My colleague Dame Dr Shirley Bond is a highly experienced practitioner in the usage of bioidentical hormones.

She is the ideal person to explain why these commonly prescribed hormonal products are very different in both content and effect from bioidentical hormones so here she share her views.

Many women being given any of these products are usually told they contain progesterone – but they do not. They contain a synthetic progestin whose action mimics progesterone but it is not the same, in fact there are clear and substantial drawbacks to using synthetic hormones.

One of the main reasons women wish to use bioidentical natural progesterone alongside such products is to help with the side effects and that is certainly something that it can do.

These are some of the commonly listed side effects for the Mirena Coil for example:

*  menstrual pattern changes

*  breast tenderness

*  headaches

*  abdominal pain

*  nausea

*  skin disorders

*  mood changes

*  fluid retention

*  pelvic inflammatory disease

*  ovarian cysts

Who can use progesterone?

There are two main reasons that women are prescribed these forms of contraception: the first is for prevention of pregnancy and the second is to control heavy menstruation.

If it is essential to avoid pregnancy then it is not advisable to use progesterone alongside any product designed to prevent conception.

The synthetic progestins they contain compete with the same receptor sites in the body as the natural bioidentical progesterone and this makes both of them less effective.

If you do wish to use progesterone to help with the side effects of the Pill or Coil, and it is still possible for you to become pregnant in perimenopause for example, then it is essential that you also use additional contraception methods as well.

If you have been given the Pill/IUD/Coil in order to control heavy bleeding then it will help with the side effects but you may need to have a larger initial dose of the progesterone cream to start getting your symptoms under control and to rebalance the effect of the synthetic progestins.

Helpful information:

One of there other issues that can arise with using the synthetic progestin products such as the Pill and Coil at menopause is they can also affect your weight, and that is often one of the main symptoms that women struggle with.

If trying to control heavy bleeding, which is linked to oestrogen dominance, then using bioidentical natural progesterone can help.