Side effects after stopping progesterone at 12 weeks

[Bozo_the_pumpkin]

Hi all.. just wondering if anyone has experience of this? I stopped progesterone 3 days ago and went for quite a long walk yesterday. Last night I had the most awful joint pain.. my wrists, my hips, ankles .. everything. I am sooo tired and I have a slight headache lurking in the background. The constipation doesn’t help. I had my dating scan 2 days ago and everything is progressing well, but the sonography had to really press hard to see the baba… I am a bit overweight and perhaps I didn’t have enough water beforehand. I am not sure if all this contributes to my feeling this way. I was blessed with having very little ms… and have been feeling less tired the last week or so.. but now I have some slight bouts of nausea and I am exhausted… what on earth is going on.. does anyone have knowledge to share?

[Artmum22]

Hi lovely, I think you need to speak to your GP to see where the joint pain comes from. I stopped progesterone at 30 weeks of pregnancy ( which is not common but I had to), and yet was experiencing joint pain in the knees because of the baby’s weight. I don’t think your pain was caused by the progesterone supplements, you need to speak to your doctor… hope you will be ok!

[Bozo_the_pumpkin in reply to Artmum22]

Thank you very much for responding… can I ask.. did you experience round ligament pain? I wondered if this is what it is but I have no idea what the level of pain is meant to be. I have called my local EPU and waiting for them to ring me back

[Artmum22 in reply to Bozo_the_pumpkin]

Yes I did all through my pregnancy and it is absolutely normal to feel them because your womb is expanding to welcome your baby I usually get rest and have a warm shower to ease the pain and it works most of the time

[Bozo_the_pumpkin in reply to Artmum22]

Thanks! The pain is less today so hopefully it was just that then 😅

[kmruiz6 in reply to Bozo_the_pumpkin]

Yes it sounds like your body preparing prenatal vitamins are amazing

[Bozo_the_pumpkin in reply to kmruiz6]

Thank you- yes you are totally right

[Seb9]

With any severe pain that doesn't go away or bleeding etc, then I'd definitely say to call your midwife and get checked out. If its just aches it could be your levels of relaxin are going up. When you're pregnant your body starts to produce the hormone relaxin which can make all your joints ache as it loosens your joints. It's the hormone that allows your hips to widen for childbirth and it's still in your body up to six months after baby too, so it's quite a hormone! It's one reason you shouldn't start new exercise regimes etc when you get pregnant because you're more likely to have an injury as your joints are looser.

If you're overweight too that could also make your joints ache worse if you've overdone it walking. I found a dog walk with a big hill while I was pregnant could make me ache all evening. I've still got achy ankles and I'm at 4 months PP now. Hope everything is OK x

[Bozo_the_pumpkin in reply to Seb9]

Thanks for the insights.. very very useful. I have read up on this before but I just didn’t expect this level of pain I guess.. in the past I used to do some quite extreme walks and this wee little walk made me feel like I did one of those so big surprise for me.

[IVFat40]

Hi hun, I'm sorry I have no wisdom to share but wanted to thank you for posting as I'm coming off progesterone too in a few days, and wondering about changes/side effects. I'm also wondering if I should come off it gradually or just stop dead? (clinic said stop dead at 12 weeks but seems a bit odd).

[Bozo_the_pumpkin]

Hi there.. thanks it is all good. I’ve had so many very useful insights and advice that I think I am all ok now. I reduced my progesterone over 1 week. My initial dose as 400 3 times a day, down to 400 twice a day for a week and then down to 400 one day for a week.