Progesterone: Our "Happy" Hormone

by Catherine P. Rollins (Reprinted by permission)

We believe that if you give a woman back her progesterone - her mother hormone, her essence hormone - you give her back an opportunity to reconnect with herself.

Far too many women have become so hormonally imbalanced that they have no clue as to what their true essence feels like. Often stress, a hectic lifestyle, or family can and do distract her.

However, a common thread connecting every women who has ever approached the Natural Progesterone Advisory Network website is that once she gets her hands on this vital hormone, she begins an incredible journey.

We know that as soon as a woman starts rubbing progesterone cream onto her body there's an incredible physiological reaction to that hormone. It's as if it resonates immediately, and she can tell progesterone is central to her renewed health, not necessarily because of what's she's read but how it intrinsically feels in her body. It's as if she's coming home to herself!

Our Network has discovered for ourselves by talking and listening to hundreds upon hundreds of women, that natural progesterone is different from synthetic progestins currently used in conventional HRT. It has less dramatic side effects but has all the actions that nature intended for progesterone. It is the missing link back to optimal hormonal health and wellbeing.

An intuitive 'knowing'

Even for those women who may experience incredible discomfort for the first 10 days to 2 weeks when estrogen actually wakes up and estrogen dominance symptoms are exacerbated, she is determined to keep applying progesterone cream because she wants the end result. There is an intuitive 'knowing' that something good has been introduced into her body and she wants it to stay.

Unfortunately, some women abandon progesterone at the point of discomfort, not knowing how to get through the debilitating stages of estrogen dominance which can occur at any stage. It is our hope we help you work through these setbacks so that you can stay with progesterone long enough to enjoy the true essence and benefits from both a physical and metaphysical viewpoint.

Within months of starting progesterone supplementation, balancing various aspects of her life, and encouraging her to acknowledge herself and honour her body, we've seen these very same women start to 'plump up' spiritually, become vocal, find their voice, express an opinion, exude confidence, and take back their self-respect. Indeed, we have observed transformations.

Weakened emotionally

Women in their 40s and 50s with families, careers, a wealth of experience and knowledge, and tremendous gifts to offer the world, appear to lose all semblance of their true self because of hormonal imbalance left untreated, or HRT incorrectly prescribed.

These fuzzy-headed, tentative women, once they get 12-18 months into progesterone supplementation, often start defining new boundaries, become more assertive and independent and, finally, they learn how to say "no".

Hormonal imbalance seems to weaken the emotional profile of a woman. She may present as distraught, exposed, fragile, out of tune with her body and her needs, exhausted physically, emotionally and spiritually. She doesn't know why she's crying all the time.

If you have issues - grief, unresolved conflicts, burdens, sadness, a floundering relationship - then allow them to surface and use your menopause or hormonal imbalance as an excuse to have a damn good cry. Tears are for healing. Tears are a way of cleansing the soul. And then get on and deal with it!

Hormone imbalance appears to be a catalyst for visiting painful and hurtful conflicts and memories, thus isolating and alienating us into further despair and depression or, for others, triggering anxiety and panic attacks. There is this overwhelming sense of helplessness and distortion of reality that is compounded by hormone imbalance, but seems to be easily addressed once progesterone is introduced. This remarkable hormone just seems to give most women the ability to tackle her problems with perception and renewed mental acuity.

A time to rebuild

This is a time of shedding. It is a time of re-building your body, and perhaps a time when you can actually rebuild your persona. Shake off the ambivalence of who you are. You are more than a mother, lover, wife, cook, friend, healer, carer, organiser, work colleague, confidante, or whatever other label given to you. Put an end to such pronounced feelings of loneliness, confusion, grief, anger, sadness, frustration and take the time to listen to your own inner child. Teach yourself that it's ok to be self-nurturing without feeling guilty.

You need to take some responsibility for your own health. Become more "selfing" (not selfish), to respect your needs rather than putting yourself behind everyone else. You need to recover and get well, to spiritually nurture your soul, to heal your tired, stressed-out body.

Devise a plan that targets healthy eating, sensible nutrition and lifestyle adjustments that will carry you through to old age. Basically, adopt a 'more beneficial' way of thinking and approach to life.

Getting grounded

Next step is to address hormone imbalance. Get progesterone - your mother hormone - back into your body to help ground yourself. Consider this - the hormone progesterone not only plays the role of progesterone in your body. Progesterone will 'cascade' down to manufacture in the body other vital hormones such as estrogen, testosterone, and the cortico-steriod hormones. 'Top up' your progesterone levels and there's a good chance you won't need to supplement other hormones.

Get your nutrition and exhaustion in order so that you're feeling stronger in yourself and physically more able to cope with stress, infections and other 'traumas' your body is exposed to on a daily basis. Then go ahead a deal with the emotional issues that arise, or won't go away and need re-addressing.

Just keep in mind that if you fail to deal with ALL the issues, your treatment in hormonal balancing and health will NOT be as effective.

The role of stress

Hormone imbalance creates emotional instability, but so too can emotional issues often create hormonal imbalance. There's always a connection with the adrenals when stress is involved. For adrenal exhaustion can cause hormone imbalance ... hormone imbalance can cause adrenal exhaustion.

High cortisol production which occurs with stress of any kind, including trauma, inflammation or inflammatory diseases, emotional and even chemical stress, can induce high levels of cortisol and this leads to significant reduction of progesterone, resulting in estrogen dominance.

The Natural Progesterone Advisory Network website has seen, first hand, how stress can cause a woman's body to lose balance, rhythym and connectivity. It might be brought on by a sudden shock subsequent to a death in the family, a loss of a child, an unexpected divorce, a husband running off with another woman. We have witnessed this sudden triggering of menopause or cessation of periods post shock where no previous symptoms or signs existed beforehand. This goes to show how powerful are the messages and chemicals in our brain and body, and how they impact so profoundly and so cruelly on our delicate organs, and can throw our whole endocrine system out of balance.

Too often we are exposed to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (xenoestrogens) in our foods and in our environment, and the stress we are subjected to - chemically, internally, and through the demands the world places on us, the speed at which our world encircles us, the fast foods that have become part of our lifestyle now - that we struggle perpectually to get on top of these dreadful symptoms.

The happy hormone

Progesterone is sometimes referred to as the "happy hormone" in that it can modulate and enhance your mood. Use it to find YOUR own happiness and inner contentment, and to recapture the joy and bliss in your life as you journey with this hormone and discover its remarkable powers.

Let your beauty shine

The fluctuations of our hormones throughout our life have been responsible for our growth and our physiological being. We encourage you to EMBRACE these imbalances so that you can grow to understand who you are and what you are about. Empower yourself with each milestone. Don't let these symptoms keep you locked in your disease. Realize your magnificence.