What has been your experience with progesterone?

[Cataceous]

If this is real (progesterone increasing T by reducing E2), it would work the same way AIs work to increase testosterone, which is by reducing negative feedback of E2 at the pituitary level.

However, this was referring to "when a person is on exogenous test".

then if we see a Testosterone increase with Progesterone, it makes sense thinking that Progesterone directly converted into Testosterone. I have seen this happening to some people with oral Pregnenolone while on TRT

Does that pathway (progesterone->17-OH progesterone->androstenedione->testosterone) function properly under TRT? I was under the impression that TRT knocks down 17-OH progesterone.

 

[Gianluca]

Does that pathway (progesterone->17-OH progesterone->androstenedione->testosterone) function properly under TRT? I was under the impression that TRT knocks down 17-OH progesterone.

You are right. However, I believe ACTH can also start or participate in those enzymatic processes just like LH. Perhaps HCG is needed in men on TRT to reactivate fully that pathway.

I just increased my Progesterone, I will report any changes in my Testosterone if there are any

 

[Gman86]

@Gman86 I hope you don't mind my questions.

You mentioned that 2mg of the injectable Progesterone brought the level to over 1.0 ng/ml, but if I understand well you already started with a baseline of more than .1ng/ml correct? just considering the start test method, basically you were not deficient in it.

I believe Cataceous started with 2.6mg, and that brought his Progesterone to .9 ng/ml, if I'm correct

Oh I don’t mind at all, the more questions the better lol.

but ya my prog level came back at 1.6 ng/ml using 2mg of injectable prog subcutaneously once per day before bed

my baseline prog level on HRT varied quite a bit. And sometimes Pregnyl HCG would increase it a decent amount. Off HCG, it would roughly fluctuate between as low as 0.3 ng/ml, and up to around 0.8ng/ml. And then up to 1.0 ng/ml on HCG, at times. But for the most part, I would say my prog level hovered around 0.3ng/ml to 0.6ng/ml, on average

 

[Gman86]

@Gman86 I hope you don't mind my questions.

You mentioned that 2mg of the injectable Progesterone brought the level to over 1.0 ng/ml, but if I understand well you already started with a baseline of more than .1ng/ml correct? just considering the start test method, basically you were not deficient in it.

I believe Cataceous started with 2.6mg, and that brought his Progesterone to .9 ng/ml, if I'm correct

Oh I didn’t know he trialed doses that high. I’ve only heard him talk about using around 0.6mg of injectable prog per day, and that bringing his prog level to around 0.6ng/ml to 0.7ng/ml, IIRC

 

[Gianluca]

Oh I didn’t know he trialed doses that high. I’ve only heard him talk about using around 0.6mg of injectable prog per day, and that bringing his prog level to around 0.6ng/ml to 0.7ng/ml, IIRC

Perhaps @Cataceous can clarify this, but I believe he did start with 2.6 mg and that brought his Progesterone to .9 ng/ml, now using .6mg and Prog sits at .3 ng .ml


By the way, I have been doing 2.5mg for the past two days, and it does make me feel groggy like drugged feeling similar to the scrotal cream.

 

[Cataceous]

Oh I didn’t know he trialed doses that high. I’ve only heard him talk about using around 0.6mg of injectable prog per day, and that bringing his prog level to around 0.6ng/ml to 0.7ng/ml, IIRC

For a short period when I began injecting I was using 2.5-3 mg/day. Since the initial titration period I have been on 0.4-0.6 mg/day. Recent blood testing has been inconsistent, with reported levels of 0.3 ng/mL and 0.6 ng/mL (0.0-0.5), both when on 0.6 mg/day. There was also a measurement of 0.6 ng/mL while using 0.4 mg/day.

If this is real (progesterone increasing T by reducing E2), it would work the same way AIs work to increase testosterone, which is by reducing negative feedback of E2 at the pituitary level.

Most likely you get the opposite when there's a functioning HPTA, at least according to research I originally quoted here.

