Progesterone cream - experiences?

[regentrude]

Tell me about the good, bad, and ugly. Thanks.

[Mbelle]

I used to use a bio-identical cream.  It was awesome.  I now use a compounded pill.  I"m not sure why we changed, but the pill works great too. 

I use 20 days on 10 days off.  It helps me sleep better, feel positive and feel less irritable.   

When I first used it that is the time they changed to using metric at the pharmacy (but failed to say anything about it) and I totally messed up the dosage and ended up using about 10x the correct amount.  I did feel like a million bucks for a few days till I figured it out! LOL 

Edited July 2, 2020 by Mbelle

[Caraway]

I use a bio identical form in a pill.  I'm currently on Reddit complaining about it. I take it cyclically, and the first time was great.  Now each time seems progressively worse.  My mood drops, I'm argumentative, short tempered and angry.  I bloat and cramp immediately, then all of my joints ache, and I develop a headache.  I sweat aggressively, and am starving at all times.  Like I cannot express how hungry I am.  I would binge on sardines - that's how hungry I am, constantly.  My weight is going up, as is my body dysmorphia.  Can you tell I'm on it right now, because I cannot think of  a single positive thing to say about it???  It is like the worst PMS I've experienced, but self inflicted for two weeks at a time.

[aaplank]

I tried a bio-identical cream and after a few days, I developed very severe uterine cramping.  I had to stop using it.

[Soror]

I take it cyclically to even out my hormones as my estrogen is high. The only bad I've had is that I took too much one time and it delayed my period. 

It improves my mood and sleep (my sleep especially). I have done OTC cream and prescribed compounded cream.

I take it off and on, if I notice that I'm feeling groggy after taking it I back off My hormones are always fluxing so I don't always need it. It can be great if you need it, not if you don't, having too high of not good either.

[Sunshine State Sue]

I tried it for several months years ago when I was going through peri-menopause. A friend of mine swore by it.  I didn't particularly like the smell.  I am not really sure that it did anything for me.   I read a menopause book by Susun Weed.  She said something like:  progesterone comes from the latin pro meaning for and gestation meaning pregnancy.  At this age, you are not going to be getting pregnant and therefore don't need to support pregnancy.  Made sense to me.

I found 2 things that helped during peri-menopause.  One was an herbal mix from a local store called Change of Life.  The other was acupuncture.  I went to 6 session but felt better after the 2nd session.  It was really remarkable to me.  I went to another 6 sessions several years later.