Progesterone Cream and Baldness

dpdr

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Progesterone Cream is different from 17a-estradiol

Read this:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/artic ... rone2.aspx

Well I had the great privilege of dining with Dr. Lee on Friday and lecturing with him on Saturday. I was expecting to learn some exciting new information and I was not disappointed. There are two major highlights to review. I am even more convinced now of the value of natural progesterone for women and even for men as I will discuss later.

The most exciting information though has to do with progesterone's ability to PREVENT and REVERSE many cancers. The newer studies show that estrogen, specifically estradiol, does not increase the risk for breast cancer but it actually CAUSES breast cancer AND prostate cancer. There is not any debate left about this issue. All major researchers have found this The information on the prostate is new.

Let me attempt to explain the relationship for prostate cancer in more detail. Men also make estrogen and estradiol, but in much lower amounts than women. The male hormone, testosterone, is antagonist to estradiol. Testosterone prevents estradiol from causing prostate cancer by destroying the prostate cancer cells it stimulates.

Testosterone does NOT cause prostate cancer. If this were true 19 and 20 year old males would be developing prostate cancer as these are the individuals with the highest levels. This is obviously not the case. Males also produce progesterone, although about half as much as females do. The progesterone prevents the body from converting testosterone to di-hydro testosterone.

It does this by inhibiting the enzyme 5-alpha reductase. Progesterone inhibits 5 alpha reductase far more effectively than Proscar and Saw Palmetto which are the more standard agents employed in traditonal and natural medicine.


As a male ages, his progesterone level decreases just like it does in women. In women this decease occurs about the age of 35 and men about ten years later. When progesterone levels decrease, the male's 5 alpha reductase converts the testosterone to di-hydro testosterone which is useless at removing the prostate cancer cells that estradiol stimulates. Estradiol also stimulates the enlargement of the prostate. This allows the prostate gland to swell and enlarge and in many cases transform into prostate cancer.

The prostate is embryologically similar to the female uterus. Prostate cancer is the NUMBER ONE cancer in men. Prostate enlargement is a major cause of problems in elderly men. It appears we now have a simple, safe inexpensive solution to prevent and treat this problem.

Dr. Lee's has a large number of anecdotal stories of complete reversals of metastatic prostatic cancers. The clinical research has just begun. Dr. Lee states that there are several studies that will be published in the peer reviewed literature very shortly confirming this observation in animal studies.

There is no need to wait for these studies as there is strong biochemical evidence to support this recommendation. The January 28 JAMA had an article To die or not to die? most cells in the body die through a more subtle, noninflammatory, energy-dependent form of cell death called apoptosis.

Recent research into the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis has revealed that apoptosis is a genetically programmed process that can become deranged when the components of the cellular apoptotic machinery are mutated or present in inappropriate quantities. Dysregulation of apoptosis is associated with the cause of a wide array of diseases: cancer, neurodegeneration, autoimmunity, heart disease, and other disorders.

All cells, with the exception of brain and muscle cells, multiply continuously. The genes which regulates this cell growth are p53 and bcl2 . If the gene bcl2 dominates it will push cells to cancer. If gene p53 dominates the opposite will occur and the cell growth is controlled and the cancer do not occur.

The article clearly shows that traditional chemotherapy using poisons to stop cell hyperplasia do not work as they kill normal cells easier than cancer cells. The new idea promoted by the review is to find agents that activate p53 and deactivate bc12 is the hope for curing cancer.

Well folks, guess what the research shows??? Estradiol turns on the cancer gene bc12 and progesterone turns on the anti-cancer gene p53!!! Breast cancer cells do not multiply when women are on progesterone. These hormones also worked for cancer of the ovary and uterus and small cell lung cancer which is normally a very difficult cancer to treat with a horribly dismal diagnosis.

This is MAJOR news and will provide a radical shift in my recommendations for hormonal replacement. I know believe that nearly all men should seriously consider natural progesterone replacement sometime in their 40s, or even earlier if they have a family history of prostate cancer. There is also a reasonable likelihood that this will decrease male balding. So, all the men who wish to retain what is left of their hair, I would start this immediately.

Dr. Lee has always recommended a low dose cream. Originally, I did not believe that the low dose cream was necessary and decided to reduce the patient cost by using a high dose 10% prescription cream. This made the cream very affordable but also significantly increased the risk of overdosing and causing complications.

