"Is natural progesterone cream a scam?"

Hello, I'm Jane Miller and I'm here to help you avoid being a victim and being scammed. I was a victim... three times over! I set up "Progesterone Research" specifically to bring you the facts.

Before we go any further... this is quite a long message and although its full of vitally useful information that I hope will benefit you directly if you want answers without the read just scroll to the bottom and do the 10 minute questionnaire.

The First time I found myself a victim...

For years I suffered from several illnesses with some pretty nasty symptoms. All were seemingly unrelated. Here are a few...

• anxiety and panic attacks
• severe depression
• lack of self confidence
• chronic fatigue
• muscular weakness
• mental confusion
• clumsiness
• cold hands and feet
• dizziness
• facial hair
• short term memory loss
• flaking nails
• loss of libido
• weight gain

Think that's a long list? Its not the half of it!

Second, I was a victim of a scam. Let me explain. My life was a wreck and the only thing that kept me going was the need for a solution to my seemingly endless and overwhelming health problems. I felt as if I was somehow "inventing" my own bad health because I kept asking myself "how is it possible that you can have so many apparently unconnected health problems?". I was often told "its all in your mind".

I felt like a fraud. Until I had my hormones tested.

I won't bore you with the years of struggle to just get through each day trying to appear as "normal" as possible to family and friends and at the same time trying to find solutions.

But, having my hormones tested opened a great window... and exposed me to a scam.

The hormone tests revealed that my progesterone levels were so low they were almost off the chart. I was excited as my hopes rose that these ultra low progesterone levels could prove the source of my problems.

As I discovered... progesterone is so fundamental to life in general that it was quite possible many (if not all) my symptoms and illnesses were due to my levels being so low. Obviously I needed to raise them up as quickly as possible.

I was advised to use a special skin cream and I became a victim for the second time! This time I was the victim of...

"The great Wild Yam scam"

I was advised that buying and applying a skin cream made from wild yams would get my progesterone levels up to where they should be and bring about a complete "re-balancing" of my hormones. I couldn't wait so went on the web and, after Googling a few sites (there are a seemingly endless number of "wild yam" creams out there!) I made a choice and ordered.

When my cream arrived I was very excited and applied it immediately. And the next day and the next. A week later and then a month later... no change in my symptoms.

I felt more than usually depressed.

I decided that maybe I had chosen the wrong brand so went back on the web and did more thorough research. I chose another brand of yam cream which specified "Mexican Wild Yam" (I discovered there are many varieties of yam but the only right one is "Mexican"). I allowed myself to get excited again.

Two months later and nearly $300 out of pocket my symptoms remained as bad as ever. I felt deeply disheartened. Worse still I felt foolish.

I was on the verge of accepting a life of misery when I decided that I at least owed it to myself to find out why the yam creams had not worked for me.

I worked hard, mostly researching on the web. I won't bore you with the details. Just the results. They were very simple...

Wild yams do not contain progesterone!

Now I was angry because I'd been scammed. I looked further and discovered that the manufacturers themselves didn't fully understand what they were doing. It turns out that wild yams contain a substance called diosgenin. This can be turned into progesterone in a laboratory. But...

The human body cannot turn diosgenin into progesterone!

It is impossible for wild yam creams to increase progesterone levels.

Now over 4 months and almost $300 later I had learnt a big lesson.

Now for victim number 3...

I retained my belief that a lack of progesterone could still be the cause of my problems. I looked for further medical advice. The good doctors prescribed "progesterone" pills. I took them. They didn't work. I developed other symptoms... water retention, more depression, breast cysts. I tried other "progesterone pills". Same result.

I then discovered that progesterone is destroyed in the gut! Pills therefor can't work.

More months, more money, more frustration and disappointment.

I persevered and researched more. What I learnt may astonish you as much as it did me. Here it is...

Many medical practitioners don't know the difference between "progesterone" (as its made by your body) and "progestins" or "progestogens" (as is made under patent by big pharmaceutical corporations).

This is incredible but true. I'm not the only one who's been mislead by this ignorance. Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands have! You may ask "why don't the big pharmaceutical companies just produce progesterone as the body makes it?" The answer is shocking...

Without the patent they can't make the massive profits they are used to. They can't patent a natural substance.

A jury recently awarded a Philadelphia woman $1.5 million for breast cancer caused by a popular "hormone replacement therapy" (HRT) drug. The drug maker at the center of the lawsuit - Wyeth - is in the firing line for their estrogen drug Prempro.

Here's the real problem with HRT: Products like Premarin, Provera, and Prempro aren't actually hormones at all. They're drugs. And if you take them, you're not "replacing" anything.

Ever heard of ‘pregnancy mask’ as it develops in some women during pregnancy? Its a sign that progesterone is too low. The Pill and HRT can also cause it. Why? Because the synthetic "progestin" found in these products causes the natural progesterone level in our bodies to actually drop!

It's not surprising these drugs lead to cancer. They're not natural substances and they've never been in your body. The safe answer for menopausal symptoms is bio-identical hormone replacement. These hormones are the real thing - not drugs trying to mimic what your body produces.

Real hormones can be powerful anti-aging tools. But real hormones cannot be patented and therefore have no profit potential for the big drug makers. So companies like Wyeth make synthetic estrogen look-alikes - often with disastrous results.

I'm so upset by this that I've undertaken to write this message. Why am I so upset? Because I finally found the truth! Here it is and its dead simple...

"Natural" progesterone.

I put "natural" in quotes because it really is unnecessary to say its natural if it is truly "progesterone" and not some fake "yam" cream or artificial "progestin".

Progesterone is simply progesterone. It can't be anything else.

Now, here comes the crucial part...

How do you find it? Well I did, and in case you're wondering... I'm now well! Very well! Angry but well!

