Right amount?

by Loraine van Vuuren
(Gold Coast)

Hi Wray I ordered some of your progesterone cream and am awaiting my order. I'm 46 and was using progesterone (natural) from the menopause clinic in Australia for about 2 years on and off but after I discovered your website I cancelled with them.

I do still get periods but they are very erratic. I do retain lots of fluid and was wondering if you could please give me the right amount I should start on when I receive my order which should be soon. Many thanks.

Comments for
Right amount?

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Mar 23, 2011
 Right amount?
by: Wray

Hi Lorraine Thanks for trying our cream, I do hope you find it helps. You are in Peri-menopause now, an impossible phase I found! The cycle is far too erratic to follow, so I suggest using the cream daily. The water retention is from excess oestrogen, whereas progesterone is an excellent diuretic. So good it's given via IV transfusion to brain trauma victims, to reduce the oedema that forms, see here and here. I do recommend 100-200mg/day, dependant on symptoms. It seems the amount of progesterone you were using was too low to help. It's essential to make progesterone the dominant hormone. As you appear to have excess oestrogen, you will probably experience Oestrogen Dominance when switching creams and increasing the amount too. I've found this phase passes relatively quickly if a high amount is used, so suggest you try the 200mg/day initially. It's easy enough to increase or decrease the amount to suit. In fact progesterone should always be used as and when needed, and not as a daily fixed amount. It should be used a minimum of twice a day too, as levels drop after about 13hrs. Stress also drops levels, so increase the amount you're using to prevent symptoms returning. Although you live in Gold Coast, which gets plenty of sun, with the Australian policy of covering up, your vitamin D level is probably very low, see here and here. This is such an essential vitamin, with a huge impact on our health, please have a test done. For more info see the Vitamin D council and GrassrootsHealth websites. A lack of vitamin D also reduces the benefits of progesterone. Take care Wray
Mar 27, 2011
 Estrogen supplementation
by: Loraine van Vuuren

Thanks for your reply Wray, I appreciate it!! I have started to use your cream and some days even used 400mg with good results, the excess fluid started to shift and I am sleeping like a baby again.

I am suggesting your website to some of my friends that struggle with the same symptoms and they will all give it a try. My mom is 65 years old and never used anything while going through this phase, she struggled but refused to use any HRT. She has little energy and sleeps badly, even struggle with thinning hair. Can I put her on the cream and does she also need some estrogen because she is in menopause for quite a while? How much should she use of the progesterone? Thanks for your help, I will order for her once I receive your reply. My younger sister (25 years old) also struggles with very bad PMS, can she also use the cream and will it interfere with the pill she is on? Thanks Wray!!
Apr 06, 2011
 Estrogen supplementation
by: Wray

Hi Lorraine So pleased my advise was of help. And I'm delighted you're using progesterone as it should be used, which is as and when needed. The results speak for themselves. Bless you for telling your friends about our web site, there's no need for any of us to suffer. Even the very young can use it, I've often suggested to mothers with young babies who won't sleep, to use a pinhead amount on their feet. Impossible two year olds benefit too. Progesterone is given to pre-term infants, it's essential for the development of the lungs. I'm sure this is one reason so many children now have asthma, as there's an increasing occurrence of pre-term infants being born. Apart from pollution and lack of vitamin D, which both play a role in asthma. I'm pleased your mum refused HRT, it's not worth the risk, but how she coped without progesterone is beyond me! It certainly eased my transition. It's never too early or too late to start progesterone, but please get her to read our page on Menopause and Oestrogen Dominance before she does try it. She will also have to play around with the amount, much as you're doing. I still use ±170mg/day and I've been in menopause for 12 years now. Please avoid the oestrogen, I've managed fine without it! Progesterone does increase energy levels, which are usually depressed because of excess oestrogen. If this is high it can cause Insulin Resistance. It's excellent for sleep too, see here. And does help hair growth, so do a number of other nutrients which she could consider taking. These are 2000mg/day N-acetyl cysteine, 2000mg/day inositol, 2-3mg/day biotin and 100mg/day thiamine (B1). Your younger sister sounds as if she would benefit from it. I put my daughter on it when she was 14, so she wouldn't get the usual puberty symptoms, which she didn't. She's now 29 and still using it. But please ask her to read our page on Contraceptives, I don't believe the risk is worth it. Please would you ask both of them to have a vitamin D test done too. Lack of energy, sleep problems and PMS are also linked to a lack of vitamin D. Take care Wray
Apr 08, 2011
 Thanks Wray
by: Loraine van Vuuren

Thank you so much for all the info, it is very informative and I will pass it on to my family and friends. God Bless
Apr 18, 2011
 Thanks Wray
by: Wray

Hi Lorraine Bless you too, and I do hope you all come right. Please don't forget to have the vitamin D test done. Take care Wray
Oct 17, 2011
 Perimenopausel??
by: Sue

Hi Wray, I am 45 years old and still have periods, they were every 2 weeks and I took vitex and this seemed to extend them to 25 days but did not sort any of the other issues.

I am confused as to how to use the cream as I still have periods regulary - am I perimenopause?

I have a range of symptoms - very painful periods but not heavy, mood swings and almost paranoia later half of cycle, easy to cry at anything and loss of libido and joy of life in general! ugh!

Can you advise how much and over what period, I have read your info page but I am unsure whether the advice relates to eratic periods or someone who is regular but with a host of other related issues.

Please help!
Oct 20, 2011
 Perimenopausel??
by: Wray

Hi Sue You could well be in Peri-menopause. This starts 5-10 years before Menopause, the average age of this is 51. Your symptoms certainly sound as if you are. Progesterone would normally be used following a cycle if there is one. But if symptoms are severe, or cycles too erratic to follow, then I advise using it daily. I generally recommend 2-3 months, then follow the cycle again. But many women find they need to use it daily for 6 months or more before they feel stable enough to follow a cycle. It's up to you, there's no harm done using it daily with a regular cycle. To my mind it's far more important to get rid of any adverse symptoms first. Bleeding will come and go as it pleases, often with no break in regularity, but often with. To my mind a small price to pay for feeling well! And crying?.don't I know how you feel! Please make sure you use enough progesterone, I recommend 100-200mg/day, more if symptoms are severe. It's essential to make progesterone the dominant hormone. And please read our page on Oestrogen Dominance, as this often occurs. If it does please increase the amount of progesterone. Take care Wray

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