Progesterone is dependent on every pregnancy. Progesterone is one of the most important conditions in the process of binding very small embryos to the uterine wall. Progesterone helps the embryonic egg form the placenta, which will provide the fetus with 9 months of nutrition. Natural progesterone, the endogenous progesterone (generated in your own body), is produced in the ovary, the corpus luteum, which erupts from the egg. About 4 weeks after pregnancy, the secretory function of the ovaries and corpus luteum begins to be replaced by the placenta in order to ensure normal pregnancy. Gradually, the placenta of the fetus produces a sufficient amount of progesterone, which replaces the ovaries to ensure the need for progesterone in pregnancy. In theory, the 8th week of pregnancy, the amount of progesterone produced by the placenta has made the role of the ovary as a hormone-secreting organ less important.
Historically, doctors have given pregnant women exogenous progesterone (derived from progesterone in vitro) for two reasons:
- Avoid "pregnancy abortion"
Maintaining the normal growing environment for planting donated eggs is a common practice in recent years. It is an outdated practice to take progesterone to avoid abortion. However, doctors are accustomed to taking progesterone from the first 8 weeks of pregnancy to the first 16 weeks of pregnancy to "help the pregnancy succeed." Pregnant women receiving eggs should rely entirely on exogenous progesterone in the early pregnancy to ensure the normal living environment of the fetus, because the ovaries of such pregnant women have no corpus luteum to secrete this hormone. (It is an egg donor - not an egg recipient - ovulation and corpus luteum.)
The benefits of using exogenous progesterone in egg recipients are obvious because the purpose of this pregnancy with progesterone is to make pregnancy successful. But how much progesterone is needed for this pregnancy - how long does it take? The doctor's answer to the second question is that the benevolent sees the benevolent, the wise sees the wisdom. Some doctors prescribe progesterone for 10 weeks, others for 12 weeks, and some for 16 weeks.
- 12 weeks of progesterone treatment is more reasonable (compared to 16 weeks). By then the placenta has worked. You can stop taking the progesterone for 8 weeks. Progesterone (as a therapeutic) has no effect after week 8. Dr. Alan Quiram expressed his opinion on the changes of physiological hormones in normal pregnancy. He believes that after 8 weeks of pregnancy, the corpus luteum no longer secretes most of the hormones on which the embryos depend.
"After the 8th week, if you remove the ovaries, the fetus will grow." Kiram said, "I don't think it is necessary to give progesterone after 12 weeks." According to Kiram's point of view, early pregnancy requires pregnancy. Ketone, but in the second trimester, you will secrete enough progesterone. If you take progesterone at this time, you will definitely be overweight.
- However, many doctors, for the sake of insurance, recommend that the egg recipient take 12 to 16 weeks of progesterone. Their reasons are also understandable: high-tech-fed babies are hard-won (and expensive), so doctors will do everything they can to ensure the success of such pregnancy.
The problem is that we have to consider the side effects of the drug on the fetus, so we can't help but ask, is this practice really safe? This question is raised as a very important issue because every year we have tens of thousands of pregnant women – women with ovulation dysfunction, women who are aborted, and those who use high technology. Women who are pregnant with pregnancy - taking this exogenous progesterone.
- Because most of the components of progesterone meet the "natural form", many doctors believe that such hormone drugs are safe. Dr. Mark Sur is using progesterone at his Columbia University Hospital. He believes that progesterone has few side effects: “You give them supplements with progesterone during the first 12 weeks to 14 weeks of their pregnancy. Your body Produce so many progesterone, it can make your hormones lose their effectiveness. We use tiny vaginal gel plugs, almost no side effects. Progesterone can directly enter the pelvic blood vessels: can be directly absorbed." Professor of Medical Genetics and Pediatrics Gideon Coron, head of the mother's risk program, also believes that progesterone is safe, because he has not encountered progesterone for 20 years to cause abnormal development of children.
But at the same time, some people disagree with this view. Some biologists and toxicologists specialize in the effects of progesterone on the "growth tissue" - the fetus. Dr. Lovell Jones, research scientist and experimental gynaecology and endocrinology director of the Medical Department of the Anderson Cancer Institute, is worried about the safety of the fetus in the uterus under the action of exogenous progesterone. In the interim, Jones's experimental study of the response of mouse fetuses to small doses of drugs found that progesterone in pregnant mice can cause abnormalities in the reproductive system of infants. Therefore, Jones believes that this topic should be further studied before taking progesterone to pregnant women.
The problem once again returned to the benefits of progesterone is still dangerous. The benefits of drugs for egg recipients are obvious, and there are no children without progesterone. But does progesterone also have a positive effect on other conditions – luteal dysfunction and early abortion? The differences on this issue are great.
Although there is conclusive evidence that progesterone has a nourishing effect on donor egg pregnancies, it is unclear whether progesterone also has a therapeutic effect on luteal dysfunction and early abortion. Therefore, the effect of using progesterone to treat both conditions remains controversial.
A prospective double-blind randomized trial (the most reliable clinical trial) conducted in the 1970s showed that progesterone did not prevent miscarriage, which is the conclusion of Alan Quiram. In the 1960s, it was widely believed that progesterone had a preventive effect on abortion. The results of the study were promising – until the experiment allowed the use of a placebo. When placebo was used in a randomized, double-blind trial, it was shown that progesterone did not. By the 1970s, progesterone treatment of abortion had been banned.