Can Progesterone Cause Anxiety?
Often we get reader/listener questions about their own experience with hormones. We love that readers of our blogs and listeners of the podcast (TheProgressYourHealth Podcast) reach out for more information. If they have concerns and questions, that means many, many other people have the same concerns. A lot of questions we get are hard to get answers online.
Honestly, hormones and hormone replacement is an art that should be designed around the patient. Every person taking hormone replacement has different reasons for doing so. Those hormone goals can range from weight loss, mood improvement, insomnia, bone density, energy to sex drive just to name a few. Those of you that are regular listeners/readers, I’m sure, have heard this from me a thousand times over. And I will continue on that soap box, so bear with me.
Hormone replacement is not a cookie-cutter approach where one size fits all. It needs to be tailored to the individual. This article is about a recent podcast that we did on a reader question. I feel this is an interesting question because it is about hormone replacement therapy, but there are so many nuances to tease apart. When talking about hormones, everyone is focused on the estrogen and progesterone dosing and not considering the other hormones involved that could be part of the issue.
Here is the question (we always change the names of readers and listeners to protect privacy).
From ‘Kathy’
Hi Dr. Davidson.
My question to you, is what do you suggest if a woman is on Biest and can’t take the Prometrium because it has the opposite effect and gives her anxiety?
Yes, she has a uterus, yes she is on Biest, but what if cream is her only option? Thanks in advance – Kathy
There is a lot to tease apart here, but let’s explain a little more thoroughly about the hormone regime she is on.
Biest is an estrogen combination of estriol and estradiol. There are three main estrogens in a female’s body. Those are Estrone (E1), Estradiol (E2) and Estriol E3). Estrone is not commonly used, and it is mainly seen in younger women going through puberty or is made by adipose tissue. Adipose tissue is ‘fat’ tissue, and yes, your fat is like its own endocrine gland, secreting other hormones and estrone (lepton, adiponectin to name a few popular ones).
Biest is part of bio-identical hormone replacement, meaning the estriol and estradiol are made from plants to look exactly like what our own bodies make. So if it looks just like what our bodies make, then it will have a better response and fewer side effects.
Kathy is taking a Biest cream for her estrogen replacement, which is commonly used as a cream. She applies her biest cream topically, also called transdermally. You can apply your hormone cream to the inner thigh or back of the knee. Because all hormones are fat-soluble, and the inner thigh, as we all know, has an excellent fatty pad there, making it a great site. Applying hormones to thin tissue like the inner arms, can cause quick absorption and then it is eliminated from the system quickly. Plus, inner arms means you could share it when you hug or touch or carry pets or other humans. Some research shows that the neck and face are excellent places for transdermal absorption. But if you love giving kisses to your pets, little ones or family, you could end up sharing your hormones.
As Kathy mentioned in her question, she could not tolerate the Prometrium (an oral form of progseterone), and she has a uterus. The reason she mentions this is because it is essential to take progesterone anytime you are taking estradiol/estrogen therapy and you have a uterus. Estrogen loves to grow things, especially the uterine lining. If Kathy did not take progesterone and only took biest (estriol/estradiol), it would be a m...
