Progesterone for sleep

[Cataceous]

Hi @Cataceous ,
a question on your experience with progesterone and E2 numbers. Did you check E2 before and after supplementing with progesterone? Did it lowers your E2 or it didn't have any effect on it?
I tried 7 mg of progesterone oil this morning and it made me quite drowsy for 8 hours, so I may give it a go at bedtime again with 7 mg, rather than 20 mg as I did before.
I'm just concerned about the effect it could have on E2 though, since I felt quite warmer this morning, so I thought it may had an effect on it.

Although I have multiple estradiol test results, they are not very informative because I started the progesterone during a period of undetectable estradiol. Mainly I would note that the added progesterone did not interfere with a subsequent rebound to normal/elevated estradiol.

I've only used progesterone before bed; for me the sleep enhancement is one of the best features of supplementation.

 

[xqfq]

Did anyone used progesterone successfully for better sleep? Especially to stay asleep at night and to calm down the mind. I've been tested for progesterone and the level was 0.10 ng/mL (range 0.10 – 1.00 ng/mL).
Several TRT doctors refuse to prescribe progesterone due to be highly inflammatory in men, at least according to this study:

Endogenous progesterone and the exogenous progestin norethisterone enanthate are associated with a proinflammatory profile in healthy men. - PubMed - NCBI

They say it's nothing to get concerned about, since TRT lowers the level of progesterone, but since finasteride is another drug that inhibits endogenous progesterone and I've been on it for 7 years, I was wondering if anyone got better sleep out of small doses of progesterone.

@xqfq your post about progesterone here

Irritability and anxiety on Testosterone

was really interesting. Did you try it yourself?

I don't believe that finasteride "inhibits endogenous progesterone." I can't find any evidence of this and I don't know how it would. I saw there are a couple of "post finasteride" studies, but they are not very good studies for saying whether or not finasteride affects progesterone levels. They just looked at a group of people suffering from "post finasteride" symptoms and measured their progesterone; they were lower than normal. That could be a coincidence and not caused by finasteride.

Finasteride is similar to progesterone in structure. But I think if finasteride decreased progesterone it would have been noticed by someone at some point. Maybe not. But I didn't see any evidence of this when I searched - let me know if there's something out there.

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I tried progesterone cream, which had a greatly sedative effect. I also tried mega-dosing pregnenolone, 3x a day, which worked to raise my progesterone levels but seemed to have other side effects. I may try something else soon. Right now I am sticking to a very simple protocol of just test-e and hcg to see where I am.

I had a bad experience recently where I used 20mg of progesterone cream before bed, then 20mg again in the morning. My heart rate increased to 90 - 100 bpm and I was sweating like crazy. I think with the cream, sometimes less is more.

I also think the cream does something different in the body than, say, injectable progesterone. The cream can give supraphysiological progesterone levels in some tissues but not others. It also may increase 5-AR metabolites like allopregnenolone much more than injectable progesterone:

Pharmacokinetics of progesterone - Wikipedia

 

[Cataceous]

...
I had a bad experience recently where I used 20mg of progesterone cream before bed, then 20mg again in the morning. My heart rate increased to 90 - 100 bpm and I was sweating like crazy. I think with the cream, sometimes less is more.
...

If your response is similar to mine then the two 20-mg doses would be expected to put your serum levels at four times the top of the reference range. Think how you might feel at four times the top of the estradiol range, say 140 pg/mL. No need to say more.

 

[Stanfoo]

Yes, progesterone use has correlated with an increase of about an hour in uninterrupted sleep and a reduction in irritability. I'm not overly concerned about the results of the studies on inflammation, though the markers could be worth monitoring.

Were your progesterone levels low which was why you started supplementing with it?

I'm wondering if using progesterone cream would benefit people not deficient in it- for the improved sleep.

 

[Cataceous]

Were your progesterone levels low which was why you started supplementing with it?

I'm wondering if using progesterone cream would benefit people not deficient in it- for the improved sleep.

Yes, I had low levels, and I'm supplementing to get to mid-range. While progesterone might be helpful to those who aren't deficient, there are some negative health associations with higher levels, so caution is advised.

 

[Vince]

You may have already read this?
Lee Meyers wrote a good review:

Progesterone in Men

Progesterone in Men: Some Risks and Rewards.

Progesterone is known as a "female hormone," since it plays a significant role in ovulation, pregnancy and fertility in women.

www.peaktestosterone.com