ResearchSafe

Unexpected bloating and mild dizziness on nightly micronized progesterone

Posted by cora_zone2 in Safety & Side Effects - 21 points, 3 comments.

For what it is worth, I started 100 mg oral micronized progesterone (Prometrium) about a month ago to see if it would help my shallow sleep. I took it with a small snack at 10 pm, as the usual protocol suggests. The first week I did notice deeper REM cycles on my Oura ring, but by the second week I began getting a vague fullness in my lower abdomen and occasional light‑headedness when I got out of bed in the morning.

I logged the symptoms in my spreadsheet and saw they correlated with the night I missed the dose – the bloating eased a bit, but the dizziness persisted for a couple of days. My HRV dipped slightly on those mornings too. I tried cutting the dose to 50 mg and spreading it over two evenings; the bloating reduced but the sleep benefit also waned.

Just my own experience, could be placebo or a gut reaction. Anyone else seen similar GI or balance issues with oral progesterone? 🙂

Comments

  • caleb252: I’ve tried oral micronized progesterone a few times for night‑time recovery, honestly mostly to see if it could smooth my sleep‑HRV dip after heavy lifting. I started with 100 mg at 9 pm, same snack trick, and after about 5‑6 days I felt a bit of “full” feeling in lower belly, almost like mild constipation, plus a little woozy when I sat up quickly. My Oura showed a small rise in deep sleep, but my morning HRV was a touch lower – around 2‑3 ms compared to baseline. When I cut to 50 mg split int
  • holly620: ngl I hit the same wall with 100mg at night – lower‑belly fullness and a woozy sit‑up feeling. Splitting to 50mg twice eased the bloat but my HRV dropped a notch too. Does taking it earlier with food change the absorption for you?
  • hank_f: fwiw i tried a similar split dose with 100 mg progesterone and noticed the belly fullness eased but my deep sleep didn’t improve as much as with a single nightly dose. have you looked at any studies on split dosing and sleep architecture? just curious if the timing change might be affecting the hormone curve.

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