Relieving menopause symptoms

The symptoms that can accompany the phases of peri-menopause and menopause are synonymous with those of estrogen dominance as they are one and the same. 
Relieving menopause symptoms using a bio-identical progesterone cream such as Natpro is a natural way to bring balance back to your body and get relief from the symptoms associated with menopause.

Peri-menopause and Menopause

Peri-menopause is a time of dropping progesterone levels due to anovulation (no egg released during the menstrual cycle). This usually begins round about age 35, and increases in frequency throughout peri-menopause, until Menopause, when the ovaries stop producing viable eggs and menstruation ceases altogether. By the time menopause officially begins progesterone levels can be as low as those in a man, but oestrogen levels only start dropping at this point. Despite this women are often told the adverse symptoms they've been experiencing through peri-menopause are due to a drop in the oestrogen level and not progesterone!


Symptoms

The complex array of physical, emotional, and psychological symptoms that can accompany this transitional phase can be mild to extreme:

  • abdominal bloating
  • agoraphobia
  • aggression, anger, rage, resentment
  • alcoholism, particularly pre-menstrually
  • allergies
  • anxiety, nervousness, irrational fear
  • arthritis, joint and muscle pains
  • blood clots
  • breast tenderness
  • bruising and capillary breakage
  • breast cysts
  • chronic fatigue - muscular weakness, procrastination, exhaustion, tiredness, mental confusion, difficulty in getting up after enough sleep, lethargy
  • clumsiness
  • cold hands and feet
  • constipation
  • cracked heels
  • cravings, eating disorders, binges, inability to tolerate long intervals without food
  • dizziness
  • depression - loneliness, uselessness, endless crying, guilt, irrational behaviour
  • fibroids
  • hair loss, and excessive facial hair
  • headache and migraines
  • hot flushes and night sweats
  • hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar)
  • hypothyroidism
  • incontinence
  • insomnia / sleep disturbances
  • irregular menstruation, heavy or light flow
  • lack of self confidence and esteem
  • libido loss
  • memory loss
  • mood swings and irritability
  • nails - flaking, brittle and weak
  • Osteoporosis
  • ovarian cysts
  • palpitations
  • panic attacks
  • personality changes
  • skin problems-dry skin and early ageing of the skin
  • urinary tract infections, cystitis
  • vaginal thinning, dryness and itching
  • violence-verbal and physical
  • violent dreams
  • weight gain
  • water retention

There are a few principal lines of approach to relieving menopause symptoms:

Nutrition and diet
Eat a nutrient rich diet of unprocessed natural foods including both protein and fibre, particularly that from green leaves.
Here are a few dietary options you could explore:
The Paleo Diet
Dr Mercola Nutritional Typing
Soaring Free Superfoods
Living and Raw Foods
David Wolfe
Ketogenic Diet


Exercise
Any form of movement your body is able to sustain and maintain is hugely beneficial to all your bodies systems and helps lift your mood through the release of endorphins. (5) (27) (28) (29)

Supplementing with bio-identical progesterone
Progesterone can play an enormously beneficial role in helping to relieve menopausal symptoms by naturally opposing the action of estrogen, the symptoms of estrogen dominance are lessened and in some cases eliminated. The easiest method to supplement with progesterone is in a cream form such as Natpro
Transdermal progesterone is well-absorbed  and is effective at raising blood levels.
Natpro is a 3.33% cream. Each ml or cream will give you 33.33mg of progesterone.
The amount to use is symptom dependent, the more severe symptoms are, the more will be needed. If adverse symptoms worsen when first starting to use progesterone, do not reduce the amount as many do, blaming the progesterone. Supplementing with progesterone can initially stimulate oestrogen if insufficient is used, and the only way to overcome the adverse symptoms is to increase the progesterone.

A common guideline is about 100–200 mg of bio-identical progesterone per day for mild-to-moderate symptoms. (Severe symptoms may require higher doses some practitioners use 300–500 mg/day). (1) (14) (15) (16) Use this dose initially until symptoms resolve and then you can reduce the dose slowly. You must split the dose, taking half in the morning and half in the evening because progesterone levels fall after 12–13 hours. 

