Common Signs of Progesterone Deficiency

1. Irregular Periods

Ovulation determines the timing of the menstrual cycle. If you don’t ovulate, your ovaries will not produce and release progesterone. So irregular periods is the first sign that your progesterone levels may be low. 

Below are some examples of irregular menstrual cycles:

Amenorrhea (no period)

When there’s no ovulation there will be no period and the ovaries only produce a bare minimum amount of progesterone.

Oligomenorrhea (infrequent periods)

In this case, ovulation may only happen every few months, and so does the period.

Heavy and frequent periods

When there’s a prolonged progesterone deficiency, estrogen levels may be elevated without the counterbalancing effect of progesterone.

Because estrogen helps thicken the endometrial lining, high estrogen levels can cause tissue buildup in the uterus and result in heaving bleeding and frequent periods.

Spotting a few days before period

Here, progesterone levels drop rapidly and prematurely during the menstrual cycle, causing period-like bleeding.

2. PMS and Estrogen Dominance

The appropriate estrogen and progesterone ratio is crucial for a harmonious cycle – one free of emotional turmoil and physical discomfort.

When progesterone is low and fails to counterbalance estrogen, it leads to strogen dominance and produces various PMS symptoms.

Here are a few examples:

• Because progesterone helps release excess fluid in the body, low progesterone can cause water retention and weight gain.

• Due to its role in raising the body temperature and promoting metabolism, low progesterone can make you feel tired and sluggish.

• It may also cause digestive issues such as bloating and sugar cravings.

• And when there’s excessive estrogen due to progesterone deficiency, there may be signs of estrogen dominance such as tender and painful breasts, headaches, irritability, anxiety, anger and insomnia (which we’ll discuss in sign #3).

3. Poor Sleep, Anxiety, Irritability, and Mood Swings

Progesterone stimulates GABA receptors. GABA is a neurotransmitter that sends chemical messages through the brain and nervous system.

The role of GABA is to inhibit or reduce the activity of the neurons or nerve cells, which have a sedative effect on the moods.

This perhaps explains why many women feel their best during the second trimester of pregnancy when progesterone level is high.

Correspondingly, if progesterone is low due to menstrual disharmonies or during perimenopause and menopause, one tends to feel irritated and anxious, have lower tolerance for stress, and sleep poorly at night.

4. Infertility and Miscarriages

One of the manifestations of low progesterone is a luteal phase defect (LPD), which occurs when the corpus luteum fails to produce enough progesterone during the two-week period spanning ovulation to menstruation.

You may be diagnosed with LPD when the second half of your menstrual cycle is 10 days or less, or if you have low progesterone on day 21 of the menstrual cycle, or both.

LPD is found in about 10% of women with infertility, and 35% of those women who experience recurrent miscarriages.

This makes sense, considering one of the most important roles of progesterone is to support fertility and sustain pregnancy.