Dina, Progest Question....

[LAMom]

Dina,

Thanks for the e-mail on my other thread.

If I were to be supplemented with progesterone......when does it usually start? After ovulation, or at the positive pg test? Just curious....does one have to wait until the first (pregnant) b/w to find out that it's low.....that may be too late, huh?

Thx,

LAMom

[BC-DKNY]

yes, it would very possibly be too late. my OB told me (and i believe it's a general recommendation) that progest needs to be started no later than 4 dpo. ideally2-3 dpo, but this needs to be after O has definitely occurred.

i had some very questionable cycles where it "appeared" that conception had occurred. this was not confirmed via b/w, but there were a few cycles where i had late AF, high temps, a faint pos hpt, and cramping during the implantation window, only to have my temp plummet and start bleeding heavily rather abruptly. i've had a 28 day cycle that you can set your watch by all my life. so for me to be late for AF by 4-5 days, it immediately prompted me to think....

i also had many other symptoms of low progesterone. my OB did an endo biopsy on me and my lining came back "out of phase." although there could be other reasons for this, a hormonal imbalance is one of them. although my OB had me scheduled for further testing, i pleaded with her to give me the progesterone as i knew my body and felt this was the problem. she gave me this big speech about how she'd give it to me, but there could be other reasons for the out of phase lining and if we didn't test, we wouldn't figure it out. i humored her and scheduled my next test on whatever day it needed to be for my next cycle and filled my progesterone in the interim. the first cycle that i used the progest gave me a BFP.

now please don't misunderstand, i'm not a doctor and i'm not saying this is your problem. but it's a very common problem and one that's easily corrected. from everything i've learned, it appears that women don't just have a gradual decrease in progesterone over the years, it apparently falls off sharply at 35 and can contribute to IF in women in their mid-late 30's and 40's.

that's why i suggested that you discuss it with your doc. progesterone is not harmful to take even if you don't "need" it. so there's no harm in taking it. your body takes what it needs, whether it's produced naturally (via the CL) or introduced synthetically, and discards the rest.

so it's definitely worth talking to him about.

P.S. my OB (and this was just her opinion) thought it was useless to test progest via blood unless it was going to be checked daily for a few weeks. she said progesterone fluctuates so greatly from day to day, that one simple blood test couldn't really be reliable for determining if there's a deficiency.

but you did in fact have a few different tests all indicating that your progest was low. that's what prompted me to bring it up.