Is It Hot In Here?
We joke gingerly about women having a “personal summer” or “power surges” but for those going through it it’s no joke. And men who have low progesterone and excess adipose (brown) fat around the belly that actually produces estrogen can experience a form of male menopause called andropause. Progesterone helps reduce hot flashes in women; but men with low levels of progesterone and testosterone along with higher levels of estrogen will get hot flashes too. For both men and women, progesterone can help calm the fire.
Men can even fall victim to breast cancer thanks to hormonal imbalances! Progesterone can protect men breast tumors. Progesterone insufficiency causes norepinephrine and epinephrine levels to go up which increases your anxiety levels. Your aldosterone levels will also go up which results in swelling. Progesterone stimulates the parasympathetic system which helps to calm you. However if your levels are low you’ll get stressed, anxious and find yourself constantly worrying. And if that weren’t enough problems because of low progesterone, if you have elevated estrogen levels you’ll have problems with constipation too.
Let Me See Your Guy Card
One of the more surprising things I’ve been seeing in my patients’ lab work lately is men with estrogen levels that are off the charts! Estrogen dominance in men is a recipe for disaster. When you have a progesterone deficiency and elevated estrogen levels, you will have difficulty voiding because estrogen causes an increase in the size of your prostate. Men with progesterone deficiency have an enlarged hard fibrous prostate. Estrogen also promotes the development of fibrous tissue within the prostate. The urethra which carries urine from the bladder, passes through this enlarged fibrous tissue and gets narrowed and subsequently blocked by the enlarged prostate. Numerous studies have identified the effects of elevated estrogen levels and an enlarged prostate. Sadly, most of the studies are missing the point! Researchers aren’t measuring progesterone levels. You can easily combat the problem and reduce estradiol levels up to 30% with the addition of 100 mg of progesterone at bedtime. Progesterone will reduce prostatic volume, weight, and the DNA content.
I am deeply concerned not just about progesterone deficiency, but also about the estrogen mimics and interrupters men are flooding their bodies with. Our rabid fascination with soy is dangerous. Soy is a phytoestrogen. Chemicals in our shampoos (dandruff shampoos are the worst), skincare products and *** are fooling our endocrine systems and creating sky-high levels of estrogen in men.
We need to balance our bodies and replenish our depleted levels of progesterone. Progesterone helps men and women fall asleep, stay asleep and wake up rested, while getting rid of their sleeping pills and the nasty brain fog side effects. Do you find yourself feeling grouchy? Men can be very irritable and tense in the face of low progesterone levels. By just correcting progesterone levels we can restore calmness and help you get a better night’s sleep. It protects you from the accumulation of fat within the abdomen – the dangerous fat doctors call visceral fat.
Is Your Health a House of Cards?
Everywhere I look I see the effects of excess estrogen and low progesterone in men. Metabolic syndrome with its high blood pressure, dyslipidemias, elevated insulin levels, and increased abdominal fat can be turned around with progesterone. Belly fat can begin to melt off with progesterone. Prostate enlargement can be shrunk with progesterone. And male pattern baldness can be reduced just by using progesterone.
Without enough progesterone over a prolonged period of time, you’ll start to see major problems domino out of control in all the systems of the body. Progesterone is foundation for health, youth, and vitality.
It’s time to work with your doctor to assess your hormone levels in a full blood panel screening. So when was the last time you had your progesterone checked? Consider using bio-identical (not synthetic!) hormone therapy to restore your body’s progesterone levels. If your doctor poo-poo’s your request, find another doctor who will listen to your concerns. Remember, if your lab results are “normal” but you still don’t feel up to par, you need a doctor who will help you get to the bottom of the problem and put your health back on top.
Showing posts with label progesterone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label progesterone. Show all posts
Friday, September 3, 2010
Progesterone and Men-Optimizing the Aging Male's Health
Progesterone and Men-Optimizing the Aging Male's Health
Dr Robert G Carlson, MD, FACS
Progesterone – It’s Not Just for Girls!
