If you want to have a healthy pregnancy, hormonal balance is vital. Among the roster of hormones you have in your body, progesterone is one of the more important ones. In regards to healthy pregnancy, there needs to be a large enough concentration of progesterone in the body in order to sustain a healthy pregnancy.
Progesterone is a hormone released by the female body after ovulation, and it remains in elevated levels throughout a healthy pregnancy. When a woman’s progesterone levels are low in early pregnancy, supplements may be needed to prevent a miscarriage, because progesterone is necessary to help the fetus develop. Progesterone also increases the libido around ovulation, protects against endometrial, breast, ovarian and prostate cancer. If you think that you might have low progesterone, don’t be alarmed. Most of the time, low progesterone is a minor inconvenience, and can be easily remedied. The following are information pertaining to progesterone and how its lack thereof can affect pregnancy in general.
Symptoms of Low Progesterone
The symptoms of low progesterone can be unique from woman to woman and they also vary in severity; from life threatening to just plain annoying.
Some of the symptoms include:
• Mood swings
• Insomnia
• Depression
• Weight and appetite changes
• Anxiety
• Fatigue
• Irregular periods
• Low sex drive
• Migraines
• PCOS
• Pain during sex
The symptoms do not appear at once, although they sometimes do in rare cases. Some are obviously much more bothersome than others. In addition, low progesterone can also lead to miscarriage or trouble maintaining a healthy pregnancy, or trouble getting pregnant at all.
Determining Low Progesterone
To find out what your progesterone levels are, you will need to get tested in your doctor’s office. Your doctor will then administer a simple blood test and send your blood sample to the lab for analysis. Sometimes you may need to provide more than one blood sample, in which case that you’ll undergo the test multiple times. Your results should be available within a couple of days.
Effects on Pregnancy
A low progesterone level is often considered one of the most common causes of an early miscarriage. The typical sign of an impending miscarriage is light bleeding, or spotting, in which light pink or brown blood appears in the underwear or on the toilet paper when wiping after urinating. When spotting is accompanied by severe cramps and loss of the typical pregnancy symptoms, women are encouraged to call their doctor to check on the viability of the pregnancy.
Spotting is often caused by some of the uterine lining shedding as a result of decreased progesterone levels, which can make it difficult for an embryo to implant and lead to a miscarriage. In some cases, spotting can occur without a miscarriage and the progesterone level may be just enough to continue the pregnancy as normal.
Treatment
Once your doctor confirms that you’re progesterone level is indeed low, he will decide what treatment method is suitable for you. Progesterone creams, shots and vaginal suppositories are available. Usually you can take a progesterone supplement right after ovulation to boost levels. Sometimes the progesterone supplements have to be taken throughout the whole pregnancy, but sometimes they are only taken for a few weeks.
Although it is indeed true that low progesterone can cause a miscarriage, it can be dealt with easily with treatment. Most people generally respond very well to progesterone treatment, and the treatment takes only a short amount of time.
Talk with your doctor to determine what the best course of treatment is for your particular case.
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