I got a question in a recent Q&A call about wild yam (Dioscorea villosa) cream and progesterone. A client felt the cream was helping raise their progesterone, but the practitioner had questions about whether that was realistically happening. So what's the deal? I share a few thoughts on why a client might be noticing a difference and things to be on the lookout for as an herbalist or nutritionist if your client is using wild yam cream.
Key Takeaways-
Wild yam (Dioscorea villosa) contains diosgenin, which can be converted to progesterone in a laboratory setting, but the human body does not have the enzymes to make that conversion.
-
If a wild yam cream seems to be helping with progesterone-related symptoms, the cream may actually contain progesterone (check the active ingredient label - some do).
-
Lower-quality or less transparent products can sometimes contain undisclosed ingredients or contaminants, including hormones, so it's worth investigating the brand and looking for third-party testing.
-
The placebo effect is a thing and may be at play here.
-
Wild yam does contain phytoestrogens, and while topical absorption levels are unclear, this is a more physiologically plausible mechanism than progesterone conversion.
-
Progesterone blood levels are pulsatile (they fluctuate roughly every 45-60 minutes), so a single lab draw in the luteal phase should not be interpreted as evidence of "low progesterone" without proper clinical context.
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Camille Freeman, DCN, RH, is the founder of Bloom and Grow, offering continuing education and community resources for herbalists and nutritionists in clinical practice. She has been in practice since 2003 with a focus on fertility, pregnancy, and menstrual health.
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Camille's Helpful Links for Practitioners
WEBVTT
00:00:00.603 --> 00:00:04.107
Hi there. Welcome to In the Clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman,
00:00:04.107 --> 00:00:07.551
and this podcast is for herbalists and nutritionists who are in clinical practice
00:00:07.807 --> 00:00:12.265
with the intention of making things just a little bit easier as you navigate the ups and downs.
00:00:12.916 --> 00:00:16.741
Today, I have a question that we went over in a recent Q&A call.
00:00:17.240 --> 00:00:21.194
I host a Q&A call every single month for people in a variety of my programs,
00:00:21.553 --> 00:00:24.607
and they're really fun because people bring all sorts of questions,
00:00:24.607 --> 00:00:31.515
anything from business-related questions to specific cases that they're working on two,
00:00:32.158 --> 00:00:36.657
more general questions about just the flow of how I do things and that sort of thing.
00:00:37.052 --> 00:00:40.457
So we had a question I thought was interesting. It's sort of a blast from the
00:00:40.457 --> 00:00:42.480
past, but it clearly still comes up for people.
00:00:42.787 --> 00:00:46.340
So I wanted to just bring my answer here in case it's on other people's minds as well.
00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:49.039
And the question was related to wild yam cream.
00:00:49.544 --> 00:00:56.104
This person had a client who was using wild yam cream and felt that it was really helping.
00:00:56.383 --> 00:00:59.557
And the intention with the wild yam cream was to raise the progesterone.
00:01:00.213 --> 00:01:04.497
So this client felt that it had really made a difference, and the practitioner
00:01:04.497 --> 00:01:08.047
was like, it's my understanding that that's not really a thing,
00:01:08.047 --> 00:01:10.964
so what do we make of this? So here's the deal.
00:01:11.678 --> 00:01:17.427
Wild yam, the plant, Dyscarea villosa, does have a constituent,
00:01:17.427 --> 00:01:23.875
Dysgenin, that in a laboratory setting can be converted into progesterone.
00:01:24.697 --> 00:01:29.196
Okay, so that is true. And in some cases, that happens in the lab.
00:01:29.591 --> 00:01:35.396
The body, the human body, does not have enzymes or processes that do that.
