HOLISTIC HEALTH NOTEBOOK

We have spent some time in past columns reviewing Dr. John Lee's work on natural progesterone cream. But this week let's finish that discussion. What brought me to this subject is that I recently listened to a CD by Dr. Lee that encapsulated his 40-year clinical experience with natural hormone therapies. I am continually blown away by the strength of the science behind this essential hormone.

A couple weeks ago, I discussed how progesterone is essential to bone growth. Dr. Lee found that while appropriate amounts (i.e., physiological amounts) of estrogen help retain bone, progesterone actually helps rebuild bone. He routinely prescribed it to osteoporotic patients and found that bone mass increased, even in very elderly women.

Progesterone is essential to brain health. He referenced animal studies showing that when the brain is injured, progesterone aids in the recovery of brain tissue. They whacked rats on the head to induce brain damage (I'm sorry for that — I too hate these types of studies). Male rats died from the head trauma. They then gave the male rats estrogen, whacked them on the heads (different rats obviously), and again the rats died. They provided progesterone, and after the same trauma, the rats survived and recovered. The progesterone conferred the same benefits to the male rats that the female rats had.

Most of us will not suffer from traumatic head injuries but post-menopausal women know that one of the most distressing symptoms of menopause is fuzzy thinking, memory loss, and mental lethargy. Progesterone restores that cognitive power we enjoyed in our younger years.

Progesterone helps reduce inflammation. Progesterone injected directly into inflamed knees pulled down the inflammation.

Well, we could go on and on about the benefits of this hormone. If you want more information than I can provide here, purchase Dr. Lee's book and read it for yourself. Even after 40 years, his findings have been validated over and over again by hard science and clinical experience. I am now using progesterone cream every day, along with pregnenolone and 7-keto DHEA, at a dose of 20- 24 mg of progesterone (a normal physiological dose).

I know I won't live forever, but while I live, I want to live well. We all want that, don't we?

— Ms. Simontacchi is a certified lifestyle educator at the offices of Dr. Alan Gruning in Fort Myers and owner of the Island Nutrition Center on Sanibel.