Dr. Lee explained to me that when much higher doses are given the excess progesterone is metabolized in the liver and some of the metabolites may have an anesthetic dose on the brain. I believe that many of the patients I have prescribed the higher dose 10% cream for have experienced some of these symptoms.

The other consideration has to do with the distribution of the dose. The progesterone cream enters from the skin into the fat. The progesterone is released from the fat into the blood stream in direct proportion to the concentration of the cream. The danger of using a higher dose cream is that there will not be a smooth release of the hormone into the blood stream over the 12 hour period.

Since progesterone has a relatively short half life of five minutes once it is in the blood, this will significantly limit its effectiveness and one will only receive partial benefits from the progesterone.

His arguments are very compelling and I am changing my recommendation to the lower dose cream. The higher dose cream was $3 per month and shifting to the lower dose cream will actually increase triple the price to about $9 per month. However, I believe the benefits are significant enough to warrant the increase in cost.

There are many low dose non prescription natural progesterone creams on the market. A typical one would have about 900 mg per two ounces which is about 1.7%. Many are available in the health food store. However, one needs to be very careful that the cream indeed has natural progesterone and in the 1.7% concentration. We will be offering one of the best low dose creams on the market, Natragest, which we obtain from Biotics Labs.

The dose of natural progesterone for men is 10 to 12 mg per day. Men do NOT need time off like women and can take the progesterone without taking any days off. The normal dose for women of natural progesterone should be about 20 mg per day from day 12 to 26.

These doses are split and taken twice a day If one is using the Natragest cream the 6 mg male dose would be about 1/16 of a teaspoon twice a day. The dose for women would be about twice that 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon twice a day from day 12-26. It is VERY important to be a precise as possible when administering this dose.

If you are a woman and have the older higher dose cream they can still be used but I would decrease the dose to 1/32 of a teaspoon immediately.
 

Brains Expel Hair

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Reminds me about how when discussing hormones on this site we really need to stop referring to all the different estrogens as being the same thing. It's kinda like just referring to both testosterone and DHT as being the exact same compound.

For those of you who inevitably run out and buy this stuff this weekend here's a listing of potential side effects to watch out for (taken from wikipedia):

"Common adverse effects include; cramps, abdominal pain, skeletal pain, perineal pain, headache, arthralgia, constipation, dyspareunia, nocturia, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, breast enlargement, joint pain, flatulence, hot flushes, decreased libido, thirst, increased appetite, nervousness, drowsiness, excessive urination at night. Psychiatric effects including depression, mood swings, emotional instability, aggression, abnormal crying, insomnia, forgetfulness, sleep disorders."

"Less frequent adverse effects which may occur include; allergy, anemia, bloating, fatigue, tremor, urticaria, pain, conjunctivitis, dizziness, vomiting, myalgia, back pain, breast pain, genital itching, genital yeast infection, upper respiratory tract infection, cystitis, dysuria, asthenia, xerophthalmia, syncope, dysmenorrhea, premenstrual tension, gastritis, urinary tract infection, vaginal discharge, pharyngitis, sweating, hyperventilation, vaginal dryness, dyspnea, fever, edema, flu-like symptoms, dry mouth, rhinitis, leg pain, skin discoloration, skin disorders, seborrhea, sinusitis, acne."
 

Tyler_Durden

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I only skimmed the article, but yeah, I've got some Progesterone cream here that I have been planning on using. I've used it a couple of times, but haven't go into full swing because I've only just started minoxidil and wanted to see how that went.

I think Prague and a couple of other posters had very good success using it actually, especially in the temple area.
It's meant to have a range of benefits, such as balancing your hormones etc. One thing I definitely noticed though when I applied it to my temples was how sleepy it made me.

You have to make sure you get a certain type though because one type can have feminising effects.

There is a study that Bryan has posted a few times on how much it reduces the 5-ar before, I can't remember his reasoning, but he said it would slow balding, but it wouldn't be that effective. I might have to dig up his posts on the topic.

Some info from hairloss-research:

"In addition to counterbalancing the negative aspects of estrogen, progesterone also inhibits 5-alpha-reductase, the enzyme that converts testosterone to dihydrotestosterone."

"The fact that transdermal Progesterone replacement addresses both Estrogen Dominance and DHT likely makes it a useful adjunct for anyone with male pattern baldness, especially middle aged males"

"In aging men, the increasing estrogen/testosterone ratio and the insignificant levels of progesterone are now thought to be significant factors promotiong hair loss and prostate enlargement. Progesterone replacement by men over 35 could help prevent these conditions which are endemic to the aged male."

