how do you know if your have low progesterone levels?

[puppies]

What are the symptoms of low progesterone? Is there a way you can tell from your cycle or your physical symptoms that you have low progesterone without getting tested by Dr? (like short cycles, long cycles, short menstrual bleeding, long menstrual bleeding etc) And at what stage will a Dr be happy to test for progesterone levels? Is there anything natural you ca take to encourage healthy levels of progesterone?

[Je$$_84]

Well for me my symptoms were no AF... After having a normal preg with my DS 15 months later when i cme off the pill i never got AF... After thinking WOW preg already we discovered no wasnt preg.... After several tries and 3 months later still no AF so off to the GP i went again... He sent me for an US of the ovaries and found i had polycystic ovaries (not the syndrome.... this needed bloods done) After this i was told i wouldnt be able to have kids...

Well after weeks of crying i decided to get a second opinion... My Family GP did bloods and found that i had sufficient estrogen but low progesterone which was causing the polycystic ovaries... after a course of pills i got AF for 1 day and fell preg... (not realised till 8 weeks later when i was severly sick and hospitalised, we actually thought it hadnt worked)

Cant be of much help to you but that was my experience with low progesterone... i would suggest a trip to the GP

[Rach75]

my GP and RE both test about 7 days past O if your charting you may get a idea when this would be its known as cd21 prog test if it is high it shows O

[puppies]

thanks guys. AF just arrived this morning so it was a 27 day cycle this month. So I guess thats a good indication that everything is ok. Will do some more detailed charting this cycle to try and pin point ovulation so that I can calculate my LP phase better.

Good luck everyone else!

[satya]

My GP was happy to test my hormone levels when I asked for it after an early miscarriage. I was feeling like I might have low progesterone as I'd read somewhere that one of the symptoms is brown spotting before your AF and I'd had that for as long as I could remember and had been unsuccessfully TTCing for years. My progesterone level was fine and after another early loss I got lucky again and this one stuck.

Some people recommend Vitex to regulate cycles or to regulate hormones but I personally wouldn't. Both my miscarriages last year happened whilst I was taking it and this pregnancy occurred after I'd stopped taking it.