Every day we see a new article dedicated to explaining how important progesterone is for women in the array of hormones that are key to good health and healthy aging. But what about men? Most men and women along with many doctors would be surprised to find that progesterone is very important to a man’s health!
So Men Produce Progesterone?!
Most men have about seven times lower levels of progesterone than testosterone; but it is actually more abundant than DHT, the primary metabolite of testosterone that makes a man look like a man. Hormones give us our secondary sex characteristics –
curves for a woman, a lower voice etc. for a man. Even though some hormones are more prevalent in men or women, both sexes have all the same hormones just in different levels. Healthy men have more progesterone than the other “female hormones” like estradiol or estrone, 10 times more of it than melatonin, and much more of it than thyroid hormones like free T4 or thyroxin. Progesterone is actually just as important to a man’s health as a woman’s!
We’re Wired for Equality…Most of the Time!
For a short time every month, men and women are equal…in progesterone! The levels of progesterone that men have is equivalent to what women have during the follicular phase each month; this is the first phase of a women’s cycle when progesterone is low, just like a man’s progesterone level.
The reason that men and women will have equal levels of progesterone is because a man creates progesterone in his adrenal glands and the primary source of progesterone for a woman during the first 2 weeks after the onset of the menstrual cycle is from the adrenals as well. In fact, for both men and women the adrenal glands make 1 ½ - 3 mg a day of progesterone.
A woman will have a much higher level of progesterone over the course of each month though because during the second phase of her cycle her ovaries will also produce it. So for two-thirds of every month, men and women will have the same level of progesterone!
Progesterone can also be a precursor of testosterone, aldosterone, and even cortisol. Progesterone is also very important as a base of hormone production; it joins with cholesterol to create””. Progesterone is also a bellweather of how your body is handling stress. During stressful crisis situations, you may have higher levels of progesterone and your body may react by making lots of cortisol (and creating that dreaded spare tire around your waist!) If you are under chronic stressful situations, you can suffer from adrenal fatigue and your body will no longer produce adequate amounts of cortisol.
Our bodies are designed to respond to stress as a self-protective reflex – we either fight, flee or freeze. Crisis triggers cortisol production to help the body manage stress. Cortisol is so important to the body during stress that it becomes the body’s primary focus and the cortisol “sink” is where most of the substrate for other hormone production is often shunted to fortify the body’s arsenal of protection. Remember, we developed in a very unsafe world where we were under constant threat so our bodies are hard-wired for self-preservation by using hormones to respond to stress and keep us alive.
How Much Stress Can You Handle?
Our bodies are designed for a quick, reflexive, self-preservation response to stress but our lives today are one crisis after another. At some point we do “accommodate” to stress, we become more capable of bearing the stress load. But is it healthy? Some stress is good, but too much stress is a killer. One of the key hormones we need for health and longevity – progesterone – falls by the wayside when we are stressed. Everything becomes focused on cortisol production. If you have the typical, chronic stress levels of American daily life, you probably are deficient in progesterone. If you are walking through a crisis event, you may be producing far too much progesterone. In either scenario, you need to support your body’s hormone levels. So, high progesterone levels maybe an indicator of stress, whereas very low levels indicate a serious adrenal fatigue condition.
“You Are Getting Older!” – Bite Me!
Progesterone levels decline with age just like all the adrenal hormones and this affects most of your major organ systems. There are progesterone receptors in your heart an in your major blood vessels such as your arteries and veins. Progesterone is the hormone of calmness. It is nature’s valium, the Feng Sui of hormones. When you have low progesterone levels, some of your organ systems may demonstrate more tenseness or nervousness. The gall bladder has progesterone receptors and a stressed gallbladder with low progesterone may lead to a danger situation like acalculous cholecystitis, which we see in very stressed patients in the ICU. In the prostate, epididymis, and the testicles, there are also progesterone receptors, and there must be a purpose for that? Sperm also has progesterone receptors as well.
