FAQ's
The following customer questions have been provided for your convenience with the hope that they provide you with the data you need to make informed decisions about your supplement needs. If you have a question that is not answered below, please write to us at: customerservice@vrp.com, and we will research your request and send you a reply.
What is meant by hormonal imbalance? Hormonal imbalance is a term that has become popular to describe an incorrect relationship that exists between levels of progesterone and estrogen. It occurs in nearly every instance where synthetic hormones are prescribed by physicians.
What is estrogen dominance? Unfortunately, most women suffer from a syndrome known as 'Estrogen Dominance.' According to Dr. John Lee, who has pioneered research in this area, estrogen unopposed by progesterone results in a number of adverse effects. These include hypertension, salt and water retention, abnormal blood clotting, excessive body fat, hypothyroidism, painful breasts, fibrocystic breast disease, increased risk of endometrial cancer (cancer of the uterus) and breast cancer.
Estrogen dominance occurs at the age of menopause, when progesterone production falls to approximately 1% of its pre-menopausal level. At this time, the production of estrogen falls to about 50% of its premenopausal levels. This dramatically alters the estrogen: progesterone ratio, causing estrogen to become toxic without progesterone to oppose it. As a result, the risks for breast and uterine cancer, fibrocystic breast disease, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, cervical erosions and/or dysplasia, and osteoporosis increase.
Unfortunately, modern orthodox medicine treats menopause primarily with synthetic estrogen. However, the real cause of many menopause-related problems is not a lack of estrogen, but a lack of progesterone. Sadly, many doctors look at menopause entirely as an estrogen deficiency syndrome, and even most pharmacology textbooks state that although levels of estrogen after menopause are too low to support reproduction, they are sufficiently high to maintain support of estrogen-dependent tissues.
The problems of estrogen dominance are not confined to post-menopausal women only. Today, it is extremely common for women to experience recurring menopause-type complaints that begin 10 to 15 years before the time of their menopause (when menstruation ceases). Women as young as thirty years of age often complain of menopause-type problems. This is known as pre-menopause syndrome.
What is fibrocystic breast disease? Fibrocystic breast disease is a general term that refers to any common, benign (non-cancerous) breast change, including breast pain, cysts, and non-cancerous lumps in the breast. Fibrocystic breast disease is not a disease by definition, but a condition with symptoms. Many doctors refer to it as fibrocystic breast changes instead.
Approximately 30% of all women have this condition. It occurs most frequently in women of childbearing age, especially between 30 and 50 years of age, and rarely develops in postmenopausal women, unless they are on estrogen replacement therapy.
What is depression and what are the symptoms? Depression strikes twice as many women as men. The dramatic changes in psychoactive hormones like estrogen & progesterone that occur during menstrual cycles, pregnancy and menopause are believed to be the key factors.
Symptoms may include: a depressed mood, loss of interest or pleasure, change in weight, altered sleep patterns, psychomotor agitator or retardation, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and feelings of worthlessness or guilt.
What are hot flashes? Hot flashes or hot flushes involve a sudden sensation of intense heat, usually in the upper part of the body. They can last from a few seconds to half an hour. A woman's face and neck may flush, and red blotches may develop on her back, chest and arms. This is often followed by sweating and then shivering as body temperature readjusts.
Research has shown that hot flashes may be a result of the changing hormone levels that occur during menopause. When estrogen levels drop, higher amounts of other hormones are released. This affects the body's thermostat and causes the body's temperature to change unexpectedly. Also, blood vessels widen, contributing to the effect.
Probably the most difficult part of dealing with hot flashes is the fact that they are often unpredictable. There are some known "triggers" that should be avoided if possible, such as hot, spicy foods and stressful situations.
Hot flashes that occur at night are especially difficult because they interrupt sleep. Today's busy woman can't afford to lose precious rest time.
Whether mild or severe, hot flashes lessen in intensity and frequency as a woman grows older. Women who experience hot flashes usually only have them for about two years, but they can occur for as long as five years.
What does HRT mean? Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) is a mainstay of traditional medicine. HRT has been augmented over the last decade by the introduction of a number of non-prescription, supplemental hormones, including natural estrogen, progesterone, thyroid, DHEA, melatonin and pregnenolone, as well as natural estrogens and testosterone from compounding pharmacies. The availability of these supplemental hormones has benefited countless health-conscious consumers. However, proper timing and dosage is essential if one is to obtain maximum benefit from their powerful effects.
