PCOS-MEDICATION Messages for March, 2003: Re: Pregnancy and progesterone

Re: Pregnancy and progesterone

From: Cassandra (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Sun, 9 Mar 2003 14:19:53 -0600 (CST)

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I feel the need to re-post this here (originally posted to the general PCOS forum,) since these products keep coming up in conversation. Can someone on this forum answer my questions? The link in the message below does not seem to work, but it does sound like an Arbonne product is involved. The other link contains information about a number of different supplements, from what seems like many different manufacturers, but my query remains the same. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've been "lurking" on this list for a while now, although I only started posting recently. I have noticed a lot of posts (from at least two different people) touting the wonders of progesterone cream and "natural" progesterone. What makes me wonder is the "email me off list" part of the message, where the email address is within a domain like myarbonne.com or some other multi-level-marketing group/commercial venture.

While I'm glad there is not any overt advertising on this list, these posts come *pretty darn close* to advertising, IMHO. I think if someone posts a personal testimonial, and then includes references to websites, email addresses, etc. where someone can purchase a product mentioned in that testimonial, then that person should have to state up front that he/she makes a profit from the sale of that product. Just seems like the ethical thing to do, and I'm confused as to why these posts are allowed without such disclaimers.

I also object to the implication that one cannot obtain progesterone by prescription, and that only a "fake" progestin will be given by medical professionals. True, there are many synthetic progestin molecules out there, and these may or may not be the best for certain medical problems.

But there are also legitimate progesterone supplements available by prescription (Prometrium, Gesterol, Crinone, etc.) that contain progesterone that may be *derived* from plant sources, but is *biochemically identical* to "natural" human progesterone. That is to say, if you tested them against progesterone taken from a human being, the molecules would be exactly the same.

To say the "natural" progesterone in OTC supplements and creams is somehow better or different from prescribed progesterone (and I'm referring to the actual progesterone molecule, not any of the various progestins) is as silly as saying that oxygen extracted from the atmosphere is somehow different from oxygen hydrolyzed from water! If I were suffering from severe asthma or heart failure, in need of oxygen from a tank, I would not care what the source was so long as the final product was indeed oxygen, i.e. O2. My body would have no clue what the original source of the O2 was.

And for that matter, are the progesterone creams sold over the counter extracted from ground-up human ovaries, or extracted from the blood or urine of human women? That would be the only way they could be truly "natural," and I highly doubt that anyone is using that sort of source in these creams.

For example, if they are indeed extracting this "natural" progesterone from the urine of human women, it would be mighty expensive stuff, since most progesterone is converted to other things in the body, or bound to proteins in the blood, and very little of it shows up unchanged in the urine.

Can one of the reps who sells these progesterone creams fill me in on what the exact source of their "natural" progesterone is? I'm willing to bet it is originally plant-derived (soy, yam, etc.) or animal-derived, and then chemically modified to be identical to human progesterone. (Which would be fine by me, since even that "artificial" chemical alteration would still give me the bio-identical end product, like the oxygen example I used above.) Many of these OTC creams claim to have USP progesterone, meaning it meets the quality standards of the U.S. Pharmacopeia. Is the source of this USP progesterone is any different from the USP progesterone used in, for example, Prometrium? How are these OTC products any safer or more effective than the (USP, bio-identical) ones made by the pharmaceutical companies?

--
Cassandra

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At Sun, 9 Mar 2003, BJ wrote:
>
>That is not the only cause of premature birth and miscarriage but it
>sure wouldn't hurt to use it.  But it has to be real progesterone, not a
>synthetic progestin.  Here is a website with some interesting info for
>you http://www.arbonn-central.com/detail2.asp?product_ID=FYI-14.  And,
>yes, correct again.  If a woman is not ovulating, for whatever reason,
>she is not producing progesterone.  See
>http://www.natural-progesterone-advisory-network.com.  Take care!
>BJ

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