00:01:36.139 --> 00:01:40.765
So one thing we know is not happening is that when you take wild yam root and
00:01:40.765 --> 00:01:44.315
you make an oil out of it, or you make a, you know, you do something with it,
00:01:44.315 --> 00:01:47.807
whatever you're going to do to eventually wind up putting it into a cream,
00:01:48.167 --> 00:01:49.438
if that's all that's happened,
00:01:50.102 --> 00:01:53.788
you are not making progesterone from that. Your body is not making progesterone from that.
00:01:54.577 --> 00:01:57.595
That doesn't mean that the cream is not helpful, but,
00:01:58.216 --> 00:02:02.645
if we're using it with the intention or the thought telling clients that this
00:02:02.645 --> 00:02:08.205
is going to support your progesterone directly, that is truly just not a feasible
00:02:08.205 --> 00:02:10.807
thing that's going to be going on in the human body.
00:02:11.499 --> 00:02:15.925
However, we don't want to negate people's experiences. So what do we think is
00:02:15.925 --> 00:02:20.605
going on? If somebody is using a wild yam cream and they felt that they had
00:02:20.605 --> 00:02:25.136
low progesterone for whatever reason and it seems to be really helping them, what's the deal?
00:02:25.717 --> 00:02:31.685
Well, okay, so there's a couple things to know about. One, it's not totally
00:02:31.685 --> 00:02:37.758
out of question that the cream actually does have a hormone in it.
00:02:38.246 --> 00:02:40.675
There are creams on the market where if you look at the label,
00:02:40.675 --> 00:02:45.926
it will say, you know, it's wild cream on the box, on the packaging, all of that.
00:02:46.367 --> 00:02:50.088
But then when you look at it, the active ingredients, it includes progesterone.
00:02:50.651 --> 00:02:54.375
Okay, so in that case, it is a wild yam cream, but it has progesterone,
00:02:54.375 --> 00:02:56.890
and that may explain some of the effects that it's having.
00:02:57.547 --> 00:02:59.869
In some cases, there are un-
00:03:01.037 --> 00:03:04.450
You know, undisclosed constituents in a cream.
00:03:04.844 --> 00:03:07.645
So I would say, you know, we hate to think of this happening,
00:03:07.645 --> 00:03:11.525
but especially if we're buying lower quality product, we're not totally sure
00:03:11.525 --> 00:03:15.315
about the company, the origin, all that, it is possible that there is something
00:03:15.315 --> 00:03:18.585
in that cream that is really helping people that's not displayed on the bottle.
00:03:19.445 --> 00:03:24.046
We do find that this happens where herbal products, both topical and internal,
00:03:24.528 --> 00:03:29.708
occasionally are contaminated with hormones and other types of substances that
00:03:29.912 --> 00:03:33.662
are way outside of what people think they're getting when they purchase these things.
00:03:33.917 --> 00:03:36.605
So that is one possibility. And if a client came to me and was like,
00:03:36.605 --> 00:03:39.815
oh, I've been using this wild yam cream, and it's changed my life,
00:03:39.815 --> 00:03:42.695
it's revolutionary, I would want to ask more about what they're experiencing.
00:03:42.695 --> 00:03:46.543
And I would definitely want to see the packaging, what exactly are they using,
00:03:46.839 --> 00:03:50.585
and have a look. Because if it seems like it's something that maybe isn't the
00:03:50.585 --> 00:03:54.005
highest quality, or what have you, I'm going to look that up.
00:03:54.405 --> 00:03:59.040
I'm Has Consumer Labs done any testing? Does this company have any kind of,
00:03:59.435 --> 00:04:02.035
you know, USP certification, anything along those lines?
00:04:02.436 --> 00:04:04.688
Or do we feel pretty confident that it is what it says it is?
00:04:05.389 --> 00:04:08.445
Okay, so those are things we want to look at. There could be something else
00:04:08.445 --> 00:04:09.331
in the cream that's helping.
00:04:10.007 --> 00:04:12.965
Sometimes these creams have other types of ingredients, other herbs,
00:04:12.965 --> 00:04:16.205
other things. I'm not saying that they're directly influencing progesterone,
00:04:16.205 --> 00:04:17.530
but they may be doing something in the body.