Progesterone – What Have You Done for Me Lately?
Progesterone is the peacekeeper hormone that keeps the levels of other hormones in balance and it helps maintain the hormonal symphony resonating in through your body. For instance, estradiol in men is not a good thing; it results in higher stroke rates, increased heart attack rates, and increased prostate cancer. Progesterone keeps your estradiol levels in control.
Progesterone also keeps the levels of Dihydrotestosterone(DHT) in balance. Too much DHT leads to hair loss and increased prostate cancer risks. Progesterone will also keep your aldosterone in balance. You can also blame progesterone if your wife or girlfriend complains that you fall asleep right after sex. Progesterone levels spiral during intercourse and peak after an orgasm; it’s progesterone that creates a calmer, more relaxed state after an orgasm. Many of my male patients like taking progesterone in the evening because it does make everything so much more relaxed and some of them tell me it also increases their deep breathing almost like yoga.
You Gotta Have Heart!
Progesterone has a role to play with regard to cardiovascular disease. Not only are there progesterone receptors in the heart and all the major blood vessels, but it’s also been shown to reduce lipids in the blood. It also helps protect against damage to the arterial system from elevated insulin levels. Too much insulin floating around in your blood can prematurely break down and age the walls of the arteries. Progesterone protects the blood vessels from the effects of insulin.
For people who are progressing into atherosclerosis, there is an overgrowth of smooth muscle cells within the lining of the blood vessels. Progesterone has been shown to stop this out of control growth. And those coronary arteries? The major cause of death from heart disease is the decreasing blood flow to regions of the heart that need it. We call these “ischemic changes” which is the technical term for lack of blood flow. Most doctors have been trained to provide medications that improve blood flow through the coronary arteries like nitroglycerin. But who wants to swallow the poisonous basis of explosives? There are numerous natural compounds throughout the body that do the same thing, including progesterone and testosterone; and they may even help reduce hypertension by helping to relax the muscular walls of arteries and reduce water retention/edema by helping the body excrete sodium.
More to come....
Dr Robert G Carlson, MD, FACS
Progesterone – It’s Not Just for Girls!
Every day we see a new article dedicated to explaining how important progesterone is for women in the array of hormones that are key to good health and healthy aging. But what about men? Most men and women along with many doctors would be surprised to find that progesterone is very important to a man’s health!
So Men Produce Progesterone?!
Most men have about seven times lower levels of progesterone than testosterone; but it is actually more abundant than DHT, the primary metabolite of testosterone that makes a man look like a man. Hormones give us our secondary sex characteristics –
curves for a woman, a lower voice etc. for a man. Even though some hormones are more prevalent in men or women, both sexes have all the same hormones just in different levels. Healthy men have more progesterone than the other “female hormones” like estradiol or estrone, 10 times more of it than melatonin, and much more of it than thyroid hormones like free T4 or thyroxin. Progesterone is actually just as important to a man’s health as a woman’s!
We’re Wired for Equality…Most of the Time!
For a short time every month, men and women are equal…in progesterone! The levels of progesterone that men have is equivalent to what women have during the follicular phase each month; this is the first phase of a women’s cycle when progesterone is low, just like a man’s progesterone level.
The reason that men and women will have equal levels of progesterone is because a man creates progesterone in his adrenal glands and the primary source of progesterone for a woman during the first 2 weeks after the onset of the menstrual cycle is from the adrenals as well. In fact, for both men and women the adrenal glands make 1 ½ - 3 mg a day of progesterone.
A woman will have a much higher level of progesterone over the course of each month though because during the second phase of her cycle her ovaries will also produce it. So for two-thirds of every month, men and women will have the same level of progesterone!
