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[dangermouse]

Hey, if anyone here has had a hormonal blood test since being on Utrogestan, would you mind please letting me know your progesterone result?

Mine has gone up from 29.1 to 90.1 from being on progesterone cream (transdermal) and I just wanted to check what sort of levels the oral route produces to give a comparison.

(Mine were both taken on day 21 btw).

[Hurdity]

Progesterone results vary so much that they don't really tell you anything. They are only really useful for women to know if they are ovulating for fertility purposes. Otherwise the levels are meaningless because you only really need high amounts to protect t he uterus and the only way to tell if progesterone is doing that is to have a scan. I'm not sure why the doc even measured them   . You will be unlikely to get any response from members because they are not measured except as above but sometimes private clinics will do them for post-menopausal/peri-menopausal women but again it doesn't tell you anything if it's low because it either means you are post-meno ( ovulation not happening) or in follicular phase of cycle.

Your results could be mainly due to ovulation and your own progesterone....

Hurdity x

[Mary G]

Dangermouse, I don't know if this is any help but my last progesterone blood reading was 0.71 ng/mL -  the post menopause range is anything up to 0.73 ng/mL.   I'm 56 and about 10 years post menopause but only use a very small dose of vaginal Utrogestan and my last dose was about three weeks before the blood test.   

I have all my hormones tested regularly and find it useful in terms of knowing how much oestrogen, DHEA and testosterone I'm absorbing.  I also have 5 different thyroid tests, B12 and vitamin D amongst many other things! 

[dangermouse]

Thanks, I had all my bloods done as standard but was mainly curious to see if Utrogestan was stronger than progesterone cream. I don't use it to protect my uterus as I'm not post menopause or taking oestrogen but yes I guess going by MaryG mine are a lot higher and so will stick with the cream.

My GP always checks all my hormones too, so I assumed others get the same but maybe not if they only check for oestrogen.

Mine were much lower before I started the cream, as you can see (I'm also no longer ovulating) but also my tests are done day 21 so not the early part of cycle when they often take the tests, so would be unlikely to get a good comparison.

Thanks anyway!

[Annie0710]

My nhs gp always tested progesterone whilst doing the other hormone tests, I have no uterus

Mine were <1

[dangermouse]

Thanks Annie! All helpful to know. In my head I was imagining the Utrogestan was overdosing everyone but the side effects may be more to do with the oral metabolites that Hurdity alluded to in another post.

[Hurdity]

dangermouse - I am a bit confused because you said you were not ovulating but that your blood tests were taken on Day 21 of your cycle - but if you are post-menopausal and not having a cycle then how can it be Day 21 - if you are not also taking oestrogen as you say 

Hurdity x

[dangermouse]

I'm not post menopausal, I have my periods but I've not ovulated since last year (I know the mucous signs and the wonderful relief I used to get for a few days after ovulation), so my natural progesterone levels are very low with surging oestrogen from about day 2 to end if cycle.

My cycles went very long (35-45 days) until I went back on the progesterone cream which now gives me a 28 day cycle.

[Hurdity]

If you are taking progesterone all the time and no oestrogen and still getting a bleed then this is most likely due to ovulation - and your natural cycle overriding anything else - unless the progesterone is sufficient to suppress your cycle (like with the mini pill)? If this was the case then there is no explanation for the regular bleeding as far as i understand anyway. Also progesterone affects the cervical mucus so you would not have signs of ovulation even if it took place - it causes it to dry up - this is how some of the POP types work by affecting the mucus.

Hurdity x

[dangermouse]

As far as I know you don’t stop ovulating at the moment your periods completely cease? There can be many anovulatory cycles where you eventually have a bleed before menopause.

I’m not 100% sure I’m not ovulating at every cycle but it certainly feels like it and I was off of progesterone cream for a few months up to January and didn’t ovulate but still had periods. Since back on the cream I am having 27/28 day cycles but still feel the tense surging all the way through.

Prior to the anovulatory cycles, I had massive relief after ovulation and again after Day 21 until my period and I had clear mucous signs (whilst being on the same dose of the cream which is 50-100mg per day).

Anyway, I don’t have any questions re my results, I had just assumed women on HRT had to have regular progesterone blood tests to check it was strong enough, so wanted to see what kind of numbers Utrogestan produced in perimenopause to see how much progesterone is absorbed compared to my cream.

[Hurdity]

Hi dangermouse - thanks for explaining - it's all very complicated isn't it - especially when we start to add in other things. As far as I understand, if you ovulate - then you will definitely have a period of some sort, but that you can bleed without ovulating - due to anovulatory cycles - but this bleeding tends to be irregular and sporadic as it is due either to a sudden drop in oestrogen or the lining over-thickening and shedding erratically in the absence of ovulation.

Re the progesterone - no it is not routinely carried out to check on progesterone levels in HRT users (maybe some docs just do the lot?) - as I said  before I it's usually the effect on the endometrium that is monitored - so a scan will show how thick it is - and if it's too thick or there is unscheduled or abnormal bleeding then this is investigated and if necessary more progestogen given. Its effectiveness in an individual woman is not related to actual progesterone levels in the blood as far as I know - a bit like we all vary in estradiol levels and feel differently on different amounts (ie some are happy on lower levels than others!). Sorry a bit garbled that!

Hurdity x