Progesterone After Hysterectomy, Yeah or Nay? Testosterone In Women, Yeah or Nay?

William Clearfield, D.O.

Medical Director, Clearfield Family Medicine, Reno, NV Executive Director, American Osteopathic Society of Rheumatic Diseases

Progesterone’s primary function in the reproductive tract is to protect the uterus from endometrial proliferation. “Conventional wisdom” and a source of controversy in hormone replacement therapy contend that women having undergone a hysterectomy no longer need progesterone. Anti-aging specialists need to know that progesterone has profound global effects due to receptors in the kidney, cardiovascular, respiratory,GI, central nervous, and bone remodeling systems. The earliest signs of progesterone deficiency occur when women enter the perimenopausal years. Progesterone is the first hormone to devolve, resulting in agitation, irritability, insomnia, poor libido, headaches, and short temperedness. The North American Menopause Society and the Endocrine Society recommend antidepressants, antihypertensive agents, and synthetic progesterone for symptom relief. Their literature confuses progestogens, synthetic progesterone, a proven carcinogen, with plant-based natural progesterone. Women have progesterone, not fluoxetine deficiencies! This lecture explores the pros and cons of progesterone therapy post-hysterectomy. We provide the learner with fifty-four (54) peer-reviewed references answering the question, Yeah or Nay? Progesterone after Hysterectomy. It provides a template to send to insurance companies and fellow physicians who cling to the outdated notion that one does not need progesterone if one does not have a uterus.