Using natural progesterone before ovulation to end a long cycle?

jilligan14

Hey all,

I've been reading a lot of stuff by Dr. John Lee about the "progesterone suppression" treatment for those with irregular/long cycles or those with PCOS. Basically, you use a natural progesterone cream from CD 12-26 for a few months and then stop and it's supposed to naturally "reset" your cycle and also give your body a much needed break from estrogen dominance. Has anyone heard of this? I've been hesitant to try it because it means putting "trying" on hold for a few months...

I'm currently at CD 17 and had high hopes for this cycle but am now on day 6 of flashy smiley faces (high peak - which means high estrogen). Still haven't gotten my LH surge yet. I'm beginning to think this might be another anovulatory cycle and that I've just stalled out. I can keep waiting but I know there's risks in letting the estrogen dominate all cycle long (usually the flashy smiley faces start later in my cycle). I'm wondering if I should try using natural progesterone cream to end this cycle? Does anyone know if there are risks involved with taking progesterone BEFORE ovulation? I'm currently in between doctors right now due to finishing school and haven't found a new obgyn yet. I just thought I'd reach out and see if anyone has any input, experience or opinion on this matter.

I can also keep waiting...that's what I usually do since my cycles are soooooo long....

emsmama15

I don't know anything about the use of it for three months to "reset" piece, but I do know that when I had my uterine/ovarian "mass" last fall, I had already taken Femara and went in for mid-cycle monitoring (pre-ovulation) when my RE found it.  He just had me start taking my vaginal progesterone (Prometrium) for 14 days.  I didn't ovulate and AF appeared a couple days after I stopped it.  So, I don't think there are risks. It would be similar to taking BCPs - you wouldn't ovulate, but I think it would be okay.  And if you could do it for a few months and reset your wonky cycles - that would be awesome!!  

(But I'm not a doctor - obviously!)

jilligan14

@emsmama15 Thanks for sharing. My cycle decides to do something different every time and I guess I need to just give up on settling into any kind of predictable pattern :-(

Not sure if I have it in me to try the suppression thing as I'm kind of doubtful it would really work. But we are looking into different insurance options so we can eventually get back to RE and see what else we can do. In the meantime, I might take progesterone early to stop my cycle from going on forever.

jilligan14

Well, I decided I would start taking progesterone on CD 20 in order to keep my cycle from going on forever but then today, on CD 19, I got a positive on both the advanced OPK (the solid smiley face) and the Wondfo cheap strips. SO it looks like my LH is surging and that I *might* ovulate after all!!!!

Tomerine

Hurray! Good luck!

emsmama15

Oh my goodness!  Fingers crossed @jilligan14!!

happyktmom

I know I'm super late jumping in on this but I've been thinking about our Vitex conversation and I'm doing that right now (CD7).
I wanted to jump in and tell you that I did 2 medicated cycles (we did TI instead of IUI) and I did Clomid, Prenyl HCG Trigger and then finally Progesterone on CD17, after triggering CD13.  Basically, the introduction of Progesterone at that time assists with the implantation, etc.  I don't know this for sure, but I think an introduction of higher levels of progesterone before O would cause you to not release an egg. I only say that because they gave me the 'mini pill' which is Progesterone only BCP when I was nursing DD. 
I, too, just got the Progesterone cream and plan on using it after I confirm O. 
Good luck! 

jilligan14

@happyktmom - I know that taking progesterone before O could prevent the body from actually releasing an egg. It's just that sometimes my cycle goes on forever and once I reach CD 26 or 27 without O'ing, I know that I'm probably not going to O that cycle. It's those times that I want to just take progesterone to end that cycle so I can move on and try again. And this one doctor talked about taking the progesterone super early (like cycle day 12) in an attempt to "reset" or "reprogram" the body to start O'ing sooner. I just don't want to really experiment with that method as it means putting TTC on hold for a few months since taking the progesterone early means that there would be no ovulation. Anyway, you can Google search "ovulation suppression treatment" or something like that and you'll see the stuff that's out there about it.

I did the increased dose of Vitex from CD3-9 last cycle and O'd on CD20, which was earlier than my previous CD26. So who knows, maybe it worked? But I didn't get pregnant...

happyktmom

Boo on not getting pregnant but thanks for the info.  I've definitely been doing lots of research as well as reading up on other ways to find out if I'm actually O-ing because I cannot depend on OPK's.  Against my better judgement, I continue to use them and get inconclusive results among different brands but definitely no dark line.  This month I'm solely using CM to guide me.  Fingers crossed for all!