Facts About Progesterone Cream

Progesterone is a steroid hormone that is made by the corpus luteum of the ovary during the time of ovulation. It is also made in smaller amounts by the adrenal glands. Progesterone is contrived in the body from the steroid hormone pregnenolone, and is a precursor to most of the other steroid hormones, including cortisol, androstenedione, which are the hormones estrogen and testosterone. For a woman who is in a normal monthly cycle, the corpus luteum will produce 20 to 30 mg of progesterone per day during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle.

Progesterone is needed in menopausal women during hormone replacement therapy for many reasons. One of progesterone’s most important roles is to balance or counter the effects of estrogen. Unconstrained estrogen can create a strong risk for breast cancer and other reproductive cancers.

Postmenopausal women need progesterone cream because in the years before menopause, many women regularly have anovulatory cycles where they make enough estrogen to create menstruation, but they don't make any progesterone. This then will set the stage for estrogen dominance. When women use progesterone cream during anovulatory months, this will then help prevent the symptoms of PMS. Estrogen dominance occurs when the normal ratio or balance of estrogen to progesterone is altered by excess estrogen or inadequate progesterone. Estrogen is a potent and potentially dangerous hormone when it is not balanced by adequate progesterone.

Recent studies have shown us that PMS can occur despite normal progesterone levels if higher levels of stress are present. The presence of stress increases cortisol production; cortisol competes for the progesterone receptors. Additional progesterone is then required to overcome this blockade, and therefore stress management is very important.

Progesterone cream should be applied to the skin because progesterone is very fat-soluble. This causes it to be easily absorbed through the skin. From subcutaneous fat, progesterone is then absorbed into capillary blood. Therefore absorption is best at all the skin sites where people blush, such as the face, neck, chest, breasts, inner arms and palms of the hands.