Progesterone can also be a precursor of testosterone, aldosterone, and even cortisol. Progesterone is also very important as a base of hormone production; it joins with cholesterol to create””. Progesterone is also a bellweather of how your body is handling stress. During stressful crisis situations, you may have higher levels of progesterone and your body may react by making lots of cortisol (and creating that dreaded spare tire around your waist!) If you are under chronic stressful situations, you can suffer from adrenal fatigue and your body will no longer produce adequate amounts of cortisol.
Our bodies are designed to respond to stress as a self-protective reflex – we either fight, flee or freeze. Crisis triggers cortisol production to help the body manage stress. Cortisol is so important to the body during stress that it becomes the body’s primary focus and the cortisol “sink” is where most of the substrate for other hormone production is often shunted to fortify the body’s arsenal of protection. Remember, we developed in a very unsafe world where we were under constant threat so our bodies are hard-wired for self-preservation by using hormones to respond to stress and keep us alive.
How Much Stress Can You Handle?
Our bodies are designed for a quick, reflexive, self-preservation response to stress but our lives today are one crisis after another. At some point we do “accommodate” to stress, we become more capable of bearing the stress load. But is it healthy? Some stress is good, but too much stress is a killer. One of the key hormones we need for health and longevity – progesterone – falls by the wayside when we are stressed. Everything becomes focused on cortisol production. If you have the typical, chronic stress levels of American daily life, you probably are deficient in progesterone. If you are walking through a crisis event, you may be producing far too much progesterone. In either scenario, you need to support your body’s hormone levels. So, high progesterone levels maybe an indicator of stress, whereas very low levels indicate a serious adrenal fatigue condition.
“You Are Getting Older!” – Bite Me!
Progesterone levels decline with age just like all the adrenal hormones and this affects most of your major organ systems. There are progesterone receptors in your heart an in your major blood vessels such as your arteries and veins. Progesterone is the hormone of calmness. It is nature’s valium, the Feng Sui of hormones. When you have low progesterone levels, some of your organ systems may demonstrate more tenseness or nervousness. The gall bladder has progesterone receptors and a stressed gallbladder with low progesterone may lead to a danger situation like acalculous cholecystitis, which we see in very stressed patients in the ICU. In the prostate, epididymis, and the testicles, there are also progesterone receptors, and there must be a purpose for that? Sperm also has progesterone receptors as well.
Progesterone – What Have You Done for Me Lately?
Progesterone is the peacekeeper hormone that keeps the levels of other hormones in balance and it helps maintain the hormonal symphony resonating in through your body. For instance, estradiol in men is not a good thing; it results in higher stroke rates, increased heart attack rates, and increased prostate cancer. Progesterone keeps your estradiol levels in control.
Progesterone also keeps the levels of Dihydrotestosterone(DHT) in balance. Too much DHT leads to hair loss and increased prostate cancer risks. Progesterone will also keep your aldosterone in balance. You can also blame progesterone if your wife or girlfriend complains that you fall asleep right after sex. Progesterone levels spiral during intercourse and peak after an orgasm; it’s progesterone that creates a calmer, more relaxed state after an orgasm. Many of my male patients like taking progesterone in the evening because it does make everything so much more relaxed and some of them tell me it also increases their deep breathing almost like yoga.
You Gotta Have Heart!
Progesterone has a role to play with regard to cardiovascular disease. Not only are there progesterone receptors in the heart and all the major blood vessels, but it’s also been shown to reduce lipids in the blood. It also helps protect against damage to the arterial system from elevated insulin levels. Too much insulin floating around in your blood can prematurely break down and age the walls of the arteries. Progesterone protects the blood vessels from the effects of insulin.