Like other sex steroids, progesterone is expressed in the male as well as the female, albeit at lower levels. The precise role of progesterone in normal male physiology is unknown, but progesterone receptors have been demonstrated in the male hypothalamus, pituitary, and reproductive tract.​

​

Progestins enhance male hormonal contraceptive efficacy when combined with androgens, an effect attributed to increased hypothalamic-pituitary suppression of gonadotropin secretion directly or through the androgen receptor. Brady et al. compared the effects of progesterone and the synthetic progestin, desogestrel, on gonadotropin secretion and GnRH responsiveness in normal men. Although both progestins decreased LH and FSH secretion, only progesterone decreased the LH response to GnRH. These results demonstrate that progesterone affects gonadotropin secretion through progesterone receptors and provide evidence for such inhibition at both the hypothalamic and pituitary levels.​

[R]​

 

[Gianluca]

Progestins enhance male hormonal contraceptive efficacy when combined with androgens, an effect attributed to increased hypothalamic-pituitary suppression of gonadotropin secretion directly or through the androgen receptor. Brady et al. compared the effects of progesterone and the synthetic progestin, desogestrel, on gonadotropin secretion and GnRH responsiveness in normal men. Although both progestins decreased LH and FSH secretion, only progesterone decreased the LH response to GnRH. These results demonstrate that progesterone affects gonadotropin secretion through progesterone receptors and provide evidence for such inhibition at both the hypothalamic and pituitary levels.

I would think this applies at higher supraphysiological levels/dosing

 

[Gman86]

For a short period when I began injecting I was using 2.5-3 mg/day. Since the initial titration period I have been on 0.4-0.6 mg/day. Recent blood testing has been inconsistent, with reported levels of 0.3 ng/mL and 0.6 ng/mL (0.0-0.5), both when on 0.6 mg/day. There was also a measurement of 0.6 ng/mL while using 0.4 mg/day.


Most likely you get the opposite when there's a functioning HPTA, at least according to research I originally quoted here.

Like other sex steroids, progesterone is expressed in the male as well as the female, albeit at lower levels. The precise role of progesterone in normal male physiology is unknown, but progesterone receptors have been demonstrated in the male hypothalamus, pituitary, and reproductive tract.​

​

Progestins enhance male hormonal contraceptive efficacy when combined with androgens, an effect attributed to increased hypothalamic-pituitary suppression of gonadotropin secretion directly or through the androgen receptor. Brady et al. compared the effects of progesterone and the synthetic progestin, desogestrel, on gonadotropin secretion and GnRH responsiveness in normal men. Although both progestins decreased LH and FSH secretion, only progesterone decreased the LH response to GnRH. These results demonstrate that progesterone affects gonadotropin secretion through progesterone receptors and provide evidence for such inhibition at both the hypothalamic and pituitary levels.​

[R]​

This might be a tad bit off topic, but curious if u can shed some light on this/ have any knowledge on the matter. Does bioidentical progesterone increase fertility in males and females, and progestins decrease fertility? Progesterone got its name from literally being a pro-gestation hormone. But maybe this just relates to women. Or maybe exogenous progesterone can inhibit fertility, but be very beneficial once pregnant. It’s all very confusing to me when it comes to bioidentical prog and progestins, and then the differences in males and females, when it comes to progesterone and progestins

 

[Gman86]

My prog levels haven’t been super consistent while on exogenous prog either. Level came back at 1.6ng/ml on 2mg of injectable prog, and 0.4ng/ml on 1mg of injectable prog. Can’t find any other prog labs from when I was using exogenous injectable prog. I could have sworn I checked my prog levels more than twice while on the exogenous prog.

 

[Gianluca]

@FunkOdyssey any updates on your injectable Progesterone trial?

I had my follow up with doc last week, and we discussed my Progesterone levels coming back at .2 ng/dl on the 1.5mg Inj Progest, he mentioned how the peak could be at 1 to 2 hrs post injection, and predicted a peak level of .4/.5 ng/dl. If you find your progesterone at .4 the next morning, at peak it could be double or a bit more, so @Gman86 your 1.6ng/dl may have been crazy high at peak

 

[FunkOdyssey]

@FunkOdyssey any updates on your injectable Progesterone trial?

I'm not going to mess with anything until I'm finished dialing in my TRT, which if I do it according to the way everyone preaches around here taking 3-6 months between protocol changes, is going to take me at least a year or two.

