Progesterone is beneficial because it eases periods. It also reduces inflammation, regulates immune function, and supports healthy thyroid, brain, bones, and breasts.
Are you making enough progesterone? Are you sure?
The only way to produce progesterone is to ovulate and have a healthy luteal phase.
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What is a luteal phase?
The luteal phase is the approximately ten to fourteen days between ovulation and menstruation. It is named after corpus luteum, the temporary ovarian gland that develops after an egg is released. A healthy one corpus luteum is the only way to produce progesterone.
You can find your luteal phase by tracking your basal body temperature, which is a temperature under the tongue, first thing in the morning before you get out of bed. Progesterone increases the resting temperature by about 0.3 ℃ (0.5°F), so the luteal phase is a higher temperature for ten to fourteen days, followed by bleeding. If your temperature rises but you’re not bleeding, you’re probably pregnant. The only other situations when ovulation is not followed by bleeding are the hormonal IUD, uterine ablation, and hysterectomy.
If your temperature doesn’t rise, it means you had an anovulatory cycle and no progesterone. Anovulatory cycles are also called hormone imbalance, dysfunctional uterine bleeding, unopposed estrogen, or estrogen dominance (a term I don’t use).
Four signs of progesterone deficiency
- a short luteal phase or no luteal phase because a healthy luteal phase should last at least eleven days
- low temperature in the luteal phase because the body temperature will increase if there is progesterone
- fertile mucus in the luteal phase because it dries up progesterone dries up the thick mucus.
- spotting in the luteal phase because the uterine lining is maintained by progesterone.
Testing for progesterone deficiency
The best way to assess progesterone is to monitor basal body temperature. You can also measure progesterone as serum progesterone in the blood test. Read The right way to test progesterone. In general, the more progesterone, the better. It is not possible to have “too much” endogenous (made by the body) progesterone.
How to make more progesterone
The only The way progesterone is made is to keep ovulating every month. To do that, you need to support overall general health and identify a possible “blocker to ovulation,” such as stress, inflammation, thyroid disease, insulin resistance, nutrient deficiencies, and/or poor diet. Remember, ovulation is a monthly report card of health.
General ovulation strategies include:
- Correct underlying inflammatory issues such as dairy sensitivity, gluten sensitivity, mast cell and histamine issues, leaky gut, thyroid disease, or insulin resistance.
- Be completely nutritious in calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, iodine, and zinc.
- Reduce stress.
- Consider taking an ovulation promoting herb such as Vitex (chaste tree) or peony.
- Remember the hundred days before ovulation (see Weather Adjustment Manual) and play the long game.
You can also take body-identical progesterone.
👉 Tip: There is no progesterone in any type of birth control.
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