We advocate the use of a minimum of 100mg/day as not only is your bodies own progesterone level dropping through this phase of your life, you are also exposed to a host of estrogen mimics in the environment, from pesticides, fertilisers, plastics, processed foods and more so to help your body maintain balance with all these excess estorgens it is advisable to supplement appropriately with bio-0identicla progesterone.  If you would like to read more on oestrogen mimics please visit our page on environmental toxins.


Natpro can be used anywhere on the body, it does not have to be applied to the thin skinned areas only. The skin comprises 95% kerotinocytes, these have many progesterone receptor sites. (12) (13)
The speed with which the cream relieves symptoms varies depending upon both the health problem itself and the quality of the cream being used. (Natpro was specifically formulated to be free of xenoestrogens.) Some women find relief within five days, in others it can take three months, and in some cases up to six months. Once symptoms have settled you can adjust the dosage. If you reduce the dose always taper down slowly.

In conclusion..
Supplementing with bio-identical progesterone offers a natural and safe option for alleviating menopausal symptoms through its multifaceted benefits. Refer any health problem to a health care practitioner and, in reference to any information contained in this web site, preferably one with specific knowledge of progesterone therapy. The leading trend in hormonal support is in favour of synthetic patentable HRT products. Please read our pages on ‘Medical gatekeeping’ and ‘unproven vs. untested’ for more insight into this delicate debate and make informed decisions that support what is best for your body.

 

 

Clinical trials and reference

1) Progesterone for treatment of symptomatic menopausal women
Prior JC. Progesterone for treatment of symptomatic menopausal women. Climacteric. 2018 Aug;21(4):358-365. doi: 10.1080/13697137.2018.1472567. Epub 2018 Jul 2. PMID: 29962247.

2) Oral micronized progesterone for perimenopausal night sweats and hot flushes a Phase III Canada-wide randomized placebo-controlled 4 month trial
Prior JC, Cameron A, Fung M, Hitchcock CL, Janssen P, Lee T, Singer J. Oral micronized progesterone for perimenopausal night sweats and hot flushes a Phase III Canada-wide randomized placebo-controlled 4 month trial. Sci Rep. 2023 Jun 5;13(1):9082. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-35826-w. Erratum in: Sci Rep. 2024 Jul 27;14(1):17229. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-68283-0. PMID: 37277418; PMCID: PMC10241804.


3) Progesterone: A Steroid with Wide Range of Effects in Physiology as Well as Human Medicine
Kolatorova L, Vitku J, Suchopar J, Hill M, Parizek A. Progesterone: A Steroid with Wide Range of Effects in Physiology as Well as Human Medicine. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jul 20;23(14):7989. doi: 10.3390/ijms23147989. PMID: 35887338; PMCID: PMC9322133.


4) Percutaneous administration of progesterone: blood levels and endometrial protection
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15772572/
Stanczyk FZ, Paulson RJ, Roy S. Percutaneous administration of progesterone: blood levels and endometrial protection. Menopause. 2005 Mar;12(2):232-7. doi: 10.1097/00042192-200512020-00019. PMID: 15772572.

5)Endorphins: The brain's natural pain reliever
© 2025 Harvard Health Publishing® of The President and Fellows of Harvard College

6) Progesterone reduces wakefulness in sleep EEG and has no effect on cognition in healthy postmenopausal women
Schüssler P, Kluge M, Yassouridis A, Dresler M, Held K, Zihl J, Steiger A. Progesterone reduces wakefulness in sleep EEG and has no effect on cognition in healthy postmenopausal women. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2008 Sep;33(8):1124-31. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2008.05.013. Epub 2008 Aug 3. PMID: 18676087.


7) Percutaneous absorption of progesterone in postmenopausal women treated with transdermal estrogen
Burry KA, Patton PE, Hermsmeyer K. Percutaneous absorption of progesterone in postmenopausal women treated with transdermal estrogen. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1999 Jun;180(6 Pt 1):1504-11. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9378(99)70046-3. PMID: 10368498.

