Hi Gail - our posts crossed - this happens when I start to write and then am caled away and do nto post till later - hope you don't mine the overlapping subject??
Vee
Hi Babytails
I tried to reply to your first post and tried to post my reply, then found it had gone!
I was a bit confused until I realized you had moved the question to here .
I used 'serenity' cream:
www.progesterone.co.uk/but there are many others
As I say below, yes you are right, while in the 80s cyclogest had some popularity to be prescribed by doctors for PNI, now it has lost favor. Somany doctors do nto feel it has worth as a treatment.
I think because only one person ever did any research into it- Depression After Childbirth, Katharina Dalton. isbn: 0-19-263277-9. -
I do not know if it fell out of favor because no one ever did any further research and therefore it is only the research of one doctor to support it - or if further rese4arch was done bu no one could replicate Dr K Dalton's findings?
?
I will try to find out and if anyone knows please could you tell us?
However, I do think everyone, including those who have taken it will agree that it is not a cure, but progesterone is at the least known medically to have a calming effect and in fact too much and it will make you sleepy and too calm really.
So although I can not recommend it or endorse it and anyway have no qualification to do so - in my lay persons opinion I can not see it would do any harm and I certainly found it helped me especially for PMS.
Anyway below is what I was going to reply to your other post as further information on progesterone
Hi again Babytails
How are you? How did the birth etc go _ i hope I have the right person, you did have another baby??
In answer to your question many of us have used progesterone, and probably others will tell you about their experience?
in fact it was the only medication I took when I had PNI others are taking it on the forum right now.
If you see some of the recent threads on this - here are some link:
veritee.proboards7.com/index.cgi?board=meds&action=display&n=1&thread=4401&page=2veritee.proboards7.com/index.cgi?board=intro&action=display&n=1&thread=3505&page=2Gail said this recently about progesterone
Personally used the cream for menopause and related bad PNS during my very last cycles before periods
But when I had PNI I used cyclogest prescribed by my GP.
I would always recommend that you get it through your GP in you are using it for PNI, especially if you are breastfeeding as I was . But it can be bought on line and even in natural health shops fro PMS - they also sell yam cream which has a plant based progesterone that is said to work the same way.
We are not endorsing or recommending on here nor are we saying you should not try it as we are not medically qualified .
However the APNI and the PMS PMT association do recommend it for PMS, however some doctors do prescribe it for PNI.
In my personal experience it is definatly not a cure or I would have been recovered years sooner than I was but progesterone has a calming effect anyway and while it may not alleviate all your PNI symptoms it does often help smooth out hormone based peaks such as when you are post menstrual.
Unlike the synthetic progestogens that are in the pill, HRT etc do not cause you to stop ovulating ( so do not regard it as the pill - it is not a contraceptive - so use alternative contraception when you are on it ) is thought to be relatively harmless - nothing is safe but this is thought to be as safe as it can be-
and you can still with your GPs advice breastfeed with it and it can also be taken with ani-D's with GP approval and it can even be used - only with a prescription - when pregnant
Anyway this is my current understanding of progesterone and its use.
However I will say that while Katharina Dalton who was a Harley street doctor in the 80s specializing in womans health did put Progesterone forward as a treatment or even cure for PNI, this has never been backed up by anything but her own research - I am not sure that any research was ever done on this other than by her but if anyone one did do it , they obvously could not replicate her findings!
So these days perinatal specialists may use it for time to time as part of their armory of treatment they can use for PNI - but it is not particularly well thought of by current specialists as anything more than an extra medication that can be used for PNI - no one really knows officially if it works or not.
Often women themselves however do report that it is worth taking - not as a cure but a relatively 'safe' extra to help with the extremes of their symptoms.
Well this is all I know about progesterone so far - I am thinking of doing some research on it from the point of view of womens experience of taking progesterone for PNI - not from a medical point of view obvoulsy as I am not qualified - when I start my research degree ( can't wait!)
All the best
VeriteeXX