Progesterone question - advice needed, please :-(

[MillieJoan]

Hi Everyone,

I'm back here in First Tri after a loss at 10 weeks back in April. I just got my BFP at 10 DPO yesterday, and I'm totally in shock (it took us 9 months to conceive the last one, and only 2 for this one!).

I asked my doctor for a progesterone test after the miscarriage, and she determined that I do have low progesterone, and gave me a prescription for 25 mg suppositories 2x/day. This seemed like a low dosage to me, but I filled it just so I'd have some in case I did get pregnant. Then I went looking for a 2nd opinion. The new OB I found gave me a prescription for 100 mg once/day. Again, this seemed low to me since I was 99% sure my loss in April stemmed from my low progesterone (I had spotting at 6 weeks that was unexplained, and my luteal phase has been short ever since my daughter's birth more than 2 years ago). Out of fear, (I know this was probably completely stupid, but I panicked), I started using the 50 mg my 1st doctor recommended in the morning yesterday and the 100 mg in the evening, and my husband kind of fed my fear and said that still was not the 200 mg our friend was prescribed when she had low progesterone, and said I might as well use the Emerita Progest cream I had left over from last time, too.

Well, now I'm even more panicked that I'm using too much!!! I know I can't really stop now for fear of my levels dropping suddenly. Can I at least wean off the cream, do you think?? Am I using too much? Altogether it's ~200 mg/day. I feel so stupid, but I never expected to get pregnant again so quickly so I thought I'd have time to find an OB I was comfortable with, and I just wanted so badly not to lose this baby if at all possible that I started using everything I had.

Any insight would be hugely appreciated.

 

[eme]

From my understanding it's not possible (really) to take too much. I had low progesterone with my last pregnancy and am on it again and have done MUCH reading/research about it as well as have spoken to my OB about it.

There are also ways you can boost your progesterone naturally: ie spinach, almonds, etc

 

[DolceBella]

I'm not a doc or anything, but I don't think that 200mg would be an overdose or anything. I have 200mg tablets for myself. My only concern is that you're taking a dose that your doc isn't aware of. I would voice your concerns to your doc and ask about changing the dosage. For me, I started out taking 200mg daily, but once I got further along and the placenta started producing progesterone on its own, I felt like there was too much in my system. Instead of changing the pills, the midwife had me take 200mg every other day.

 

[messica]

A lot of women here will tell you you can never have too much, which is true, but I'm concerned more that it seems you're having a tough time trusting your doctor. Is there anyway you can go to them (or your second opinion doc) and say "hey, this seems like too low of a dose and it's got me concerned. Talk to me about why you chose that dose and why please? I need the reassurance."

They should be able to offer you either an explanation of why they felt those doses were enough, or additional bloodwork in the future so you can see that your levels are indeed high enough on those doses.

My fear would be that if you just continue over medicating yourself it could
a.) fool the doctors into thinking their minor dose is enough which would complicate things in the future (are you going to tell them what you did or continue to juggle two docs to get the prescriptions you feel you need next time?)
b.) if the reason you originally miscarried isn't directly related to progesterone, those higher levels could prevent you from having a natural miscarriage this time until you stop them. Continuing on without that transparency with your doc could give *you* the false impression everything is fine even if it's not if that makes sense. Most women will tell you it's a lot easier to find out they've lost immediately, as opposed to carrying on and finding out several weeks or even months later at an ultrasound that baby stopped developing long ago and the progesterone masked that that ever happened.

Of course I pray all goes well, and that you find some peace with this somehow, but being honest with your doc and trusting that they have your best interests at heart is so so important. I understand why it's so hard to surrender that control but they do know best and it's ok to trust them - and ask them as many questions as you need to until you do!

(On top of that, tell hubs to chill, I can see how that would just make things much much worse! Not every woman needs to be or should be on high dose progesterone. Tell him you love him for his concern, but he needs to find a way to trust your doctors too or the entire pregnancy is going to be fraught with unnecessary worries)

 

[confuzion]

Yeah I don't think that's nearly 'too much' if there is such a thing. I don't even have low progesterone (24.5 at 15 DPO which I was told was adequate) but because of my losses I am on it anyway. I take 100 mg 2x a day so 200 mg and the midwife said she recommends taking it anyway despite my result being ok and that it couldn't hurt. Don't worry!

 

[eme]

**Messica brought up some good points, being able to trust your OB and be honest is important.

 

[confuzion]

Yeah I do agree with the above post by messica ^^

Voice your concerns about the low dosage. Find out why. If you're not happy with their answer, get a second opinion. Being comfortable and trusting in your health care provider is the most important thing in pregnancy I think.

 

[CastawayBride]

Interesting enough my progesterone was fine till 8 weeks thrn it went to 7.8!!! I was put on 200 in the AM and 200 in the PM. I think you may want to find a doctor you feel comfortable with...and never ever feel dumb or stupid for your concern for your child....take care!

 

[MillieJoan]

Thank you all so much for your replies. I actually called another OB's office today to get another opinion, and I'll be straight w/ him about what's going on. The OB I got the 100 mg dosage from said some things about the progesterone that I know from research aren't true, which makes me wary of him. And my original doctor is just a family doctor, not an OB, so she even admitted she doesn't know much about progesterone and pregnancy.

 

[dairymomma]

It's not too high. I took 2-100mg capsules every day with my DS and DD, and I was on 200mg twice a day (so 400mg total) for this pregnancy.

 

[CastawayBride]

With progesterone it also matters how you are taking. I took it orally which is not the preferred method, thus the reason to up it to 200 AM/PM...taking vaginally it appears to work more effectively! It was just easier to take orally for me....

 

[MillieJoan]

I actually heard back from the new OB this evening - he called personally, which surprised me (in a good way! ). He said 200 mg is the same amount he usually recommends, and he sent in a prescription for me right away for Prometrium, just saying it would be better to have it all be the same kind of progesterone than all these different ones I'm using now

I go in tomorrow for an HCG blood draw... Nervous!!

 

[CastawayBride]

I actually heard back from the new OB this evening - he called personally, which surprised me (in a good way! ). He said 200 mg is the same amount he usually recommends, and he sent in a prescription for me right away for Prometrium, just saying it would be better to have it all be the same kind of progesterone than all these different ones I'm using now

I go in tomorrow for an HCG blood draw... Nervous!!

ask them to do a progesterone check while you are at it. :thumb up:

Good luck with everything!

 

[confuzion]

Glad this new OB is taking a personal interest. I hope you are reassured from your blood test. I know mine made me feel better!

 

[eme]

Thats great to hear, glad he took an active approach!