"Transdermal Progesterone Replacement has NO feminizing effects in men whatsoever, and would be better described as de-feminizing"

I might get around to using it seriously sometime soon, but my hair isn't too bad at the moment that I haven't really bothered/needed to use it.
 

Bryan

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Tyler_Durden said:
Some info from hairloss-research:

"In aging men, the increasing estrogen/testosterone ratio and the insignificant levels of progesterone are now thought to be significant factors promotiong hair loss and prostate enlargement..."

The increasing estrogen/testosterone ratio _may_ be involved with prostate enlargement in some way (I think the jury is still out on that), but it certainly has nothing to do with promoting hair loss. They're lying when they say that it's "now thought to be...", as if that's something now believed by the entire medical establishment. But it's not!! It's just the people at hairloss-research themselves who are promoting that ridiculous idea. They should at least have the honesty to admit that!
 

otis

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I used to get scalp injections from a dermatoligest every month of progesterone and a liqiud to use every nite .
It doesnt work they had tried this thirty years ago with no results.
 

dpdr

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otis said:
I used to get scalp injections from a dermatoligest every month of progesterone and a liqiud to use every nite .
It doesnt work they had tried this thirty years ago with no results.

Had any side effects ?
 

billythekid

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i did a blood hormone test when i was taking finasteride.

during that time i had many of the symptoms above: breast enlargement, decreased libido, nervousness, emotional instability, abnormal crying.

from memory, the only hormone that was way above the normal range, was progesterone.

so it's possible that finasteride increases progesterone levels in the body.
 

Brains Expel Hair

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otis said:
I used to get scalp injections from a dermatoligest every month of progesterone and a liqiud to use every nite .
It doesnt work they had tried this thirty years ago with no results.

A monthly injection wouldn't work according to the info out there. Injections would have to be given daily. Do you recall if the liquid was synthetic or natural progesterone?
 

dpdr

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billythekid said:
i did a blood hormone test when i was taking finasteride.

during that time i had many of the symptoms above: breast enlargement, decreased libido, nervousness, emotional instability, abnormal crying.

from memory, the only hormone that was way above the normal range, was progesterone.

so it's possible that finasteride increases progesterone levels in the body.

I also had these side effects when I took finasteride and my hormone levels was deregulated
 

Tyler_Durden

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JWM said:
One thing I definitely noticed though when I applied it to my temples was how sleepy it made me.

Same EXACT thing happened to me.

Did you use it for an extended period JWM?
 

Defiance

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Im pretty interested in this, one guy over at HLH claimed he dropped a whole Norwood scale in the temple region, went from Norwood 3 to 2.
He also said he had used these treatments below with little success compared to progesterone.

- flutamide
- copper peptides, the strongest ones you could buy from dr proctor
- minoxidil + retinA
- hydrocortisone
- spectral dnc,
- apple polys and procyanidins
- and loads of other things I tried before.

Not sure if i can post the link because its like a rival forum, but if you type in 'Debris Progesterone Temple' in google you'll find some stuff hes posted on afew sites about it.

Anyone else had success/ know anything about this?
 

JWM

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And I'm fairly sure Debris ended up dropping Progesterone because he didn't think it worked well anymore.

Tyler,

No, I didn't use it for an extended period. After about a week I stopped because it felt like I was popping 5 Ambien whenever I rubbed it on my scalp!
 

dpdr

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Defiance said:
Im pretty interested in this, one guy over at HLH claimed he dropped a whole Norwood scale in the temple region, went from Norwood 3 to 2.
He also said he had used these treatments below with little success compared to progesterone.

- flutamide
- copper peptides, the strongest ones you could buy from dr proctor
- minoxidil + retinA
- hydrocortisone
- spectral dnc,
- apple polys and procyanidins
- and loads of other things I tried before.

Not sure if i can post the link because its like a rival forum, but if you type in 'Debris Progesterone Temple' in google you'll find some stuff hes posted on afew sites about it.

Anyone else had success/ know anything about this?

http://www.hairsite.com/hair-loss/perso ... j-448.html
 

baldinglikeamofo

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monty1978 said:
Cheers for the link but that was just a link to some speculation on a hair loss forum. Either way I don't particularly care about systemic dht promotion. I shut it down for 7 yeras with dutasteride, I wouldnt mind encouraging it a little.


so are you maintaining now? why did you go off dutas?
 
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