For people who are progressing into atherosclerosis, there is an overgrowth of smooth muscle cells within the lining of the blood vessels. Progesterone has been shown to stop this out of control growth. And those coronary arteries? The major cause of death from heart disease is the decreasing blood flow to regions of the heart that need it. We call these “ischemic changes” which is the technical term for lack of blood flow. Most doctors have been trained to provide medications that improve blood flow through the coronary arteries like nitroglycerin. But who wants to swallow the poisonous basis of explosives? There are numerous natural compounds throughout the body that do the same thing, including progesterone and testosterone; and they may even help reduce hypertension by helping to relax the muscular walls of arteries and reduce water retention/edema by helping the body excrete sodium.
More to come....
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
The Best Sleep You'll Ever Have....is in your grasp and so simple
The Best Sleep You’ll Ever Have…….is in your grasp and so simple.
Robert G Carlson, MD, Sarasota, FL
Do you have trouble falling asleep? Or perhaps you’re able to fall asleep, but then plagued by constantly waking up throughout the night, resulting in a broken, restless sleep that leaves you feeling like a zombie the next morning?
Have you been given sleeping pills to help with your sleep, pills that leave you spaced out, like you’re moving in slow motion and not fully rested? Not being able to sleep is critical, resulting in loss of memory, ineffective work habits, and increasing irritability. Starting in their early 40’s, women are in commonly plagued with sleeping problems. The answer is really quite simple. About ten years before menopause, ladies progesterone levels start to plummet. This sets them up for sleepless nights. Progesterone, natural progesterone that is soy-based, not the peanut oil pharmaceutical progesterone Prometrium, provides improvement in sleep, dramatic reduction in irritability (who wouldn’t be irritable if you can’t sleep and remain exhausted), reduction in headaches and the reduction in the signs of estrogen dominance. Besides natural progesterone, NOT synthetic progestins like Prempro or Provera, has now been shown to reduce breast and uterine cancer, reduce cholesterol and reduce heart disease. And it also makes you feel better!
Sleep medicines don’t deal with the real underlying causes of why women are having trouble sleeping as they get older. The major reason is because progesterone levels are so low. Progesterone is like nature’s valium, it is the Feng-Shui of hormones providing calmness and relaxation, factors critical in falling asleep.
With women who are either perimenopausal(which can be up to 10 years before menopause), menopausal, or suffering from surgically induced menopause (hysterectomy), the progesterone levels can drop to such low , immeasurable level that ladies simply can’t sleep. It often takes women an hour or more to get to sleep or they find themselves waking up throughout the night.
So how does bio-identical hormone replacement therapy help? When natural progesterone is taken as a pill, versus in the cream, it travels to the brain and interacts with the GABA receptors. These receptors when activated naturally promote sleep and help patients reach the restorative sleep (REM sleep) more quickly.
How does hormone replacement with progesterone differ from taking sleeping pills when it comes to the quality of sleep a woman might expect? Sleeping pills are synthetic, not natural. There is nothing natural about them, and because of that the natural restorative REM sleep is never achieved. Oh yes, sleeping pills will help you get to sleep, but they don’t get the quality of sleep achieved naturally. When I treat women struggling with sleep issues in their 40’s and 50’s, sleep undoubtedly affected by progesterone levels, one of the most common response I hear after starting progesteroneis ‘This is the best sleep I’ve ever had’.
How quickly can patients expect results? I have seen patients experience results very quickly. Sometimes within the first one or two doses. They often can’t believe how rested they are when they wake up and want to get rid of their sleeping pills as soon as possible.
One patient of mine, Erika is a perfect example of the difference a good night’s sleep can make. In her early fifties, I met Erika with major concerns of “I just can’t sleep”. She had been experiencing “on and off sleep” – waking up frequently throughout the night for years. Essentially sleep deprived. The lack of sleep was making her feel older than her years, and mentally and physically exhausted. She told me, “It was horrible and very hard to function.”
