Reservations taking progesterone

[germin8]

I didn't know where to post this... so maybe here is good.

There are some women that take progesterone for fertility. And, although I do not have an issue w/ this, I think I need to take progesterone...

I am taking Wish Garden's Progesteronic as recommended by my consultant (different from bottles dosage)... this is supposed to help my progesterone levels and hopefully help my milk supply which was very low w/ my DD. I want to do everything I can to give my future baby (not prego yet) breastmilk... I understand the struggles I went through to build my supply and get donor milk. I do not wish to do this again... if I can help it.

The problem I have is that I have read that progesterone helps keep the baby. So, although I am all for that, I also believe my body can miscarry if something went "wrong" that I nor doctors could be aware of. I am totally for letting my body do what God has enabled it to do... whether to carry to full term or miscarry. He knows best. So, I have reservations about taking progesterone and "overriding" what my body would rather do.

Does that make sense? Does anyone know of any info about progesterone and what I mentioned above... Or am I just overthinking things?

[gumblossom]

As far as I know progesterone won't save a baby from miscarrying if it is miscarrying for some other reason. If your progesterone is low then the supplement will stop a miscarriage that is caused by low progesterone, it won't stop a miscarriage from a chromosomal problem.

I hope that helps.

Progesterone can be very helpful if your hormones are out of balance. Have you thought about getting your progesterone tested on day 21 (actually, it should be tested 7 days post ovulation). It will tell you if your level is too low, and if you need supplementation.

[SKJ2011]

I just had a missed m/c last week. I went in for my first prenatal appointment and the baby measured 6 weeks with no heartbeat.  I was 8.5 weeks along.  I was taking progesterone.  So, I did miscarry despite being on progesterone.  But, I didn't miscarry naturally, I think due to the progesterone.  I ended up opting for a D&C, although I was given the choice of waiting for my body to miscarry naturally, or taking a medication to get things started.

Hope this helps.

[germin8]

Thank you for replying. This is definitely helpful and puts my mind at ease... except for the part of not being able to miscarry naturally. I do not plan to see an OB but work with the local certified professional midwife. Do you think it would have happened naturally?

Thanks for the tip of testing my progesterone! Is that if I'm pregnant or just anytime, pregnant or not?

[gumblossom]

I had two miscarriages, which didn't occur naturally - had to have D&C's, but I wasn't on progesterone. Sometimes, the miscarriage can happen very slowly, that's why I opted for the D&C, I didn't want it to drag on.I don't think the progesterone will actually stop a natural miscarriage, IYSWIM?

[witchypants]

Testing for progesterone levels really needs to be done in a series. Starting 7 days after ovulation, then 9 days AO, and again 11 days AO. If it isn't tested in a series it really won't tell you much...

[pokeyAC]

You can test your progesterone anytime.  If you do it when you are not pregnant, you can get a sense of if it is low or ok.  If it is low, you can start doing something about it before you get pregnant.

[skeemama]

I do know that supplementing progesterone increases the occurrence of hypospadius.

I also know that if the body needs to miscarry it will.

[germin8]

Originally Posted by skeemama 

I do know that supplementing progesterone increases the occurrence of hypospadius.

I also know that if the body needs to miscarry it will.

I hadn't heard that. I hope that by taking herbs, the body will know how much progesterone it needs to make. I will look into this further. Thanks.

[Helen09]

There are some women that take progesterone for fertility.

[TrishWSU]

I have also had a missed m/c (should have been 11 weeks but baby died at 9 weeks.) I wasn't taking any medication or supplements other than a multi-vitamin, so I'm assuming my body was just taking some time for the actual m/c to complete. I opted for cytotec to at that point to move things along and completed the miscarriage "naturally" after that. I believe my second m/c was due to low progesterone, though. I had mild spotting since conception until it became full bleeding at 8 weeks. Had an u/s that showed the baby was only measuring 6 weeks and had an extremely slow heart beat (I knew at that point I was miscarrying even though they tried to tell me maybe I just wasn't as far along as I thought-um, it was a surrogacy concieved through artifical insemination...I knew exactly when I conceived!) They tested my progesterone level then and it was at the level of someone only 4-5 weeks pregnant. When I got pregnant again a few cycles later I immediately had my levels checked and they were very low so I started taking progesterone as a precaution (my insurance wouldn't pay to get my levels rechecked-lame!)  Was the supplementation necessary? I have no idea but that baby is now a happy, healthy almost 3-year-old so I'm not going to question it.

So yeah, all that to say that I agree that the body will still "miscarry" a fetus with chromosomal abnormalities when taking progesterone even though it might make the process of physically passing it take a little longer.