My Experience With Cyclic Progesterone
In the spring of 2021 I attended an online course that would forever change how I view my hormonal and reproductive health.
It was a body literacy course on Fertility Awareness Method (FAM) taught by my friend, fellow board-certified health coach, and certified fertility awareness educator, Erica Evans.
Over the course of this class series, we dove deep into each phase of the menstrual cycle—menstrual, follicular, ovulatory, and luteal—and why it is now considered the sixth vital sign of health.
Some students wanted to use FAM to maximize their chances of conception while others planned to use it as an effective means of contraception. But more than that, we all wanted to better understand our body’s natural rhythms and prepare for the changes we will all experience with age.
Erica taught us how to track our own cycles using basal body temperature readings and cervical fluid checks, among other signs. We learned to identify our fertile window, if and when ovulation occurred, and when it was physiologically impossible to get pregnant.
I was FLOORED that I was learning all of this at age 39.
At first I felt angry and frustrated.
Why wasn’t this taught in school?
Why hadn’t the doctors I had seen over the years shared any of this information with me?
Soon my initial feelings were replaced by determination. I had the opportunity to focus on my health in a whole new way.
I purchased a basal thermometer (one that reads to 1/100th of a degree) and began tracking my cycle and symptoms in an app called Read Your Body. Erica and I met periodically after the course to review my patterns so I could gain further insight into what was happening.
Fast forward to earlier this year when I started experiencing odd new symptoms. While some seemed endometriosis and fibroid-related, I noticed my luteal phase was getting shorter. I was getting more frequent and severe migraines, and anxiety seemed to be on the rise.
When I went in to meet with my nurse practitioner, she suggested the same treatments as all the other doctors I had seen over the years for any and all symptoms: oral contraceptives or a hormonal IUD.
Empowered with 30 cycles-worth of data and the knowledge I gained over the past two years, I instead asked to try cyclic progesterone.
I was curious if the multitude of benefits associated with progesterone therapy would apply to me. Unlike progestins (the synthetic hormones found in birth control pills and injections) bio-identical progesterone (also known as Prometrium or Utrogestan) actually has shown to reduce risk of both breast cancer and uterine cancer.
My nurse practitioner looked surprised. After a moment, she agreed enthusiastically that I could try it and see if it helped my symptoms.
And guess what? It did.
Things have been improving over the past six months. My mood is more stable, I get far fewer migraines, and I sleep much more soundly during the latter half of my cycle. I only recently got up to what is considered a therapeutic dose, so I’m hoping the benefits will keep on coming!
I am so grateful to Erica for offering this class (which she will be teaching again in the new year as a six class series) and for empowering me with such important information about my health and my body. I am no longer afraid of the changes I will inevitably undergo…and that is a very liberating feeling. 💜
Resources:
Guide to Using Progesterone for Women’s Health by Lara Briden ND
Cyclic Progesterone Therapy by CEMCOR The Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research
The Hormone Repair Manual: Every Woman’s Guide to Healthy Hormones After 40 by Lara Briden, ND