00:04:18.128 --> 00:04:20.195
Of course, there is always the placebo effect.
00:04:20.961 --> 00:04:25.413
Placebo effect is very strong and sometimes just the act of doing something
00:04:25.743 --> 00:04:28.695
where you have taken a positive action you have purchased something you are
00:04:28.695 --> 00:04:30.440
taking the time daily to apply it
00:04:30.788 --> 00:04:34.265
you're considering your symptoms you're noticing what's happening sometimes
00:04:34.265 --> 00:04:36.445
all of those things together make for,
00:04:36.993 --> 00:04:40.875
an improvement and i think that's great you know i think that sometimes the
00:04:40.875 --> 00:04:45.951
placebo effect is a helpful thing and we certainly don't want to yuck anybody's yum if they are,
00:04:46.512 --> 00:04:50.274
riding the wave of the placebo effect and that's what's going on for them, then amazing.
00:04:51.209 --> 00:04:55.355
I also just, this is a side note, but I do like to point out that progesterone,
00:04:55.802 --> 00:05:01.312
in general, there are times in a person's lifespan where they may want to use
00:05:01.312 --> 00:05:04.585
progesterone cream, but I do think that especially,
00:05:05.231 --> 00:05:07.822
there are certain people who overdo it with the progesterone,
00:05:07.822 --> 00:05:11.612
and that's something that I would prefer that they have some guidance on from
00:05:11.612 --> 00:05:15.952
a medical professional as opposed to, I'm just going to go buy a progesterone
00:05:15.952 --> 00:05:19.522
cream over the counter somewhere and start fiddling around with my hormones.
00:05:19.522 --> 00:05:23.332
We need to have some sort of verification that, is there a reason to add the
00:05:23.332 --> 00:05:25.702
progesterone? Are we doing this in the context of fertility,
00:05:25.702 --> 00:05:27.011
in the context of perimenopause?
00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:31.441
Why are we trying to add progesterone, and is this the best way to do it?
00:05:32.225 --> 00:05:37.157
Okay. One thing people sometimes get wrapped up in, which kind of hurts my heart
00:05:37.157 --> 00:05:40.317
when this happens, is looking at progesterone.
00:05:40.317 --> 00:05:43.377
I see this a lot in my fertility clients, but people will look at progesterone
00:05:43.377 --> 00:05:47.363
levels after they ovulate and they'll be like, oh my gosh, I,
00:05:47.653 --> 00:05:51.409
you know, it's in the normal range, but it's way low within the normal range.
00:05:51.746 --> 00:05:55.047
So I probably need to take some progesterone I need to take some herbs that
00:05:55.047 --> 00:05:58.937
boost my progesterone or you know use this progesterone cream or la-di-da-di-da
00:05:58.937 --> 00:06:03.484
whatever else and what I think people don't realize about these progesterone tests,
00:06:04.076 --> 00:06:08.057
when you go in you know usually they want to they want you to go in about a
00:06:08.057 --> 00:06:11.777
week after you think you've ovulated and again in the fertility context and
00:06:11.777 --> 00:06:14.530
look to see how's your estrogen how's your progesterone etc,
00:06:15.076 --> 00:06:20.440
and really all the progesterone is telling us in that context is that the person ovulated.
00:06:21.107 --> 00:06:25.547
It is not telling us, oh, you have amazing progesterone, because here's the
00:06:25.547 --> 00:06:26.493
deal with progesterone.
00:06:26.824 --> 00:06:33.107
Progesterone levels are pulsatile, meaning they go up and down pretty quickly,
00:06:33.107 --> 00:06:35.233
about every 45 minutes to an hour.
00:06:35.918 --> 00:06:40.683
So just depending on when you happen to go in and have the test done,
00:06:41.264 --> 00:06:44.490
you might be on the low side, But then 45 minutes later, you might be on the high side.
