If you have low progesterone levels, it can lead to irregular periods. You might also struggle to get pregnant because there isn’t enough progesterone to create the ideal environment for a fertilised egg.
Having low progesterone levels is also linked to a higher risk of miscarriage — as progesterone helps maintain early pregnancy.
If your progesterone level is too low, you might experience:
Low progesterone levels can also cause too high oestrogen levels. This can cause symptoms like:
You can measure your progesterone levels with a blood test. You can do this with your GP or using a home finger-prick blood test.
Progesterone tests are most commonly done to check if you’re ovulating. Measuring your progesterone levels when they're expected to peak (7 days before your period), can tell you if you've ovulated or not. This is sometimes called a day-21 progesterone test.
Eating a healthy diet can help increase your progesterone levels, opt for foods rich in:
Managing your stress levels can also help support your hormone levels.
If you’re not ovulating and are trying to get pregnant, your doctor might prescribe you medication. For example, clomifene is a medication that’s often used to help stimulate ovulation.
Di Renzo, G. C., Mattei, A., Gojnic, M., & Gerli, S. (2005). Progesterone and pregnancy. Current Opinion in Obstetrics and Gynecology, 17(6), 598-600.
Dunson, D. B., Weinberg, C. R., Baird, D. D., Kesner, J. S., & Wilcox, A. J. (2001). Assessing human fertility using several markers of ovulation. Statistics in Medicine, 20(6), 965-978.
Haas, D. M., & Ramsey, P. S. (2013). Progestogen for preventing miscarriage. Cochrane database of systematic reviews, (10).
Hickey, M., Higham, J. M., & Fraser, I. (2012). Progestogens with or without oestrogen for irregular uterine bleeding associated with anovulation. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (9).