Progesterone and Fibroid Growth Info

[Guest guest]

I posted this last week to the healingfibroidsnaturally list and

thought you might be interested in the info as well. (If there are

any REs on the list I'm sure they will be offended by my jadedness).

I'm going to see a new RE tomorrow and hopefully have an ultrasound

during the visit. Everyone cross their fingers that it is getting

smaller (oh, and coincidently I always seem to have my fibroid

ultrasounds done around ovulation which is good since my hormones are

low then and I'm comparing apples to apples hormonally).

And a couple things I wanted to point out about the progesterone

fibroid growth research. They are presuming that growth during the

luteal phase is due to progesterone since progesterone is higher

during that phase. Progesterone might just be facilitating the

affects of estrogen, or it might actually be linked -- they just

haven't gotten down to a clear answer. Also, in some of these studies

they used GnRh (hormone blockers) prior to the tests which for me

indicates that rather than it making things clearer, it might have

made things more fuzzy since the body can take time to clear out

these meds from our systems. Of course we all know that there are

differences between a 19yo, a 26 yo, a 35yo and a 49yo woman

endocrinologically -- we all might have fibroids but it is likely for

different reasons.

--Ann

Progesterone and Fibroid Growth

I researched a lot about natural progesterone cream and the affects

of progesterone on the body and on fibroids before I started using

it. I'm of regular body weight and had bad PMS which was the big

reason I wanted to try using it. I also had a pooled progesterone

test in October which showed that I did have low progesterone in my

luteal phase. My naturopath said it was alright for me to try using

it and I've been pleased with the results so far -- even mood through

luteal phase, dried up cervial fluid appropriately, breasts less

dense (although still sore a little too much).

Natural progesterone does have its drawbacks however. Too much can

make you feel depressed (not something I have experienced),

forgetting to take it can make you have uterine contractions (kinda

distracting but not painful), and it can increase the affects of

estrogen on your system as progesterone helps activate estrogen

receptors in some women (at least that's Dr Lee's theory). I found

that I could just follow along with how I was feeling and increased

and decreased the dosage (a scant 1/4 tsp to 1/2 tsp) as needed to

deal with my PMS symptoms.

Also, some women's fibroids also will grow when they take

progesterone -- but not all. Fibroids grow for some women when they

take synthetic progestins as well. Also, some research shows that RU-

486(mifepristone, a progesterone blocker of sorts) may cause fibroids

to shrink so doctors speculate that progesterone is a bad hormone.

" In 1949, Segaloff et al. (15) reported increased cellularity and

mitotic activity in uterine myomas obtained from six patients treated

with 20 mg progesterone daily for 30-189 days. Over the years,

additional biochemical evidence has accumulated to suggest a central

role for progesterone in the growth of uterine myomas. Tiltman (16)

demonstrated significantly higher mitotic activity on the basis of

the number of mitoses per high-power field in myomas obtained from

women treated with medroxyprogesterone acetate when compared with an

untreated control group. Kawaguchi et al. (17) investigated the role

of menstrual cycle phase on the rate of myoma mitoses. Myoma

specimens from 181 patients revealed that the mitotic count was

significantly higher in the secretory phase (12.7/100 high-powered

fields) than in the proliferative phase (3.8/100 high-powered fields)

or during menses (8.3/100 high-powered fields.) The authors concluded

that the increased mitotic activity in the secretory phase suggests

that myoma growth is affected by progesterone. "

Read the full article for more info:

Advances in Uterine Leiomyoma Research: The Progesterone Hypothesis

http://ehpnet1.niehs.nih.gov/members/2000/suppl-5/791-793rein/rein-

full.html

I find this to be revealing of the nature of fibroids and the

problems with broad generalizations about fibroids being influenced

by certain hormones absolutely; there are no absolutes. Also, many of

these studies were very small, too small to be statistically

significant even (6 patients in 1949 harumph!)

Before we assume that progesterone is the enemy consider the fact

that there are 30 different kinds of estrogen they have identified,

and remember that some women have fibroids that grow when they are

pregnant and some don't. What is the primary estrogen during

pregnancy? Estrone. When else is estrone elevated? During the luteal

phase. Hey if you can use it to grow babies you also might be able to

use it to grow fibroids.

" Estrone concentrations are less than 0.1 ng/mL during the follicular

phase and may reach a maximum of 0.3 ng/mL during the luteal phase of

a normal menstrual cycle. Following conception, estrone

concentrations remain within the luteal phase range through weeks 6-

10 of gestation. Subsequently there is a gradual increase to a wide

range of 2-30 ng/ml at term "

http://www.endotext.org/female/female13/female13.htm

There is so much they don't yet know about how the human body works

and the affects of hormones in our bodies. Right now they know enough

to be dangerous, force a couple of babies via IVF, keep people with

diabetese and thyroid disease alive and that's about it.

Hope this is helpful. Email me if you want some links about the

affects of progesterone during the luteal phase and into early

pregnancy.

Ann