00:06:44.984 --> 00:06:50.707
So we really don't want to read too much into a single blood-drawn progesterone
00:06:50.707 --> 00:06:54.647
reading in the second part of somebody's menstrual cycle to think that,
00:06:54.647 --> 00:06:57.886
oh, they have low progesterone. And I see that happening all the time.
00:06:58.205 --> 00:07:01.880
People just are not understanding this. They are getting bad information from,
00:07:02.333 --> 00:07:05.467
providers, from friends, from, you know, whatever. They're looking at the test
00:07:05.467 --> 00:07:07.215
themselves and thinking, oh, it's low.
00:07:07.894 --> 00:07:10.901
You know, what should I do? I'm just going to go try to boost my progesterone.
00:07:11.864 --> 00:07:14.943
Again, there are times when we may want to think about progesterone,
00:07:14.943 --> 00:07:19.193
but talk to your medical provider, make sure that it makes sense,
00:07:19.193 --> 00:07:22.057
and make sure you're not basing it on just a single lab reading.
00:07:22.446 --> 00:07:27.955
Okay, so that's my little thing about progesterone-containing wild-yam creams.
00:07:28.193 --> 00:07:31.386
It's just wild-yam isn't going to be turned into progesterone in the body.
00:07:31.810 --> 00:07:34.294
Not to say that the wild-yam cream isn't doing anything.
00:07:34.916 --> 00:07:40.443
It does have some phytoestrogens in it. Now, are those phytoestrogens absorbed
00:07:40.443 --> 00:07:43.883
topically in amounts that are big enough to make a difference in the whole body?
00:07:44.249 --> 00:07:47.723
I don't know. It's certainly not a major part of my clinical practice,
00:07:47.723 --> 00:07:49.293
but people practice differently than I am.
00:07:49.682 --> 00:07:54.323
But that would be a more feasible mechanism than somehow this diastrogen and
00:07:54.323 --> 00:07:57.472
the wild yam raising progesterone in the human body, which it doesn't.
00:07:57.792 --> 00:07:59.522
There's just no reason to think that it does that.
00:08:00.163 --> 00:08:05.059
Okay, so again, check the other ingredients. Possibly it's a placebo effect.
00:08:05.569 --> 00:08:11.688
I would certainly want to rule out any kind of contamination issues or undisclosed ingredients.
00:08:11.943 --> 00:08:16.523
But otherwise, I think there's better ways that we can support overall health
00:08:16.523 --> 00:08:18.261
throughout a menstrual cycle.
00:08:18.784 --> 00:08:22.334
And that's my little summary of that.
00:08:22.758 --> 00:08:26.183
Okay, I hope you find this helpful. If you have a question that you would like
00:08:26.183 --> 00:08:27.599
me to answer here, I would love to hear it.
00:08:27.849 --> 00:08:31.361
You can go to intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com and send it my way.
00:08:31.860 --> 00:08:36.562
Otherwise, please sign up for my practitioner notes newsletter if you are not already there.
00:08:37.077 --> 00:08:41.314
I send that out every Thursday. It's a different topic than what we talk about here on the podcast.
00:08:41.617 --> 00:08:45.883
So if you want to hear all of my content, get a different perspective,
00:08:45.883 --> 00:08:49.923
a little bit of a different, a little bit different, some different notes coming
00:08:49.923 --> 00:08:55.193
into your inbox, go to either of those places, intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com.
00:08:55.193 --> 00:08:57.891
There's newsletter signups all over those places.
00:08:58.216 --> 00:09:00.944
I'd love to send you the next one on Thursday when it goes out.
00:09:01.362 --> 00:09:04.775
I hope you have an amazing day and thank you so much for the work that you do.
