[janieg]

Has anybody tried Progesterone Therapy or known anyone in the past who has?

I've been experimenting with an OTC product WITHOUT doctor's supervision, so I know I'm playing with fire, but heck, I was literally on fire before, so what's a little more.

I started putting the cream on last Tuesday. By Thursday, I noticed a reduction in symptoms. They're not gone, but they're reduced. Friday night is the last time I remember my feet burning, and that was when I was standing for a long time at a baseball game. I've also not woken up "buzzing" at all which has been a mainstay symptom for many months.

Right now, and having just mowed the lawn, I have a slight sensation in my legs, and my referred sensation is still present. I have no burning and no twitching. Usually after exercise, I at least twitch like crazy.

I'm not calling this a game-changer for me yet as I often wax and wane, but I'm at least encouraged. Based on previous cyclical observations, I should be flaring right now, and I'm not.

Here's an article I found that really got me wondering about it....

http://www.hormonesmatter.com/proges...al-neuropathy/

Just curious if anyone else has experience of knowledge of it.

[bluesfan]

Hi janieg

Interesting link - thanks for posting it.

I've been on oral progesterone (5mg) and estrogen (1mg) daily (HRT) for nearly 5 yrs. I'd have to say that during that 5 years my PN has become progressively worse. I suspect, (but it's unconfirmed), that my PN has an auto-immune cause. I've recently started tapering the estrogen with the intention of stopping both. The article did say that timing, dose and cause of PN might be important in seeing positive results. HRT doses of progesterone may be too low to be effective.

Do you know the concentration of the progesterone cream you're using? How much do you apply and how often? - and brand.

Please keep posting your results - if my PN flares up again after this winter I may take a look at using the cream.

Thanks

[mrsD]

Most of the OTC creams contain wild yam. (not pharmaceutical grade progesterone).

Can you please post the brand you are using, janie?

[janieg]

I've actually been doing a lot of reading in the past day or so trying to get a better understanding of progesterone, and more specifically now, diosogenin.

I bought this cream several months ago after reading something somewhere, but never used it. As I continued to look into possible hormonal connections with my neuropathy given recent observations, I decided to go ahead and try it. It seemed like it could do no harm.

The product I'm using is this one, and it does indeed use yam extract:

http://www.amazon.com/NOW-Foods-Prog.../dp/B0013OXGNU

As I'm sure MrsD knows, yam extract contains the substance diosogenin which can be synthesized into progesterone in the lab, but there's apparently no evidence that that the human body can do it.

So now I don't know what is at play. I have no reason to believe it's psychosomatic, because I've tried so many supplements over the past 20 months hoping for some miracle, and have not seen any drastic improvement with any of them (save maybe RLA which I think did dial things back a notch).

Maybe I'm in some kind of coincidental wane, but this is the fifth day in a row I haven't woken up buzzing and have had no burn. I still have parasthesia and referred sensation, but not nearly as bad as it's been.

I tried to learn more about what diosogenin is what role it might play in helping neuropathy, and found this:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21881239

Then I found another article saying that study was flawed.

So I have no clue at this point what's happening with me, but I still feel good and am going to continue to use the cream for now. I find it interesting as I read reviews on Amazon for all the various progesterone creams how many women swear by them. I don't know if we're all nuts, or whether researchers just don't understand.

[mrsD]

Doctor Mercola's article has some useful tips in it:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...lications.aspx

Give it a look. Pros and cons are discussed in it.

[janieg]

That was actually one of articles that caused me to give the cream a try. And then I read a ton of of other stuff that says the yam extract-based creams are all a scam because your body doesn't make progesterone from it.


It's maddening.

Originally Posted by mrsD

Doctor Mercola's article has some useful tips in it:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar...lications.aspx

Give it a look. Pros and cons are discussed in it.

[mrsD]

Yes, the controversy about the OTC wild yam products continues.

Every once in a while, the FDA finds a cream with pharmaceutically pure progesterone in it, and recalls it.

One would hope that after more than a decade, there would be some better data, but I guess not.

[caroline2]

Many years ago I let myself go on pharma estrogen, I tried not too, but did...but not long after got off...my breasts got rock hard and there was so much talk about the dangers of this estrogen. Then later on I got with integrative MD's and one of the first labs they did was for DHEA and I was quite low for my age. So that doc got me on DHEA and I've been taking it daily for probably 10 yrs or more. Get labs done every couple yrs, but it's been life changing in many ways. I have posted about DHEA on the sexual group here as something came up and I thought of DHEA....which does help with libido among the many issues it addresses.

Our natural DHEA starts to decline in our 20-30's and I don't know if conventional MD's test this, I have my doubts. Now, whether it would help with PN, don't know but why not look at it at least as it's so vital in the hormone balance. DHEA is otc but good to get levels checked if you can. But if you are over 20, your levels are declining.

I tried progesterone cream over the years but not at this point.

[mrsD]

I think the bits to understand are this:

1) there is a tolerance with these progesterone creams so rest periods are needed.

2) and cyclical application similar to normal female rhythms is best.

3) and inform your doctor that you are doing this in case something comes up you didn't plan on.

Dr. Northrup MD at one time was the go to person for this....
http://www.drnorthrup.com/
At one time she and Dr. Lee were alone out there about bioident hormones for women. I see her website now is pretty spiffy...
she looks like she has had alot of plastic surgery too. But there may be some information there that is useful about this subject that Dr. Mercola hasn't covered.
Type in "progesterone" into her search bar and all the past papers she has posted come up... this is the easiest
way to see them as they are scattered all thru that site.

[janieg]

This looks to be an incredibly helpful article:

http://www.healthyhormones.com/news/news02.htm

"It does not matter whether or not diosgenin (the active sapogenin in Mexican wild yam) converts to any sex hormones in the body. There is still cellular activity from the almost identical steroid structure of the diosgenin molecule. Clearly, there is a relationship between the structure of the phytohormones (diosgenin from Mexican wild yam, and genistein from soy) and the naturally occurring sex hormone estradiol (E2). This more than likely explains why wild yam creams can have such a positive effect on some women even when used without Progesterone."