This study examines the effect of hormone and amino acid levels on mood changes in women at mid-life. The research involved both a clinical trial of the application of hormones and amino acids to effect mood changes is women at mid-life, and a laboratory analysis of synthetic and natural progesterones. The clinical trial involved a detailed biochemical study of two women and a less intensive study of two other groups of women identified as Estrogen Dominant or Estrogen Deficient. Depending on whether the women were Estrogen Dominant or Estrogen Deficient, they responded well to natural progesterone or estrogen, respectively. Even when natural estrogen was given, it was never without natural progesterone.

The clinical study found that a deficiency of progesterone is clearly implicated as a primary factor in mid-life anxiety patterns. Changes in serum levels correlated with the qualitative input given on questionnaires and interviews. Mid-life anxiety was more extreme during the latter two weeks of the menstrual cycle. The data showed that there is often too much estrogen to be mediated by the body’s available progesterone. When neuroinhibitory amino acids were used in conjunction with pharmaceutical grade, natural progesterone, women thrived and reported greatly increased calmness, even during the normally difficult pre-menstrual phase.

http://orthomolecular.org/library/jom/2001/articles/2001-v16n03-p141.shtml