00:00:00.603 --> 00:00:04.107
Hi there. Welcome to In the Clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman,
00:00:04.107 --> 00:00:07.551
and this podcast is for herbalists and nutritionists who are in clinical practice
00:00:07.807 --> 00:00:12.265
with the intention of making things just a little bit easier as you navigate the ups and downs.
00:00:12.916 --> 00:00:16.741
Today, I have a question that we went over in a recent Q&A call.
00:00:17.240 --> 00:00:21.194
I host a Q&A call every single month for people in a variety of my programs,
00:00:21.553 --> 00:00:24.607
and they're really fun because people bring all sorts of questions,
00:00:24.607 --> 00:00:31.515
anything from business-related questions to specific cases that they're working on two,
00:00:32.158 --> 00:00:36.657
more general questions about just the flow of how I do things and that sort of thing.
00:00:37.052 --> 00:00:40.457
So we had a question I thought was interesting. It's sort of a blast from the
00:00:40.457 --> 00:00:42.480
past, but it clearly still comes up for people.
00:00:42.787 --> 00:00:46.340
So I wanted to just bring my answer here in case it's on other people's minds as well.
00:00:46.740 --> 00:00:49.039
And the question was related to wild yam cream.
00:00:49.544 --> 00:00:56.104
This person had a client who was using wild yam cream and felt that it was really helping.
00:00:56.383 --> 00:00:59.557
And the intention with the wild yam cream was to raise the progesterone.
00:01:00.213 --> 00:01:04.497
So this client felt that it had really made a difference, and the practitioner
00:01:04.497 --> 00:01:08.047
was like, it's my understanding that that's not really a thing,
00:01:08.047 --> 00:01:10.964
so what do we make of this? So here's the deal.
00:01:11.678 --> 00:01:17.427
Wild yam, the plant, Dyscarea villosa, does have a constituent,
00:01:17.427 --> 00:01:23.875
Dysgenin, that in a laboratory setting can be converted into progesterone.
00:01:24.697 --> 00:01:29.196
Okay, so that is true. And in some cases, that happens in the lab.
00:01:29.591 --> 00:01:35.396
The body, the human body, does not have enzymes or processes that do that.
00:01:36.139 --> 00:01:40.765
So one thing we know is not happening is that when you take wild yam root and
00:01:40.765 --> 00:01:44.315
you make an oil out of it, or you make a, you know, you do something with it,
00:01:44.315 --> 00:01:47.807
whatever you're going to do to eventually wind up putting it into a cream,
00:01:48.167 --> 00:01:49.438
if that's all that's happened,
00:01:50.102 --> 00:01:53.788
you are not making progesterone from that. Your body is not making progesterone from that.
00:01:54.577 --> 00:01:57.595
That doesn't mean that the cream is not helpful, but,
00:01:58.216 --> 00:02:02.645
if we're using it with the intention or the thought telling clients that this
00:02:02.645 --> 00:02:08.205
is going to support your progesterone directly, that is truly just not a feasible
00:02:08.205 --> 00:02:10.807
thing that's going to be going on in the human body.
00:02:11.499 --> 00:02:15.925
However, we don't want to negate people's experiences. So what do we think is
00:02:15.925 --> 00:02:20.605
going on? If somebody is using a wild yam cream and they felt that they had
00:02:20.605 --> 00:02:25.136
low progesterone for whatever reason and it seems to be really helping them, what's the deal?
00:02:25.717 --> 00:02:31.685
Well, okay, so there's a couple things to know about. One, it's not totally
00:02:31.685 --> 00:02:37.758
out of question that the cream actually does have a hormone in it.
00:02:38.246 --> 00:02:40.675
There are creams on the market where if you look at the label,
00:02:40.675 --> 00:02:45.926
it will say, you know, it's wild cream on the box, on the packaging, all of that.
00:02:46.367 --> 00:02:50.088
But then when you look at it, the active ingredients, it includes progesterone.