What exactly is Natural Progesterone and how does it differ from synthetic progesterone? It is important to distinguish between natural progesterone and its synthetic analog, the form most widely prescribed. This synthetic version is not really progesterone at all; it is a progestin.
Progestins are synthetic progesterone-like compounds manufactured by pharmaceutical companies. Synthetic progesterones are far more powerful than the body's own natural progesterone and are metabolized as foreign substances into toxic metabolites. These synthetic progesterones can gravely interfere with the body's own natural progesterone, create other hormone-related health problems, and further exacerbate estrogen dominance. (Side effects of synthetic progesterone include increased risk of cancer, abnormal menstrual flow, nausea, depression, masculinizing effects, and fluid retention.)
Natural progesterone made from wild yams and soybeans is nearly identical to what the body produces. However, yam-derived natural progesterone should not be confused with 'yam extracts' sold in health food stores. The body easily converts natural progesterone into the identical molecule made by the body. Adverse side effects are very rare. If taken inappropriately, it might slightly alter the timing of the menstrual cycle.
Why do women need progesterone? Progesterone is needed in hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women for many reasons, but one of its most important roles is to balance, or oppose the effects of estrogen. Unopposed estrogen creates a strong risk for breast cancer and reproductive cancers.
Estrogen levels drop only 40-60% at menopause, which is just enough to stop the menstrual cycle. But progesterone levels may drop to near zero in some women. Because progesterone is the precursor to so many other steroid hormones, its use can greatly enhance overall hormone balance after menopause. Progesterone also stimulates bone-building and thus helps protect against osteoporosis.
How do I know if I should use progesterone?
If you have PMS symptoms. PMS symptoms are those symptoms which occur consistently a week or 10 days before the period and stop with or shortly thereafter.
If you have Estrogen Dominance symptoms. These symptoms are water retention, breast swelling, fibrocystic breast, uterine fibroid, loss of libido, mood swings, depression, craving for sweets, and weight gain, fat deposited at hips and thighs.
If you have menopausal symptoms. Estrogen continues to be produced from the fat in cells even after menopause; however, progesterone production virtually ends. Hot flashes are the most prominent symptoms of menopause.
If I am already taking prescription hormones, why should I switch to natural hormones? Natural hormones are simply an alternative. Dr. John Lee states throughout his book that synthetic hormone replacement creates many unnecessary side effects. It is agreed throughout the medical community that estrogen should not be used without progesterone. Progesterone in its natural form can “balance” the estrogen without the side effects of progestins. Dr. Lee believes that it is the unopposed estrogen that causes so many of the symptoms that women suffer today. Dr. Lee believes that many of the following symptoms (just to list a few), can be caused or made worse by estrogen dominance: allergies, depression, fatigue, fibrocystic breasts, headaches, irritability, PMS, water retention, weight gain and many, many more.
Where should I apply natural progesterone and when should I use it? HerBalance™ Cream is readily absorbed and leaves no traces after a few minutes. Should be applied to neck, breast area, or inner arms between wrist and elbow.
Why not just use Provera as prescribed by most doctors? Natural progesterone is preferable to the synthetic progestins found in products like Provera because it is natural to the body and has no undesirable side effects when used as directed.
If you have any doubts about how different natural progesterone is from the progestins found in synthetic products like Provera, remember that the placenta produces 300-400 mg of progesterone daily during the last few months of pregnancy, so we know that such levels are safe for the developing baby. But progestins, even at fractions of this dose, can cause birth defects. Progestins may also cause many other side effects such as, partial loss of vision, breast cancer in test animals, an increased risk of strokes, fluid retention, migraine headaches, asthma, cardiac irregularities and depression.
Why would a premenopausal woman need progesterone cream? In the ten to fifteen years before menopause, many women regularly have anovulatory cycles in which they make enough estrogen to create menstruation, but they don’t make any progesterone, thus setting the stage for estrogen dominance. Using progesterone cream during anovulatory months can help prevent the symptoms of PMS.
We know that PMS can occur despite normal progesterone levels when stress is present. Stress increases cortisol production; cortisol blockades (or competes for) progesterone receptors. Additional progesterone is required to overcome this blockade, but stress management is important.
What is progesterone made from? USP progesterone used for hormone replacement comes from plant fats and oils and resides in a substance called diosgenin. Diosgenin is extracted from a very specific type of wild yam that grows in Mexico, or it is extracted from soybeans.
