Can progesterone help with sleep disturbances?
by Rebecca
(Weyers Cave, VA, USA)
I am 30 years old and had my first child 17 months ago. I had a long, exhausting natural labor and delivery and ended up delivering an almost 10 lb. baby! I was so exhausted afterwards and was not attached to him at all at first. I struggled a lot with feelings of resentment, anxiety, frustration etc. in the first days of giving birth. I nursed him until he gave it up on his own at 10 months old. Then I went back on birth control - the generic version of Yasmin.
I was only on BC for 2 months, as I started experiencing insomnia, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, etc. So I went off BC and have decided I will never subject myself to that again! But I have continued to struggle with sleep disturbances. It has gotten a little better by me cutting out refined sugar from my diet as well as changing to hormone-free raw milk and other hormone-free animal products. However, I do still continue to have sleep disturbances, especially during the luteal phase of my cycle. I chart my cycle and have noticed that I sleep better during the first part of my menstrual cycle but as soon as my temperature goes up (and I have ovulated) I start to have more restlessness at night for the rest of the cycle. I can fall asleep fine but then will wake up sometime between 2-4 a.m. and then cannot get back to sleep.
I went to my midwife about it but she said that I most likely did not have low progesterone since I have a regular cycle and that there was nothing they could do to treat it even if I did have low progesterone, short of fertility drugs. Is it possible that my sleep disturbances during the luteal phase are caused by low progesterone? I also have experienced little to no libido since I've had these sleep problems.
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