00:02:50.651 --> 00:02:54.375
Okay, so in that case, it is a wild yam cream, but it has progesterone,
00:02:54.375 --> 00:02:56.890
and that may explain some of the effects that it's having.
00:02:57.547 --> 00:02:59.869
In some cases, there are un-
00:03:01.037 --> 00:03:04.450
You know, undisclosed constituents in a cream.
00:03:04.844 --> 00:03:07.645
So I would say, you know, we hate to think of this happening,
00:03:07.645 --> 00:03:11.525
but especially if we're buying lower quality product, we're not totally sure
00:03:11.525 --> 00:03:15.315
about the company, the origin, all that, it is possible that there is something
00:03:15.315 --> 00:03:18.585
in that cream that is really helping people that's not displayed on the bottle.
00:03:19.445 --> 00:03:24.046
We do find that this happens where herbal products, both topical and internal,
00:03:24.528 --> 00:03:29.708
occasionally are contaminated with hormones and other types of substances that
00:03:29.912 --> 00:03:33.662
are way outside of what people think they're getting when they purchase these things.
00:03:33.917 --> 00:03:36.605
So that is one possibility. And if a client came to me and was like,
00:03:36.605 --> 00:03:39.815
oh, I've been using this wild yam cream, and it's changed my life,
00:03:39.815 --> 00:03:42.695
it's revolutionary, I would want to ask more about what they're experiencing.
00:03:42.695 --> 00:03:46.543
And I would definitely want to see the packaging, what exactly are they using,
00:03:46.839 --> 00:03:50.585
and have a look. Because if it seems like it's something that maybe isn't the
00:03:50.585 --> 00:03:54.005
highest quality, or what have you, I'm going to look that up.
00:03:54.405 --> 00:03:59.040
I'm Has Consumer Labs done any testing? Does this company have any kind of,
00:03:59.435 --> 00:04:02.035
you know, USP certification, anything along those lines?
00:04:02.436 --> 00:04:04.688
Or do we feel pretty confident that it is what it says it is?
00:04:05.389 --> 00:04:08.445
Okay, so those are things we want to look at. There could be something else
00:04:08.445 --> 00:04:09.331
in the cream that's helping.
00:04:10.007 --> 00:04:12.965
Sometimes these creams have other types of ingredients, other herbs,
00:04:12.965 --> 00:04:16.205
other things. I'm not saying that they're directly influencing progesterone,
00:04:16.205 --> 00:04:17.530
but they may be doing something in the body.
00:04:18.128 --> 00:04:20.195
Of course, there is always the placebo effect.
00:04:20.961 --> 00:04:25.413
Placebo effect is very strong and sometimes just the act of doing something
00:04:25.743 --> 00:04:28.695
where you have taken a positive action you have purchased something you are
00:04:28.695 --> 00:04:30.440
taking the time daily to apply it
00:04:30.788 --> 00:04:34.265
you're considering your symptoms you're noticing what's happening sometimes
00:04:34.265 --> 00:04:36.445
all of those things together make for,
00:04:36.993 --> 00:04:40.875
an improvement and i think that's great you know i think that sometimes the
00:04:40.875 --> 00:04:45.951
placebo effect is a helpful thing and we certainly don't want to yuck anybody's yum if they are,
00:04:46.512 --> 00:04:50.274
riding the wave of the placebo effect and that's what's going on for them, then amazing.
00:04:51.209 --> 00:04:55.355
I also just, this is a side note, but I do like to point out that progesterone,
00:04:55.802 --> 00:05:01.312
in general, there are times in a person's lifespan where they may want to use
00:05:01.312 --> 00:05:04.585
progesterone cream, but I do think that especially,
00:05:05.231 --> 00:05:07.822
there are certain people who overdo it with the progesterone,
00:05:07.822 --> 00:05:11.612
and that's something that I would prefer that they have some guidance on from
00:05:11.612 --> 00:05:15.952
a medical professional as opposed to, I'm just going to go buy a progesterone
00:05:15.952 --> 00:05:19.522
cream over the counter somewhere and start fiddling around with my hormones.
