Dr John Lee reccomends NATURAL progesterone for PMS and menopause.

> I also suffered from severe PMS and bleeding
> disorder for awhile, very physical I assure
> you and my OB-GYN prescribed Prozac for that
> and it helped me immensely.

"Question: Why is true progesterone good for us and the synthetic analogs not so good?

Progesterone is the master 'starter' hormone from which the other great steroid hormones are made, i.e., testosterone, estrogens, and the adrenal corticosteroids. We're talking basic.** For example, Dr. Lee explains how cortisone's unique anti-arthritic, anti-inflammatory effects can take place only if enough progesterone is available as precursor to cortisone synthesis by the body.

Progesterone's second indispensable function is the survival and development of the fertilized ovum. Ample amounts made by the placenta and ovary are essential for a full-term pregnancy.

Far and beyond its role in pregnancy, Lee explains, are progesterone's multiple systemic functions, including these:

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protects against breast fibrocysts

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is a natural diuretic

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helps use fat for energy

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is a natural antidepressant

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helps thyroid hormone action

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normalizes blood clotting

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restores libido

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helps normalize blood sugar levels

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normalizes zinc and copper levels

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restores proper cell oxygen levels

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protects against endometrial cancer

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helps protect against breast cancer

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stimulates bone building

The fakes - progestogens, progestins, etc. - do two things well: they prevent ovulation and they stop ERT-induced buildup of uterine lining (endometrium) to cancer-promoting levels. The following fatal flaws, however, make it impossible for them to take on most of progesterone's functions:
1) They can't be converted in the body into sex hormones and corticosteroids.
2) All progestins have powerful effects when taken orally because they're not readily metabolized (broken down) by the liver for excretion in bile and urine - unlike progesterone. Not only do they persist in the body abnormally long, they occupy progesterone receptor sites in tissues, taking over for the true hormone but not capable of doing most of its jobs.

Many of progestins' adverse effects are believed to arise from just this interference with highly complex natural processes. Reminds me of trans-fatty acids that get into our system after we eat foods prepared with margarine and other artificially hydrogenated oils. Trans fats displace vitally needed w3 and w6 fatty acids in the cell membrane, but then can't fish or cut bait!

Question: Why are so many women beset after menopause with stiff, aching joints, and loss of springiness and muscular strength, while men generally retain not just male virility but physical power and vitality?

Adrenal glands make progesterone for women and men both; but women depend on their ovaries for the main supply of progesterone (also estrogen). When at menopause the ovary's output of both drastically drops (but doesn't cease), the adrenal glands try harder but don't make up the difference. In contrast, older men maintain their usual progesterone levels, which in the U.S. tend to be much higher than in menopausal women!***

For women, progesterone loss means a big drop in corticosteroids, which protect against stiffness, soreness, and weakness in joints and muscles. Men, on the other hand, continue to maintain their corticosteroid levels.

Low progesterone also may lead to loss of bone density and ready fractures from physical exertions, so that many women fear to exercise or engage in sports, which only reinforces the stiffness, weakness, etc.

Question: Why do many pre-and postmenopausal women develop excess facial hair and male-pattern hair loss?

When a woman has too little progesterone with which to make the other steroids, the process has to proceed via an 'emergency' rerouting. This bypass relies more on androgenic (male type) hormones than the route where progesterone is the key precursor. Dr. Lee writes: "When this happens, the androgenic steroids along this pathway will become more dominant..." The good news is that with a number of patients "replacement of natural progesterone leads, in time, to disappearance of the facial hairs and the restoration of scalp hair."

Question: Can young women also experience low progesterone levels? What are the effects?

"...a good proportion of women in their 30's (and some even earlier) and long before actual menopause, will, on occasion, not ovulate during their menstrual month. Without ovulation, no corpus luteum results and no progesterone is made," Dr. Lee writes. Stress, poor nutrition, smoking, and toxic chemicals in the environment probably contribute to anovulatory periods. As these women approach the decade before menopause, "they are producing much less progesterone than expected but still producing normal (or more) estrogen."

Estrogen without progesterone's balancing effects are not as benign as we're led to believe. As a matter of fact, he's convinced the discomforts young women are most familiar with arise from unopposed estrogen in the face of a relative progesterone deficiency.

For example, "they retain water and salt, breasts swell and become fibrocystic, they gain weight (especially around the hips and torso), become depressed and lose libido, their bones suffer mineral loss, and they develop fibroids."

Natural progesterone, he and other doctors find, gives young and premenopausal patients relief from any or all of these symptoms. It also tones down sweets cravings!"