By serendipity, the cream I was using was Pro-Gest which contains 480 mg per ounce. Thus, a recommended dose of 20 mg per day for 24 days each month would require precisely one ounce per month. Since many women had been deficient in progesterone for many years and, since progesterone is fat soluble, I knew that their fat reservoirs of progesterone were totally depleted. My patients found this was easily accomplished by using a spoon to transfer half of the contents in a 2-oz jar into another cosmetic jar. PMS is unique in that it frequently involves stress and higher cortisol levels.
Cortisol competes with progesterone for common receptors.
Thus, higher doses of progesterone are often needed. By experience, each woman finds the dose that is most successful for her. Tests performed by Dr. Zava of Aeron Labs found that the palms of the hands provided the best absorption, followed by the face, neck, upper chest, breasts, and the inner aspects of the arms. Skin of the butt, inner thighs, and the lower abdomen was considerable less effective, probably because the skin is thicker and contain fewer capillaries per inch. Theoretically, if progesterone is supplied in good amounts starting the week before ovulation, each ovary will think the other ovary has already ovulated and it would work as a contraceptive.