8) Pharmacokinetics of progesterone in postmenopausal women
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03192300
Mircioiu, C., Perju, A., Griu, E. et al. Pharmacokinetics of progesterone in postmenopausal women. Eur. J. Drug Metab. Pharmacokinet. 23, 397–402 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03192300

9) Percutaneous progesterone delivery via cream or gel application in postmenopausal women: a randomized cross-over study of progesterone levels in serum, whole blood, saliva, and capillary blood
Du JY, Sanchez P, Kim L, Azen CG, Zava DT, Stanczyk FZ. Percutaneous progesterone delivery via cream or gel application in postmenopausal women: a randomized cross-over study of progesterone levels in serum, whole blood, saliva, and capillary blood. Menopause. 2013 Nov;20(11):1169-75. doi: 10.1097/GME.0b013e31828d39a2. PMID: 23652031.

10) A study to look at hormonal absorption of progesterone cream used in conjunction with transdermal estrogen
Vashisht A, Wadsworth F, Carey A, Carey B, Studd J. A study to look at hormonal absorption of progesterone cream used in conjunction with transdermal estrogen. Gynecol Endocrinol. 2005 Aug;21(2):101-5. doi: 10.1080/09513590500128583. PMID: 16109596.

11) Progesterone as a bone-trophic hormone
Prior JC. Progesterone as a bone-trophic hormone. Endocr Rev. 1990 May;11(2):386-98. doi: 10.1210/edrv-11-2-386. PMID: 2194787.

12) Expression of progesterone receptor in human keratinocytes
Im S, Lee ES, Kim W, Song J, Kim J, Lee M, Kang WH. Expression of progesterone receptor in human keratinocytes. J Korean Med Sci. 2000 Dec;15(6):647-54. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2000.15.6.647. PMID: 11194191; PMCID: PMC3054703.

13) Systemic distribution of progesterone receptor subtypes in human tissues
Asavasupreechar T, Saito R, Miki Y, Edwards DP, Boonyaratanakornkit V, Sasano H. Systemic distribution of progesterone receptor subtypes in human tissues. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2020 May;199:105599. doi: 10.1016/j.jsbmb.2020.105599. Epub 2020 Jan 25. PMID: 31991170; PMCID: PMC9968951.

14) Micronized progesterone regulation of the endometrial glandular cycling pool
Moyer DL, Felix JC, Kurman RJ, Cuffie CA. Micronized progesterone regulation of the endometrial glandular cycling pool. Int J Gynecol Pathol. 2001 Oct;20(4):374-9. doi: 10.1097/00004347-200110000-00010. PMID: 11603222.

15) Oral micronized progesterone for vasomotor symptoms--a placebo-controlled randomized trial in healthy postmenopausal women
Hitchcock CL, Prior JC. Oral micronized progesterone for vasomotor symptoms--a placebo-controlled randomized trial in healthy postmenopausal women. Menopause. 2012 Aug;19(8):886-93. doi: 10.1097/gme.0b013e318247f07a. PMID: 22453200.

16) Progesterone in Peri- and Postmenopause: A Review
Regidor PA. Progesterone in Peri- and Postmenopause: A Review. Geburtshilfe Frauenheilkd. 2014 Nov;74(11):995-1002. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1383297. PMID: 25484373; PMCID: PMC4245250.

17) Protective actions of progesterone in the cardiovascular system: potential role of membrane progesterone receptors (mPRs) in mediating rapid effects
Thomas P, Pang Y. Protective actions of progesterone in the cardiovascular system: potential role of membrane progesterone receptors (mPRs) in mediating rapid effects. Steroids. 2013 Jun;78(6):583-8. doi: 10.1016/j.steroids.2013.01.003. Epub 2013 Jan 25. PMID: 23357432.

