose. For instance, an oral dose of progesterone is 200 mg/day. However, the equivalent skin dose of progesterone is 20 mg/day. So you must be extremely careful of anything that is put on the skin. This includes laundry detergent, soap, shampoo and cosmetics. Even so called "healthy" products from the health food store can have estrogenic herbs in them. Lavender and tea tree are two examples of commonly used herbs that pretend to be estrogen. Lavender and teas tree oil have made many of our patients worse. They had increased bloating and increased breast tenderness. They thought they were buying "healthy" products. Many herbs used in healthy products also have herbs that are used to create an abortion. Pomegranate and oil of tansy are examples of two herbs that are used to cause abortions traditionally.

Normal Progesterone Side Effects

Progesterone causes sleepiness. Some patients take progesterone just because it gives them a good sleep. The oral progesterone pills and progesterone suppositories (rectal and vaginal) may have more of a sedative effect than the progesterone cream. This is because oral progesterone is prefiltered by the liver 90%. The 90% that is prefiltered and metabolized into a metabolite that causes sleepiness. Vaginal and rectal progesterone suppositories are directly drained by the portal vein in the body and go directly to the liver to be metabolized and broken down by the body.

In contrast, progesterone cream is absorbed directly into the skin and bypasses the liver. Not as many "sleepiness" metabolites are created. Thus, there is less of a sedative effect with progesterone cream.

Rare Severe Adverse Effects

One pharmacist anecdotally reported that a few patients taking high levels of progesterone cream 200 mg/day or more for long periods had mental confusion. The mental confusion stopped after several months of stopping progesterone. It is likely that the progesterone cream was absorbed into the body fat, and slowly diffused out of the body fat.

I personally have never seen mental confusion in patients taking 20-60 mg/day of progesterone cream.

Interactions

Progesterone and Ovulation

Progesterone taken before ovulation will fool the body into thinking it is pregnant and stop the ovary from ovulating. Thus, progesterone taken before ovulation may temporarily impair conception for that cycle only. The use of progesterone for birth control is NOT recommended. However, progesterone taken after ovulation will deveolop a nice nest on the inner lining of the uterus and enhance embryo implantation and increase conception for some women.

Progesterone and Birth Control Pills

Both progesterone and brand name prescription Progestins compete to bind to the SAME progesterone receptor. So, taking birth control pills that contain a brand name presription Progestin will BLOCK progesterone. Taking birth control pills will block progesterone.

Progesterone and Thyroid

Estrogen dominance (too much estrogen) caused by xenoestrogens (chemical estrogens) decrease thyroid activity. Almost all patients that have estrogen dominance diseases appear to be hypothyroid (low thyroid). However, the thyroid hormone when measured is usually normal or low normal. This means that estrogen dominant women are less sensitive to thyroid hormone. If their physician is astute, their physician will give them thyroid hormone.

As xenoestrogens are cut out and progesterone is taken the thyroid sensitivity will increase its sensitivity back to normal. Less thyroid is needed. So, the patient should work with her doctor to slowly decrease thyroid hormone supplements.