Here's what I did...

I went back on the web and researched "natural progesterone". The key word being "natural". Even then I was led up many blind alleys (you can't believe the number of scams and just plain ignorant people are out there - I was one!). The result was that I found many products that said they contained "natural" progesterone.

I researched them all. I bought and tried many.

The result? I'm happy to tell you I'm well! Well! My progesterone levels are now where they should be and my life is on track. I'm no longer tired and depressed, I've lost weight (I'd still like to lose more!), my libido is back, my skin is wonderful... you get the picture. And that's all in a few months.

It may seem amazing that so many seemingly unconnected symptoms and health problems vanished one after the other. But when you think about it for more than a moment it starts to make sense... when your body is out of balance many things go wrong.

Get it back in balance and things come right again. Progesterone is so at the root of the bodies' balance it refuses to be ignored.

There are many good products out there, as I discovered. However, my research covered a lot of ground before I became confident of results. I researched and researched.

I now want to offer you the results of my efforts so you don't have to go through what I did.

Read and then act on what follows and you can be confident you won't be scammed and you'll save months of agony and heaps of money.

What follows is a complete review of my research into "natural progesterone creams". I offer it to you so you can avoid the horrors I've been through.

If you have a progesterone deficiency then you should read on. If you don't know whether you have a progesterone deficiency you should still read on. Why? Because the quickest, lowest cost and safest way to find out is to try it for a month or two. You see the results for yourself.

Here's my complete review of real "natural" progesterone creams...

But first... what makes a good progesterone cream? Because of the horrors of my own illnesses and the complete relief I have found by using (real) progesterone cream my research has been quite exhaustive.

What criteria do I use to assess these? Here they are, just four, simple but good...

1. What quantity of progesterone is contained per weight of cream?

This is important for the following reason... A study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (June 1999, pages 1504–1511) states that "In order to obtain the proper (effective) serum levels with use of a progesterone cream, the cream needs to have an adequate amount of progesterone in it [at least 30 milligrams per gram or 3%]. Many over the counter creams have little [for example, 5 milligrams per ounce] or none at all. (Note that there are 28.35 grams to an oz).

2. How effective are the carrier oils used?

Progesterone is "carried" in oil through the skin. Some oils work better than others. This is important because if you use a cream with "X" amount of progesterone in it but the carrier oil is not effective (or, horrors, a mineral oil) you may be getting only half (or less) of what you paid for! I don't want to get too technical but it is well established that the "monounsaturated" oils are the best carriers. Olive and macadamia oils are examples.

3. How organic are the ingredients?

Apart from the obvious reason that "organic is best" there is a more specific reason why this is important... Many inorganic ingredients used in creams can inhibit the absorption of progesterone. This is especially the case with emulsifying agents and preservatives a few of which are actually potentially harmful. I have relied heavily on research made available by the Environmental Working Group (EWG). EWG is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, founded in 1993 by Ken Cook and Richard Wiles whose mission is to use the power of public information to protect public health and the environment. They provide results from the most comprehensive research of all cosmetic ingredients on the planet! If you want to learn more about the EWG rating system I use below then please visit their website at the link above (it opens a new window so you won't lose me!)

4. What is the cost?

Needless to say in matters of health cost is not everything. However, if all other things are equal why pay more? There is one vitally important point about the cost of progesterone creams that is nearly always overlooked. I only became aware of it after I'd bought 5 or 6 different creams. It is this... make sure you are paying for the progesterone contained in the cream and not for the cream itself. This may sound a bit confusing so let me give an example. Cream "A" comes in a tube containing 2oz of cream. Cream "B" comes in, lets say, a jar which also contains 2oz of cream. Both creams contain equally good ingredients and both sell for $30. So how do you decide? Check the progesterone content! Cream "A" contains 900mg of progesterone. Cream"B" contains 1,200mg. This means you're paying $33.33 per gram of progesterone contained in cream "A" whereas you're only paying $25 per gram for cream "B"! That's a saving of 25%! See how important it is to be extra careful to know exactly what it is you're buying. You won't believe the number of "label jobs" (just enough progesterone to justify having it on the label... like 2mg per 2oz!) are on the market.

I give a score out of 10 for each of the above. This means the potential maximum is 40 points for each product.

I've left pretty much no stone unturned in getting to the best. How many progesterone creams are there? No one knows for sure but I've researched over 60 and I know there are more. This took me several weeks.

What follows is a review of the 7 best real (read "natural") progesterone creams available. Each is assessed according to the criteria above.

I recommend all of them.

A word of caution... If you click on any of the product links (I've given them so you can see for yourself... again, they open in a new window so you won't lose me!) just don't buy anything until you've done the "progesterone deficiency" questionnaire you'll find at the end of this message.

They are presented in alphabetical order (the scorecards speak for themselves).

Here goes...

Product #1

Product #2

Product #3

Product #4

Product #5

Product #6

Product #7

So there you have it. Here's the overall ranking...

1. Natpro 31.5
2. Oasis Serene 28.7
3. NutriVera Naturals 25.5
4. AIM Renewed Balance 25.1
5. Progesta-Care 21.7
6. Emerita Pro-Gest 18.5
7. Serenity 17.2

Which one do I use?

Well, as I said before, I've used them all. They are all good (that's why they made it through to the "final 7"!). However, Natpro is my first choice. The others are good so don't let me dissuade you from trying them but in my opinion Natpro is not only at least as good a product as any other it provides far and away the best value... just look at the "cost per gram" scores again.

Now, here's how to answer the all important question...

"Do You have a progesterone deficiency?

Do this questionnaire and find out right away. Its free and only takes 10 minutes.

To your very best health,

Jane Miller
Wilmington DE