In the laboratory, diosgenin is then chemically synthesized into real human progesterone. The other human steroid hormones including estrogen, testosterone, and the cortisones are also nearly always synthesized from diosgenin.
Some companies are trying to sell diosgenin by itself and they label their product “wild yam extract,” and market it as a medicine or supplement. They claim that the body will convert it into the necessary hormones the body requires. While we know this can be done in the laboratory, there is no evidence that this conversion takes place in the human body.
How do I measure my progesterone level? Dr. John Lee recommends only the saliva test. Salivary hormone measurements have been used for many years as a research tool, but have only recently gained popularity in clinical use. Although hormones are present in saliva in fractional amounts compared to their levels in blood, using sophisticated radio-immunoassay (RIA) and enzyme techniques, highly accurate levels of hormones can be determined in saliva.
Although the absolute values of the hormones in saliva are, of course, different from those in blood, the salivary levels are accurate, reproducible and clinically relevant. Additionally, salivary hormone testing offers a number of advantages over blood testing.
First, salivary hormone testing is non-invasive and painless.
Second, the testing can be done at any time, anyplace, at the convenience of the patient. This allows for testing in a stress-free environment, and at the proper times to determine peak hormone levels, since hormones rise and fall predictably at certain times of the day.
For example, melatonin levels peak between 1:00 AM and 3:00 AM; DHEA, cortisol and the sex steroids (estrogen, progesterone and testosterone) are highest in the morning. In addition, because salivary testing is less expensive than blood testing, multiple and sequential tests of several hormones can be performed, providing even greater amounts of information regarding the complex interaction of hormones.
Third, salivary hormone levels may be even more accurate than serum levels as an indicator of hormone activity. The reason is that hormones in saliva are active, free hormones. On the other hand, a large percentage of the hormones in blood are bound to plasma proteins, rendering them inactive. Saliva samples avoid these problems by giving an index of the free hormone levels.
What is the connection between estrogen and cancer? There is now no question that estrogen can be linked to certain cancers. For instance, estrogen has been shown to contribute as much as 30% of an increase in breast cancer. It has also been shown that as many as two thirds of women taking estrogen can develop uterine lining abnormalities. Also, evidence is showing that estrogen use can be associated with cancer of the bladder, pancreas, cervix, endometrium and the brain.
How safe is natural progesterone cream? During the third trimester of pregnancy, the placenta produces about 300 mg of progesterone daily, so we know that a one-time overdose of the cream is virtually impossible. If you used a whole jar at once it might make you sleepy. However, Dr. Lee recommends that women avoid using doses higher than are recommended to avoid hormone imbalances. More is not better when it comes to hormone balance.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just take a progesterone pill? Dr. Lee recommends the transdermal method of application rather than taking progesterone orally because some 80% to 90% of the oral dose is lost through the liver. Thus, at least 200 to 400 mg daily is needed orally to achieve a physiologic dose of 15 to 24 mg daily. Such high doses create undesirable metabolites and unnecessarily overload the liver.
What are hormone cycles? During the first half of a woman's monthly cycle her body is prepared for accepting a fertilized egg. As estrogen levels increase during the first half of the cycle, water and nutrient storage takes place. At this point, progesterone begins to become the dominant hormone for the second half of the cycle. If fertilization occurs, progesterone levels increase to very high levels for several months. If fertilization does not occur, levels of both estrogen and progesterone lessen, but progesterone remains dominant.
Where can I get more information on progesterone and natural hormone balance? For a detailed explanation of women’s hormone balance issues, a hormone balance program, as well as detailed descriptions of how to use natural progesterone, the following books by John R. Lee, MD, are recommended:
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause: The Breakthrough Book on Natural Progesterone. Warner Books, 1996. Order Now
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause: Balance Your Hormones and Life from Thirty to Fifty. Warner Books, 1999. Order Now
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| The statements on this web site have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. | Back to Top |
| Although HerBalance Cream™ is made with Dr. Lee's exact specifications, Dr. Lee has requested that all providers of progesterone cream use the following disclaimer: "John R. Lee, M.D. does not endorse any one brand of progesterone cream, nor does he make money from the sale of any progesterone cream. Using Dr. Lee's name does not imply in any way that Dr. Lee endorses or recommends this progesterone product or any other product." |  |
| Copyright 2004 Advanced Menopause Relief. All Rights Reserved.) |