[HelloDiDi]

Wait a minute, I'll check...

The one I got is Emerita by Life-Flo, its a 112g tube, from iHerb and its quite a bit cheaper than the Biovea brand. The ingredients are similar, so is the marked dosage but this one absorbs better for some reason. I bought one to test just for the price alone as Biovea is so expensive. So far its been just as good but I haven't tried it for long. I thought to go through one tube and if it works the same, I'll get more, otherwise switch back to Biovea.

[Chestnut]

That’s some very useful information - Thanks, DiDi. As usual, it is all down to some inspired guesswork regarding dosages and such, though it goes without saying that whatever you are doing seems to be working spectacularly well! I’ll try a similar dosage.

The Emerita by Life-Flo one sounds like it will be well worth checking out, too, especially if it is a bit cheaper and absorbs better. I will certainly look into that option.

Like BlackButterfly I was trying to obtain the SM Nutrition Progesto-Life one, mostly because Lotus recommends it (so it must be good!) For some reason it seems to be unobtainable in the UK. I herb seem to be the only stockist as far as I have seen, and when I checked with them to see if they would be getting more stock they said it would ‘continue to be unavailable for an extended period of time’

[Karen Hart]

Regarding dosage of PC that comes in a jar or other non-pump container... I have seen directions that vary from brand to brand, of 1/8 teaspoon to 1/2 teaspoon.
I think most say that a 1/4 teaspoon is a 20mg dose.

Here is an an interesting but long transcript from a podcast, entitled: How to Cycle Bioidentical Hormones.
https://progressyourhealth.com/podcast/h...-pyhp-091/

It mentions that 20mg of progesterone is the natural level for a 28yo female.

Also discussed are the the differences between male cycles of 14 days and female cycles of 28.
They do NOT discuss males using female hormones. Their discussion in only on Testosterone for males.
Very interesting stuff and well worth the read, I think.

[Chestnut]

Thanks Karen,

The 1/4 teaspoon = 20 mg is a very useful rule-of-thumb.

The podcast transcript is interesting, too. I wonder if there is any information regarding the effectiveness of cyclic dosing as opposed to constant dosing?

It does sound like administering progesterone with regular breaks for recovery/resetting might work better, but I’m only guessing. (I haven’t spotted anything on the forum yet, but I bet Lotus has already covered this…)

[Karen Hart]

In the past, I always used the same dose every day, but I have changed my mind on that theory.

IIRC Lotus recommended a schedule of 5-on, 2-off, and IIRC, that's also what the podcast recommended for men dosing testosterone.

[Chestnut]

I can imagine that it would make sense to do that. I have read somewhere about receptors need time to clear or reset, in which case that might well have that effect. I think I will try to find what Lotus has written on the matter. She always seem to some up with a very clear and comprehensive explanation of such things.

5 days on and 2 off would be very easy to remember - just a matter of taking the weekend off!

[Charley Rose]

I am unsure of it’s status in the UK - I thought it might be a prescription only product

I checked on this a few years ago and was told that yes progesterone cream was prescription only in the UK.

[HelloDiDi]

Lot of stuff is "precription only" and yet it flies under the radar quite easily... I'm getting some things from iHerb that are just like that. This might be something t look into when ordering things from aborad, will UK customs pay attention or not? A lot of times something falls behind the prescription wall and yet its just ignored when importer is a private person rather than business.

[BlackButterfly]

I get this itch at the back of my brain that say's this year it's going to get tougher to import "Meds" into the UK.

Regulations for the import of "stuff" from the EU are changing (again) from the end of January; previously there was an emphasis on trade rather than tax revenue, now things are changing and taw revenue is becoming the priority; don't know if this will affect personal imports, time will tell.

One of the national news papers has started a campaign against on-line pharmacies and how easy it is to obtain prescription medication without checks; it's also an election year (in many countries), so if a politician jumps on that band-waggon things could get tight.

There also appears to be a campaign to try and shut-down some of the more well known on-line pharmacies and HRT suppliers:
?️‍⚧️☕️ (hrtcafe.net) 
I know this happens from time to time, but this time it looks to be quite wide spread.

Might be worth keeping a stock where you can, just in case.

[HelloDiDi]

This is nothing new, the suppliers will come up with new methods all the time too... There was some kind of a crackdown on some online grey market stores some years back. They disappeared and soon emerged again. Its a good idea to get personal contact info from the people running the show in case their official stuff goes down. I've had to do that twice already.

There was a EU wide upgrade on customs data security stuff going on btw, I hope it wont mean more checking of things at my end. Likely not, so within EU things will likely keep going as usual. I think Brexit was a major fuck up with everything, this too, as within EU things are working out nicely, but anything from outside can be a hassle.

Stocking up is always a good idea when ever possible. I'm planning to get extra vials of EEn sorted once I can. For now within EU progesterone cream is easy, so is estriol cream as both are prescription free here from what I understand. But these things can of course change when ever someone decides that we have no freedom on this. Finland is a shithole with medical laws, its super strict and we're not given any personal responsibility or freedom over our bodies. That's why I have to resort to bunch of DIY as there is no other way. I'm breaking laws but fuck the law! My body and health is more important than any law.

Just chekced HRT cafe, appears that a whole list of shops have been attacked within days, just in time for holidays of course so there's likely slower response.