How to support your mood #9: Progesterone intolerance and anxiety

I have the privilege of working with many women in their 40s and 50s, the majority of whom are using HRT. Many of these women tolerate HRT well and can see a significant benefit as soon as they have worked with their GP or Menopause Specialist to identify the HRT regime which is right for them.

However, there are some women who have a much trickier time. There appears to be a pattern of post-natal depression, long-term anxiety and struggles with PMS or PMDD which can be predictive of intolerance to the progesterone part of HRT.

We know progesterone as the soothing and sleepy hormone, but what is not widely known is that to get those benefits from progesterone, it must be first be converted to 5α-dihydroprogesterone (5a-DHP) and then to allopregnanolone (AlloP). AlloP then sits on the GABA receptor which may (or may not) hear it’s soothing and sleep-inducing message.  

The only way to know what’s happening with your progesterone pathway is to do a DNA test. I use the Hormones report from Lifecode Gx.

This extract from a sample report shows the progesterone pathway and the genetic SNPs (variations in your DNA) which can impact the conversion of progesterone to AlloP.

With the benefit of this information, we can then carefully tailor a programme to support you in efficiently converting progesterone to AlloP and to encourage your GABA receptors to hear AlloP’s soothing and sleep-inducing message. Hopefully, this will then result in greater tolerance of the progesterone portion of your HRT and a noticeable benefit in terms of mood, sleep and your ability to cope with stress. It can be life-changing.

If you are interested in finding out more about how helpful genetic testing can be, please do book a free Zoom call with me using the link below: