Raising progesterone levels naturally

Hi, Dawn,

I teach natural family planning ( www.fertilitycare.com ) and work with infertile couples to help them conceive, and the number one problem I run into is women with low progesterone, which results in repeated early miscarriage. The culprit is often stress, as the stress hormones eat progesterone, BUT, I am at a loss as to what to suggest to my clients who prefer to try a natural diet change/supplement to increase their progesterone level. Any suggestions? Thanks!

That was actually my problem. Along with diet and lifestyle I formulated two teas. One to use in the ovulatory phase that was nutritive in nature and one to use in the luteal phase that targeted progesterone levels. I have the recipes for them in my book and I sell them at my website (My Tonic is the first and Barky Rooty is the latter). I like Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa) and Vitex (Vitex agnus-castus) specifically. I think they are most appropriate just in the luteal phase.

Thanks for your work! We need more folks out there supporting natural fertility balancing!

Thank you!

I've seen Vitex in capsule formulation, and wild yam as a lotion, but I will check out your store - I'm sure what you have is much fresher.

Grateful for your time!

Two herbals I would suggest for increasing progesterone naturally are white peony and chaste tree. Given that many low progesterone cases are also too high in estrogen, wild yam may not be the best idea since it promotes increasing estrogen. One herbal to help the liver cleanse excess estrogen is silymarin. Keep in mind that a lot of herbals on the market have little to no actual potency due to poor choice of variety/plant part, incorrect handling, and less than optimal extraction techniques. Many are standardized to quantity of plant material present, rather than quantity of active compounds retained in the final herbal product, and may have no active componds left by the time they hit the shelves. I mainly use Mediherb in my practice, they are an Austrailian based company that distributes through Standard Process here in the U.S. and have the highest standards on their herbals based on active compounds.

Hope this helps.

From what I have read about this topic, a combination of Red Clover infusions and Chaste Berry (vitex) tincture has been shown to increase fertility. It's my opinion that supplements are pretty useless. To make an infusion, measure out 1 ounce (weight) of Red Clover and put it in a quart mason jar. Boil water, pour in jar, put the lid on and let sit for at least 4 hours. I usually do this overnight. Drinking this a few times a week should suffice in combination with the Vitex.

MediHerb is amazing, Standard Process makes amazing stuff!