Using Topical Progesterone while on Birth Control Pills

One of the common questions I receive from women is whether or not it is beneficial to use topical progesterone while on birth control pills.  Hopefully this article will clear up many of your questions.

When a woman takes birth control pills, she is replacing her normal and natural estrogens with artificial, synthetic, foreign-to-the-body estrogen-like and progesterone-like (progestins) chemicals.  The body notices these chemicals, thinks they are her own, and all but shuts down her own hormone production because it thinks she has plenty.  These synthetic estrogens are also telling the brain to stop the production of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulation hormone (FSH) that regulate the menstrual cycle.  This causes the woman to not produce an egg and therefore, will not get pregnant.

Now, because her body “sees” these synthetic estrogens and progestins, she is producing sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG).  SHBG is produced by the liver and is our body’s system of checks and balances when it comes to hormones.  SHBG grabs our estrogens, progesterone, and testosterone and brings them back to the liver to be destroyed and removed from the body.  One of the problems here is SHBG will not grab the synthetic hormones in the birth control pill.  It will grab whatever little bit of natural estrogens, natural progesterone, and natural testosterone she is producing.

So, she is taking birth control pills.  Her own hormonal production is very low.  Her SHBG production is very high.  Any natural hormones are being destroyed by the SHBG.  After years of this cycle, she feels the symptoms of estrogen dominance and low testosterone because these natural hormones and being removed from her body.  Low testosterone for women means low libido, weight gain, slowed metabolism, vaginal dryness, and bone loss to name a few.  Excess estrogen in relation to progesterone (estrogen dominance) causes breast tenderness, weight gain, fatigue, headaches, irritability, insomnia, and general PMS symptoms.

If a woman decides to stop taking birth control pills, her body has been so used to not producing hormones, that it will take some time for her to produce her own again.  Also, whatever hormones she does produce will be removed by the high amounts of SHBG that she will continue to make.  Women who have been taking birth control pills for long periods of time and decide to come off, can be hormone deficient for years before returning to normal…if they ever do return to normal.

So what about the progesterone question…

I certainly recommend it.  Use natural progesterone cream only.  Apply 10mg of progesterone to your inner wrists and forearms twice a day on days 14 through 28 of your cycle.  The first day of your period is day one.  The natural progesterone can relieve many of the symptoms you are feeling.  If libido and vaginal dryness are an issue, a small amount of testosterone can do wonders for you.

To learn about female hormone coaching, go to MedicineCoach.com/female-coaching.