Progesterone Blood Tests
Progesterone.The hormone progesterone helps to build the lining of the woman's uterus for the fertilised egg to implant into.
Pregnant women have about 10 times more progesterone in their blood during pregnancy (compared to when they are not pregnant).
Progesterone levels slowly increase as the pregnancy progresses.
Low levels are known to be a physical sign of miscarriage during the first 12 weeks. It used to be thought that a lack of progesterone
may be a cause of miscarriage. However, it is now believed that low progesterone levels are simply the body's normal response to the
inevitable loss of a pregnancy (meaning that treatments with progesterone are of no benefit). You can read more in recurrent miscarriage.
Some caregivers will also perform progesterone blood tests, along with the HCG blood tests. However, the HCG tests are usually adequate
on their own. It is possible to measure progesterone levels in a woman's urine, but she must collect all her urine over a 24 hour period
to do this. Abnormally high levels of progesterone may indicate you are having twins or more, or it may be a sign of a molar pregnancy.
The following table is a guide to what the progesterone levels can be during pregnancy. Again, you can see the range of normal levels is
very wide.
