Testing for marital influence of HRT

[HeadDoc]

My spouse has been on hrt for a few months now. Her reposnse has been wonderful. Part of the program is a progesterone troche. This is a sublingual and she takes it at bedtime. I just completed some bloodwork and my new doc checked off progesterone. Well, it was very high. I spent a day going through Becker's Handbook to interpret the value and meaning--mostly drew blanks. Then one night, my wife askes me if I could taste the flavor of her medication.

Early next week she leaves for Europe on business for 10 days. I guess I'll wash the sheets and pillow cases as soon as she goes and then redo the test in a few days.

Anyone else with this dilemna?

 

[SWALE]

You obviously are considering whether you may be receiving accidental transferral of your wife's progesterone. I have not heard of such a thing from any but transdermal applications. Other than that, adequate investigation into just HOW, and at what dosages, you may be exposed to the meds present in her oral cavity is beyond the apropriateness of this column. LOL.

If you are on HCG, that can elevate progesterone in some men.

Progesterone directly opposes DHT. I know some doctors in my field supplement their male patients with progesterone, but for this reason I am against this practice. I have heard of some using progesterone cream applied diretly to the scrotum, for instance.

A retest is certainly in order. More than likley it is lab error. If it comes back lower the second time around, I would not credit the wash machine for same.

 

[HeadDoc]

I take 100 mg HCG five days a week and I've been taking pregnenolone 30 bid for about a month (for cognitive purposes). So either or both, in addition to my "oral" dose may be influencing this. The search thru Becker's Handbook did lead me thru some interesting material on corticosteroids--with some interesting and possible applications to psychiatric disorders.

 

[1cc]

I take 100 mg HCG five days a week and I've been taking pregnenolone 30 bid for about a month (for cognitive purposes). So either or both, in addition to my "oral" dose may be influencing this. The search thru Becker's Handbook did lead me thru some interesting material on corticosteroids--with some interesting and possible applications to psychiatric disorders.

Headdoc,

There is an excellent new book that just was published last month called "The Life Extension Revolution" by Philip Lee Miller, M.D. and the Life Extension Foundation. There is a whole section on boosting progesterone and one of the primary methods is to take pregnenolone. In the book 20mg was sufficient to send progesterone to double the top of the range in a sample case.

I am also using HCG and on 150iu every day my progesterone was 1.53 0.28-1.22 range. I lowered the HCG to 100iu and now my progesterone is 1.37 0.28-1.22 range. The question is how low should one go for the HCG. Is is worthwhile taking any HCG below 100iu.

Headdoc, I would stop the pregnenolone, since 100iu I think is a very small dose.

Swale, what do you think, can one go down even farther than 100iu, or should one expect a slightly higher progesterone level such as mine above.

 

[HeadDoc]

thanks for the tip. I am feeling the benefit of the pregnenolone as a replacement for provigil---however I was doing the hcg while on provigil and now on pregnenolone. so I guess a period of time off pregnenolone is indicated. I'll take a look at Miller's book. I'm still working thru Braverman's Edge Effect.

 

[1cc]

BTW, according to that book, Dr. Miller purposely raises progesterone levels, and he says that going to 2.5 times the top of the normal range is no problem.

This is from the book:

"From my clinical experience however I have found that men with higher progesterone levelsare healthier and more youthful. My target for men is between 1500 and 2500 pg/ml (300-1000 pg/ml is normal), although I frequently see even higher levels in patients who are using anti-aging therapies. I rarely observe problems due to high progesterone.

You ideal progesterone level is also determined by your estrogen level. If your estrogen is on the high side, more progesterone is needed to balance the effects. When estrogen is low, progesterone may also be a bit lower. For men, I aim for a ratio of 15 to 25 times as much progesterone as estrogen"

 

[SPE]

1cc

Very interesting. I had no idea about progesterone actually being healthy in men, let alone higher than normal levels?

 

[1cc]

Very interesting. I had no idea about progesterone actually being healthy in men, let alone higher than normal levels?

I was also surprised to read that myself. I am trying to keep progesterone down though by lowering my HCG dose.