Progesterone for Uterine Cancer

[crystala1966]

Hi Lara,

Love your articles, they are very helpful! I'm almost 57 and I've just been diagnosed with uterine cancer (adenocarcinoma, endometrioid type, FIGO grade 1), after having heavy bleeding and intense cramping pain for 2 months.

I read your progesterone articles. My GYN wants to put me on Progestin (Medroxyprogesterone 10 mg) before scheduling me for surgery. I don't want surgery or any medical treatments. I am using many natural approaches for the cancer, but I also have extreme estrogen dominance and very low progesterone levels, so I need to address that to thin my endometrium. And I just ordered Calcium d-glucarate & Iodine.

I want to use natural progesterone but there are so many types and options. I think 400 mg per day is appropriate (according to conversion chart I found a link to on your site). The questions are: Compounded USP or one of the brand names (is one brand better?)? Oral or vaginal or both? Time-released or not? Once or twice a day? Or 200 mg time released at bedtime + 100mg twice a day while awake or even 50 mg 4 times per day while awake? I understand it may make me sleepy, so maybe all at bedtime, but time-released or not? I'm going to ask my GYN for a prescription, but he knows nothing about the naturals so I need to go prepared for exactly what to ask for.

You are such an expert on this topic so I hope you can help! I'd love to make an appt, but I'm in the US. Thank you so much for everything Lara!!

[GKnee]

Oh my gosh, I hope you found some answers! What did you end up trying? How are you doing now?

[crystala1966]

Thank you GKnee. I used both oral and vaginal progesterone, in varying levels, and saw no discernable results, except for extreme depression at higher levels. After a full year of almost bleeding to death multiple times, and having extreme pain that got worse and worse over time, I finally had a hysterectomy a month ago (uterus and tubes removed, ovaries stayed), and no regrets so far!

The pain was what finally drove me surgery--I was going into "labor" every night for 2-4 hours, I mean screaming/crying/begging pain that NOTHING would help--I was popping ibuprofen like it was candy (3 times the allowed max dose), opioids, gabapentin, NOTHING helped. The tumor was 14.5 cm (twice as long as my uterus because it had bent double). My entire uterus was tumor, including growing into the myometrium (muscle layer) 1.8 cm. Unfortunately I had 2 positive nodes and another small cancerous nodule just outside my uterus that was removed. So I'm considered Stage IIIa now.

Pain is minimal (just post surgical discomfort), no bleeding since no uterus, feeling pretty good overall. The post-surgical pain was literally NOTHING compared to the pain I was in before. I'm pursuing MANY avenues of treatment, both natural and drugs. Don't want to do the chemo they have planned for me. If I had known then what I know now, I would had the UAE sooner (had that in October) and it would have changed the course of what happpened, but no one told me and I had to find out on my own. Had I known, I would have had it immediately, along with MRIs every 1-2 months, and if cancer was growing, then hysterectomy sooner. Damn shame no one tells you any of this. Thanks for asking.