I'm also of the opinion now that a lot of the overstimulation, anxiety, insomnia, etc that people think they need to counter with progesterone is just a dumb thing that cypionate does when it's swimming in benzyl excipients. So I'm not sure I see a place for progesterone in my future now that I've figured that out.

 

[Gianluca]

so far, the injectable Progest, that is the hormone that gave me the more sex drive, erection and libido, I think even more than Testosterone

 

[Bmac]

so far, the injectable Progest, that is the hormone that gave me the more sex drive, erection and libido, I think even more than Testosterone

May I ask what your current trt dose is and any recent bloodwork?

 

[M.J]

Zero affect for me

 

[M.J]

so far, the injectable Progest, that is the hormone that gave me the more sex drive, erection and libido, I think even more than Testosterone

Can you explain more ? How long and when do you feel it.

I clearly see improvement in libido after I stop using hcg for two weeks or three (even better) which is like honey moon period. I keep facing this. The reason is I travel almost monthly and I stop using hcg when I travel. This is how I found this out.
Stopping hcg after time of use increases libido. Maybe related to progesterone.

 

[Gianluca]

Can you explain more ? How long and when do you feel it.

I clearly see improvement in libido after I stop using hcg for two weeks or three (even better) which is like honey moon period. I keep facing this. The reason is I travel almost monthly and I stop using hcg when I travel. This is how I found this out.
Stopping hcg after time of use increases libido. Maybe related to progesterone.

have you measure Prog level before and after?

as far as erection, I even think it works better than cialis, not joking. it seems like my penis is bigger, ticker harder on the progesterone, crazy. I'm not sure it does this directly or indirectly trough metabolizes., libido is great too. I did not noticed all of this with the scrotal application, but things have been a bit too wild so I'm decreasing my dose from 2.5mg to 2mg. I also starting to use it in the am instead of at night, and I will test levels at peak, which to me makes more sense. I haven't seen any improvement in sleep, if something probably worse with the 2.5mg dose

 

[M.J]

have you measure Prog level before and after?

as far as erection, I even think it works better than cialis, not joking. it seems like my penis is bigger, ticker harder on the progesterone, crazy. I'm not sure it does this directly or indirectly trough metabolizes., libido is great too. I did not noticed all of this with the scrotal application, but things have been a bit too wild so I'm decreasing my dose from 2.5mg to 2mg. I also starting to use it in the am instead of at night, and I will test levels at peak, which to me makes more sense. I haven't seen any improvement in sleep, if something probably worse with the 2.5mg dose

With hcg 500 EOD I will reaching maximum progesterone limit. I do t have the number but I can get which was the MAXIMUM with only 500 EOD.

So hcg is increasing my progesterone for sure. But what else injection does that’s I don’t know. Do you have libido daily now ?

 

[Gianluca]

With hcg 500 EOD I will reaching maximum progesterone limit. I do t have the number but I can get which was the MAXIMUM with only 500 EOD.

So hcg is increasing my progesterone for sure. But what else injection does that’s I don’t know. Do you have libido daily now ?

yes my libido improved as well

 

[Gianluca]

according to Leo (RIP), Allopregnenolone is strongly involved in male sex drive, probably why then many have reported increased sex drive from Progesterone. I noticed this too in the past with the Pregnenolone capsules.

He estimates a 16mg daily dose, I assume orally, for those on TRT, which could translate in about 1,5mg or less with the injectable, which in my opinion should be taken in the am to mimic natural secretion, and should be tested at peak.

As members have reported here, even high dose HCG can restore Progesterone level while on TRT

 

[FunkOdyssey]

according to Leo (RIP), Allopregnenolone is strongly involved in male sex drive, probably why then many have reported increased sex drive from Progesterone.

I have been watching closely for a couple years now and I would not say increased sex drive on progesterone is commonly reported. Occasionally perhaps. I think more commonly, if there is a report of impact on libido, it is reduced. It also has that reputation in women as being the least sexual of the three sex hormones they're dealing with.

None of this to detract from your experience, it's just that if progesterone had significant anecdotal support for improving sexual function in men, believe me I would have noticed.