Diet to boost progesterone?

[RubyrooUK]

I seem to have a problem making progesterone. All was normal till 4 years ago when periods stopped out of the blue. To cut a long story short, a combo of progesterone supplements and Clomid conceived DS.

Anyway, he is now 13mo and found out today through blood tests that my progesterone is rock bottom again. Not just "breastfeeding so not ovulating" low but "less progesterone than a man" low.

Anyway, I'm feeling low. We are ttc again and I had convinced myself that everything would be fine now I've got through one pregnancy. And it's not.

So.....rather than feeling hopeless and so on, I'm going to try and make some positive life changes to help. Does anyone know a good diet you can follow to help progesterone? Any good recipes? I'm really keen to try some diet changes before I see the doctors again, but I don't want to take any alternative medicines right now.

Any help much appreciated. Thanks.

I thought this was interesting as am wondering if I have low progesterone, so had a bit of a google..

www.ehow.com/facts_5008973_foods-naturally-increase-progesterone.html

www.ehow.com/way_5705389_diet-progesterone-deficiency.html

Seemed to me it's pretty similar advice to all the usual fertility diet advice. Er, apart from the wild yam...anyone got a good recipe for wild yam?!

Hmmm...yes, I read the same things as you. Eat well; don't eat crap. Hasn't done me much good yet though.

Maybe I'm going wrong ignoring the nutritious wild yam. But I'm also a bit short on the old yam recipes....

I was just reading something about supplements you can take and it mentioned wild yam supplements to boost progesterone. No idea where you'd get them, but thought it might easier than wild yam casserole...

Progesterone however, is only part of the story.

You need to determine exactly why it is so low to start with.

If your progesterone levels are very low it may well be that your LH and FSH levels are out of sync as well. LH and FSH are two very important hormones as they kickstart the ovulation process and if these two levels are awry then ovulation is affected and periods become irregular or cease.

You should be checked via blood tests to see whether there are problems with the thyroid gland or (more likely) a condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) or polycystic ovaries (PCO).

If either were diagnosed at the time (and I would wonder more about PCOS given that clomid was prescribed) then this does recur.

Don't bother with diets to try and increase progesterone levels because its unlikely to work; instead seek proper concrete answers and do not allow yourself to be fobbed off. I would start asking the GP to refer you to a gynae if GP remains clueless.

Thanks Atilla.

I've been tested and scanned for PCOS on multiple occasions but nothing shows up in either internal scans or blood tests. My FSH and LH are all totally normal. My progesterone just comes back rock bottom. (I took suppositories when pregnant for first 3 months with DS.)

Recent tests show my oestrodial is also low as I'm not ovulating. They said it's so low they won't even bother testing progesterone as I clearly can't conceive at all at the moment.

I did see both NHS and private consultants before having my son and in the end, Clomid and acupuncture combined did the trick on one occasion (which was enough luckily to get pregnant). I have a folder full of endless blood test results.

But the theories/diagnoses have been endless:

Unformed uterus? Yes! No, we got it wrong.
PCOS? Yes! No, we got it wrong.
Premature menopause? Yes! No, we got it wrong.
Tumour on the pituitary gland? Yes! Oh no, it's not that one either.

So they still have no clue why this happens. Until I was 29, I had incredibly regular heavy periods - then they just stopped out of the blue and I stopped ovulating entirely.

I've no clue why. I was a bit stressed but nothing more than usual levels. I'm slim but not overly thin. I eat well (I think). There just doesn't seem a clear reason, which was why I'm trying to think about things like diet in case it helps at all.

Any other thoughts gladly welcomed!!!

My story is not quite the same but is diet/hormone related & thought it might be useful.

My periods were bang on 28 days until I was 29 too. They then began getting shorter & shorter until I had a 21 day cycle with a 2 day period. I went to the GP who did some bloods and found a high FSH, normal LH and low sex hormone binding globulin.

They initially thought I had PCOS but scans indicated otherwise & I didn?t have any other symptoms. Instead they suggested i was probably perimenopausal at 32 and would have difficulty conceiving.

I wasn?t trying or thinking of it so left it at that. Periods still the same. Roll on three years & I started tracking my ovulation as we were planning on trying. I discovered I was ovulating on day 16-17 & then getting my period a few days later.

During this time I was diagnosed with coeliac disease & changed to a completely gluten free diet (no mean feat). Within 3-4 months my periods had gone back to 28 days, ovulating round day 13, hormones back to normal. Conceived no probs.

From what I?ve read low progesterone & hormone imbalances can be a problem in coeliac disease and infertility/miscarriage/early menopause certainly is. I feel pretty luck I got diagnosed when I did tbh. Could be worth thinking about.

Thanks rodeo. It's really interesting to hear about your experiences.

I'll definitely bear your story in mind. I had an intolerances test done ages ago (it was cheap through work) and it didn't pick up anything. The weird thing is that my FSH and LH are totally normal, my egg count is fine - I'm not menopausal or near it as far as I can tell - I just don't ovulate.

This is all so confusing...