18) Progesterone and Progestin Receptors in the Brain: The Neglected Ones
Jeffrey D. Blaustein, Progesterone and Progestin Receptors in the Brain: The Neglected Ones, Endocrinology, Volume 149, Issue 6, 1 June 2008, Pages 2737–2738, https://doi.org/10.1210/en.2008-0395

19) Erectile Function and Sexual Behavior: A Review of the Role of Nitric Oxide in the Central Nervous System
Melis MR, Argiolas A. Erectile Function and Sexual Behavior: A Review of the Role of Nitric Oxide in the Central Nervous System. Biomolecules. 2021 Dec 11;11(12):1866. doi: 10.3390/biom11121866. PMID: 34944510; PMCID: PMC8699072.

20) Progesterone increases nitric oxide synthesis in human vascular endothelial cells through activation of membrane progesterone receptor-α

Pang Y, Dong J, Thomas P. Progesterone increases nitric oxide synthesis in human vascular endothelial cells through activation of membrane progesterone receptor-α. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2015 May 15;308(10):E899-911. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00527.2014. Epub 2015 Mar 24. PMID: 25805192.

21) Progesterone receptor function from a behavioral perspective
Mani SK, Blaustein JD, O'Malley BW. Progesterone receptor function from a behavioral perspective. Horm Behav. 1997 Jun;31(3):244-55. doi: 10.1006/hbeh.1997.1393. PMID: 9213138.

22)Progesterone Prevents Sleep Disturbances and Modulates GH, TSH, and Melatonin Secretion in Postmenopausal Women
Anne Caufriez, Rachel Leproult, Mireille L'Hermite-Balériaux, Myriam Kerkhofs, Georges Copinschi, Progesterone Prevents Sleep Disturbances and Modulates GH, TSH, and Melatonin Secretion in Postmenopausal Women, The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 96, Issue 4, 1 April 2011, Pages E614–E623, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2010-2558

23) The Estrogen-Progesterone Induction of Mating Responses in The Spayed Female Rat
JOHN L. BOLING, RICHARD J. BLANDAU, THE ESTROGEN-PROGESTERONE INDUCTION OF MATING RESPONSES IN THE SPAYED FEMALE RAT, Endocrinology, Volume 25, Issue 3, 1 September 1939, Pages 359–364, https://doi.org/10.1210/endo-25-3-359

24) Feminine sexual behavior: cellular integration of hormonal and afferent information in the rodent forebrain
Feminine_sexual_behavior_cellular_integration_of_hormonal_and_afferent_information_in_the_rodent_forebrain
Blaustein, J. D. (2002) “Feminine sexual behavior: cellular integration of hormonal and afferent information in the rodent forebrain.” doi: 10.1016/B978-012532104-4/50004-4.

25) Effectiveness of compounded bioidentical hormone replacement therapy: an observational cohort study
Ruiz AD, Daniels KR, Barner JC, Carson JJ, Frei CR. Effectiveness of compounded bioidentical hormone replacement therapy: an observational cohort study. BMC Womens Health. 2011 Jun 8;11:27. doi: 10.1186/1472-6874-11-27. PMID: 21651797; PMCID: PMC3131235.

26) Progesterone alters GABA and glutamate responsiveness: a possible mechanism for its anxiolytic action
Smith SS, Waterhouse BD, Chapin JK, Woodward DJ. Progesterone alters GABA and glutamate responsiveness: a possible mechanism for its anxiolytic action. Brain Res. 1987 Jan 6;400(2):353-9. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(87)90634-2. PMID: 2880640.

27) Exercise for health for early postmenopausal women: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials
Asikainen TM, Kukkonen-Harjula K, Miilunpalo S. Exercise for health for early postmenopausal women: a systematic review of randomised controlled trials. Sports Med. 2004;34(11):753-78. doi: 10.2165/00007256-200434110-00004. PMID: 15456348.


28) Physical Activity and Health During the Menopausal Transition
Sternfeld B, Dugan S. Physical activity and health during the menopausal transition. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2011 Sep;38(3):537-66. doi: 10.1016/j.ogc.2011.05.008. PMID: 21961719; PMCID: PMC3270074.


29) Exercise and Quality of Life in Women with Menopausal Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Nguyen TM, Do TTT, Tran TN, Kim JH. Exercise and Quality of Life in Women with Menopausal Symptoms: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Sep 26;17(19):7049. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17197049. PMID: 32993147; PMCID: PMC7579592.