What is the Hypothalamus’ Role in Infertility?

What is the hypothalamus’ role in infertility? And how can progesterone help? Let’s talk about it.

One in four couples experience infertility. And female infertility is particularly sensitive to hypothalamus dysfunction.

If your hormones are out of balance, your hypothalamus is usually at the root of the issue. 

Your hypothalamus controls your pituitary production of FSH and LH which then controls your ovarian production of estrogen, progesterone, and your ability to ovulate. If your hormones are out of balance, your hypothalamus is probably not functioning properly.

Supporting your hypothalamus with Genesis Gold® can help your fertility return. I have found in my infertile patients that three to six months of hypothalamic support with Genesis Gold® often balances their hormones and they’re able to conceive.

Now some of them will have a corpus luteal defect meaning that they don’t produce enough progesterone even once they start ovulating. If you don’t produce enough progesterone, you may miscarry in the first trimester.

The corpus luteum is a little cave left over after the egg pops out and becomes an endocrine gland that produces progesterone to maintain the uterine lining until the next menstrual period or, if you conceive, for the first 14 weeks of pregnancy. If your corpus luteum does not produce enough progesterone and progesterone levels start to fall, the lining of the uterus weakens and starts to shed which can induce a first trimester miscarriage. 

Using supplemental progesterone is incredibly effective.

Typically, medical providers prescribe vaginal progesterone or progesterone injections. I have been using a prescription form of transdermal progesterone now called Gen-Pro in my infertile patients for over 20 years and it has been incredibly effective at preventing miscarriage in the first trimester. That’s because it’s a highly absorbable transdermal prescription strength formula. As a transdermal, Gen-Pro does not irritate the cervix like vaginal progesterone, nor is it painful like progesterone in oil injections which can create erratic blood levels. 

I usually recommend 100 to 200 milligrams twice a day from the time of ovulation until menses. And if you’re pregnant, continue to use the progesterone. You would then get serum progesterone levels and bring the progesterone down to about 50-100 milligrams a day to maintain the pregnancy according to your serum progesterone levels. 

Support your hypothalamus with Genesis Gold®

Of course, supporting your hypothalamus with Genesis Gold® can help to balance your hormones and correct corpus luteal defect which is often at the basis of many first trimester miscarriages. 

If you have any questions, I go into detail about infertility and the hypothalamus in my new book, The Hypothalamus Handbook and you can join us at our Hormone Reboot Training for discounts on Gen-Pro and Genesis Gold®.

Resources:

Endogenous progesterone in unexplained infertility: a systematic review and meta-analysis; Claudia Raperport; Assisted Reproductive Genetics; 2023 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10033797/