After only a few weeks of hormone replacement however Erika reported to me with excitement in her voice, “I can sleep now. I can think clearly now. It’s unbelievable.” Though still dealing with the stresses and pressures of before, she finds it easier to deal with now she has the benefit of a full and restful night’s sleep. “I really do feel like this very huge dark cloud has been lifted, thanks to you, Dr. Carlson.” She said fighting off tears of joy. “I see everything in a different view.” Her words of encouragement to ladies struggling with menopause and sleeping problems are: “I’m sleeping through the night and feeling like I’m back in my twenties or thirties. It’s amazing.”
Robert G Carlson, MD, Sarasota, FL
Do you have trouble falling asleep? Or perhaps you’re able to fall asleep, but then plagued by constantly waking up throughout the night, resulting in a broken, restless sleep that leaves you feeling like a zombie the next morning?
Have you been given sleeping pills to help with your sleep, pills that leave you spaced out, like you’re moving in slow motion and not fully rested? Not being able to sleep is critical, resulting in loss of memory, ineffective work habits, and increasing irritability. Starting in their early 40’s, women are in commonly plagued with sleeping problems. The answer is really quite simple. About ten years before menopause, ladies progesterone levels start to plummet. This sets them up for sleepless nights. Progesterone, natural progesterone that is soy-based, not the peanut oil pharmaceutical progesterone Prometrium, provides improvement in sleep, dramatic reduction in irritability (who wouldn’t be irritable if you can’t sleep and remain exhausted), reduction in headaches and the reduction in the signs of estrogen dominance. Besides natural progesterone, NOT synthetic progestins like Prempro or Provera, has now been shown to reduce breast and uterine cancer, reduce cholesterol and reduce heart disease. And it also makes you feel better!
Sleep medicines don’t deal with the real underlying causes of why women are having trouble sleeping as they get older. The major reason is because progesterone levels are so low. Progesterone is like nature’s valium, it is the Feng-Shui of hormones providing calmness and relaxation, factors critical in falling asleep.
With women who are either perimenopausal(which can be up to 10 years before menopause), menopausal, or suffering from surgically induced menopause (hysterectomy), the progesterone levels can drop to such low , immeasurable level that ladies simply can’t sleep. It often takes women an hour or more to get to sleep or they find themselves waking up throughout the night.
So how does bio-identical hormone replacement therapy help? When natural progesterone is taken as a pill, versus in the cream, it travels to the brain and interacts with the GABA receptors. These receptors when activated naturally promote sleep and help patients reach the restorative sleep (REM sleep) more quickly.
How does hormone replacement with progesterone differ from taking sleeping pills when it comes to the quality of sleep a woman might expect? Sleeping pills are synthetic, not natural. There is nothing natural about them, and because of that the natural restorative REM sleep is never achieved. Oh yes, sleeping pills will help you get to sleep, but they don’t get the quality of sleep achieved naturally. When I treat women struggling with sleep issues in their 40’s and 50’s, sleep undoubtedly affected by progesterone levels, one of the most common response I hear after starting progesteroneis ‘This is the best sleep I’ve ever had’.
How quickly can patients expect results? I have seen patients experience results very quickly. Sometimes within the first one or two doses. They often can’t believe how rested they are when they wake up and want to get rid of their sleeping pills as soon as possible.
One patient of mine, Erika is a perfect example of the difference a good night’s sleep can make. In her early fifties, I met Erika with major concerns of “I just can’t sleep”. She had been experiencing “on and off sleep” – waking up frequently throughout the night for years. Essentially sleep deprived. The lack of sleep was making her feel older than her years, and mentally and physically exhausted. She told me, “It was horrible and very hard to function.”
After only a few weeks of hormone replacement however Erika reported to me with excitement in her voice, “I can sleep now. I can think clearly now. It’s unbelievable.” Though still dealing with the stresses and pressures of before, she finds it easier to deal with now she has the benefit of a full and restful night’s sleep. “I really do feel like this very huge dark cloud has been lifted, thanks to you, Dr. Carlson.” She said fighting off tears of joy. “I see everything in a different view.” Her words of encouragement to ladies struggling with menopause and sleeping problems are: “I’m sleeping through the night and feeling like I’m back in my twenties or thirties. It’s amazing.”
