Natural Progesterone versus Brand Name Prescriptions Progestins

Brand name prescription Progestins cause birth defects according to a recent Physicians Desk Reference. In contrast, Natural Progesterone is given by Fertility Medical Doctors to prevent miscarriage during the first trimester. Natural Progesterone does NOT cause birth defects. However, brand name prescription Progestins are NOT given by Fertility Medical Doctors because these Progestins cause birth defects and doing so would be malpractice.

Natural Progesterone as its name implies is naturally found in the body. Natural Progesterone is present during the second half a woman's cycle produced by the corpus luteum on the ovary right after ovulation. Natural Progesterone is also present throughout the entire pregnancy in increasing amounts. In the beginning of the pregnancy, Natural Progesterone is produced by the corpus luteum about 20 mg/day. During one day of third trimester pregnancy, a woman's body produces 400 mg/day of Natural Progesterone. "Pro" means for. "Gesterone" means gestation. So "Progesterone" means "For Gestation". Women that have insufficient amounts of Natural Progesterone during pregnancy will have a miscarriage. These pregnant progesterone insufficient women are typically given Natural Progesterone to keep the pregnancy.

In contrast, brand name prescription progestins will cause birth defects. Pharmaceutical drug companies have a high cost structure. It takes 100 million dollars to test and bring a drug to market. Drug representatives that pedal the drugs to unsuspecting medical doctors have an annual salary of $60,000 to $100,000. The big pharmaceutical companies take Natural Progesterone and chemically modify it. This new "Frankenstein" molecule can then be patented. Then, the company has the sole right to produce, market and sell this novel patented drug. They can then charge exorbitant prices to make large profits and cover their cost.

However, Natural Progesterone is naturally found in nature and in the human body. Therefore, Natural Progesterone cannot be patented. Therefore, there are several hundred competitors and the price is relatively inexpensive.

Here are the chemical structures of Natural Progesterone versus synthetic Progestins.

Here is a partial list of Side effects of Provera. Search on the web for brand name progestins and law suit.

Side Effects of Natural Progesterone

Natural Progesterone cream can make you sleepy. The oral natural progesterone can make you especially sleepy. Oral progesterone as opposed to topical progesterone cream is 90% first pass inactivated by the liver. The 90% metabolites that are inactivated are not clearly known what they are, but these metabolites do make you sleepy. Topically applied natural progesterone cream also makes you sleepy, but less so. Some of my patients like taking Natural Progesterone just to sleep well.

Natural Progesterone cream can make you worse temporarily for 2-3 days. You may have increased bloating and increased breast tenderness before your period. This is because you regain your original sensitivity to estrogen by taking natural progesterone. When you have chronic estrogen exposure your body tries to become less sensitive to estrogen. This is know as down regulation. When you take progesterone the sensitivity to estrogen goes back up to normal. It seems like you are getting more estrogen even when you are not. Thus, IF you do not cut out xenoestrogens, it will seem like you are getting more estrogen even when you are not. Thus, without cutting out xenoestrogens, and taking progesterone 30-40% of my patients will appear even MORE estrogen dominant.

The solution to get rid of this side effect of progesterone is to cut out xenoestrogens. Typically, anything put on the skin is 10 times that of the oral dose. So the key to getting rid of this side effect of natural progesterone is to get rid of the xenoestrogens mainly on the skin.

An analogy would be an experience going to a rock concert. Initially, the rock concert seems loud. Then after half an hour, the rock concert is NOT so loud anymore. This is down regulation. Then you take the progesterone and the rock concert seems loud again.

30-40% of the patients experience this paradoxical effect of feeling worse with progesterone cream.

The solution is to cut out xenoestrogens on the skin, then above 90% of the patients that take progesterone feel better.

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