Progestin: Therapeutic Uses and Adverse Effects (Nursing)

00:00 So what are the therapeutic uses of progesterone? Why do we take it as a medication? It's a synthetic form of progesterone. So what do we use it for? Well, we can use it in menopause when we have to replace hormone therapy and remember menopause can either be because of my age or can also be a surgical menopause where my ovaries and uterus have been removed. I can use it to treat heavy uterine bleeding because you've got an imbalance of endogenous progestin. I can use it for patients who aren't having regular periods or amenorrhea. I can also use it to support early pregnancy if someone has had IVF, which is in vitro fertilization. Or if their corpus luteum is deficient, they just can't put out the progestin so while the woman is pregnant we're going to give them extra synthetic form of progesterone as progestin. Okay, let's talk about the adverse effects of progestin. We've looked at the adverse effects of estrogen exogenous as medication. Now let's talk about the adverse effect of progestins which are the synthetic ones. They should look really familiar to you because you can kind of group these together about what women experience during their periods; breast tenderness, headache, abdominal discomfort, arthralgias, they might have some joint pain and a sadness or depression. So, these are some of the adverse effects.

01:23 You might group them together about how sometimes women feel on endogenous progestins. You can also feel that way in synthetic ones. Now the risk of estrogen, I just want to kind of underscore.

01:34 Remember that it might increase the risk for dementia in women who are older. Also risk for clots, DVTs, stroke, and pulmonary embolism. Risk of estrogen and progestin, now there is some controversy out there that it may increase the breast cancer risk. So this would involve your patients having an in-depth conversation with their healthcare provider, knowing what their family history is for breast cancer, and just talking about those risks and possible benefits of hormone replacement therapy.