Monday, February 1, 2010
The Best Sleep You’ll Ever Have
The Best Sleep You’ll Ever Have… is in your grasp and so simple.
Robert G Carlson, MD
Do you have trouble falling asleep? Or perhaps you’re able to fall asleep, but then plagued by constantly waking up throughout the night, resulting in a broken, restless sleep that leaves you feeling like a zombie the next morning?
Have you been given sleeping pills to help with your sleep, pills that leave you spaced out, like you’re moving in slow motion and not fully rested? Not being able to sleep is critical, resulting in loss of memory, ineffective work habits, and increasing irritability. Starting in their early 40’s, women are in commonly plagued with sleeping problems. The answer is really quite simple. About ten years before menopause, ladies progesterone levels start to plummet. This sets them up for sleepless nights. Progesterone, natural progesterone that is soy-based, not the peanut oil pharmaceutical progesterone Prometrium, provides improvement in sleep, dramatic reduction in irritability (who wouldn’t be irritable if you can’t sleep and remain exhausted), reduction in headaches and the reduction in the signs of estrogen dominance. Besides natural progesterone, NOT synthetic progestins like Prempro or Provera, has now been shown to reduce breast and uterine cancer, reduce cholesterol and reduce heart disease. And it also makes you feel better!
Sleep medicines don’t deal with the real underlying causes of why women are having trouble sleeping as they get older. The major reason is because progesterone levels are so low. Progesterone is like nature’s valium, it is the Feng-Shui of hormones providing calmness and relaxation, factors critical in falling asleep.
With women who are either perimenopausal(which can be up to 10 years before menopause), menopausal, or suffering from surgically induced menopause (hysterectomy), the progesterone levels can drop to such low , immeasurable level that ladies simply can’t sleep. It often takes women an hour or more to get to sleep or they find themselves waking up throughout the night.
So how does bio-identical hormone replacement therapy help?
When natural progesterone is taken as a pill, versus in the cream, it travels to the brain and interacts with the GABA receptors. These receptors when activated naturally promote sleep and help patients reach the restorative sleep (REM sleep) more quickly.
How does hormone replacement with progesterone differ from taking sleeping pills when it comes to the quality of sleep a woman might expect?
Sleeping pills are synthetic, not natural. There is nothing natural about them, and because of that the natural restorative REM sleep is never achieved. Oh yes, sleeping pills will help you get to sleep, but they don’t get the quality of sleep achieved naturally. When I treat women struggling with sleep issues in their 40’s and 50’s, sleep undoubtedly affected by progesterone levels, one of the most common response I hear after starting progesteroneis ‘This is the best sleep I’ve ever had’.
How quickly can patients expect results?
I have seen patients experience results very quickly. Sometimes within the first one or two doses. They often can’t believe how rested they are when they wake up and want to get rid of their sleeping pills as soon as possible.
One patient of mine, Erika is a perfect example of the difference a good night’s sleep can make. In her early fifties, I met Erika with major concerns of “I just can’t sleep”. She had been experiencing “on and off sleep” – waking up frequently throughout the night for years. Essentially sleep deprived. The lack of sleep was making her feel older than her years, and mentally and physically exhausted. She told me, “It was horrible and very hard to function.”
After only a few weeks of hormone replacement however Erika reported to me with excitement in her voice, “I can sleep now. I can think clearly now. It’s unbelievable.” Though still dealing with the stresses and pressures of before, she finds it easier to deal with now she has the benefit of a full and restful night’s sleep. “I really do feel like this very huge dark cloud has been lifted, thanks to you, Dr. Carlson.” She said fighting off tears of joy. “I see everything in a different view.” Her words of encouragement to ladies struggling with menopause and sleeping problems are: “I’m sleeping through the night and feeling like I’m back in my twenties or thirties. It’s amazing.”
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