00:05:19.522 --> 00:05:23.332
We need to have some sort of verification that, is there a reason to add the
00:05:23.332 --> 00:05:25.702
progesterone? Are we doing this in the context of fertility,
00:05:25.702 --> 00:05:27.011
in the context of perimenopause?
00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:31.441
Why are we trying to add progesterone, and is this the best way to do it?
00:05:32.225 --> 00:05:37.157
Okay. One thing people sometimes get wrapped up in, which kind of hurts my heart
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when this happens, is looking at progesterone.
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I see this a lot in my fertility clients, but people will look at progesterone
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levels after they ovulate and they'll be like, oh my gosh, I,
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you know, it's in the normal range, but it's way low within the normal range.
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So I probably need to take some progesterone I need to take some herbs that
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boost my progesterone or you know use this progesterone cream or la-di-da-di-da
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whatever else and what I think people don't realize about these progesterone tests,
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when you go in you know usually they want to they want you to go in about a
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week after you think you've ovulated and again in the fertility context and
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look to see how's your estrogen how's your progesterone etc,
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and really all the progesterone is telling us in that context is that the person ovulated.
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It is not telling us, oh, you have amazing progesterone, because here's the
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deal with progesterone.
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Progesterone levels are pulsatile, meaning they go up and down pretty quickly,
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about every 45 minutes to an hour.
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So just depending on when you happen to go in and have the test done,
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you might be on the low side, But then 45 minutes later, you might be on the high side.
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So we really don't want to read too much into a single blood-drawn progesterone
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reading in the second part of somebody's menstrual cycle to think that,
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oh, they have low progesterone. And I see that happening all the time.
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People just are not understanding this. They are getting bad information from,
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providers, from friends, from, you know, whatever. They're looking at the test
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themselves and thinking, oh, it's low.
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You know, what should I do? I'm just going to go try to boost my progesterone.
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Again, there are times when we may want to think about progesterone,
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but talk to your medical provider, make sure that it makes sense,
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and make sure you're not basing it on just a single lab reading.
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Okay, so that's my little thing about progesterone-containing wild-yam creams.
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It's just wild-yam isn't going to be turned into progesterone in the body.
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Not to say that the wild-yam cream isn't doing anything.
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It does have some phytoestrogens in it. Now, are those phytoestrogens absorbed
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topically in amounts that are big enough to make a difference in the whole body?
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I don't know. It's certainly not a major part of my clinical practice,
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but people practice differently than I am.
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But that would be a more feasible mechanism than somehow this diastrogen and
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the wild yam raising progesterone in the human body, which it doesn't.
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There's just no reason to think that it does that.
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Okay, so again, check the other ingredients. Possibly it's a placebo effect.
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I would certainly want to rule out any kind of contamination issues or undisclosed ingredients.
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But otherwise, I think there's better ways that we can support overall health
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throughout a menstrual cycle.
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And that's my little summary of that.
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Okay, I hope you find this helpful. If you have a question that you would like
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me to answer here, I would love to hear it.
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You can go to intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com and send it my way.
00:08:31.860 --> 00:08:36.562
Otherwise, please sign up for my practitioner notes newsletter if you are not already there.
00:08:37.077 --> 00:08:41.314
I send that out every Thursday. It's a different topic than what we talk about here on the podcast.
00:08:41.617 --> 00:08:45.883
So if you want to hear all of my content, get a different perspective,
00:08:45.883 --> 00:08:49.923
a little bit of a different, a little bit different, some different notes coming
00:08:49.923 --> 00:08:55.193
into your inbox, go to either of those places, intheclinic.com or camillefreeman.com.
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There's newsletter signups all over those places.
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I'd love to send you the next one on Thursday when it goes out.
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I hope you have an amazing day and thank you so much for the work that you do.