The Calm Hormone. Progesterone, Men, and the Autism Question with Carol Petersen, RPh
Biohacking Autism with Nadia Elkhatib.Show Notes
Most people think they understand progesterone. Most people, it turns out, get it completely wrong. In this episode, compounding pharmacist Carol Petersen, RPh, CNP, joins Nadia to unpack what this one hormone actually does in the body, for women and for men, and why hormone balance sits underneath so much of what caregivers and their children struggle with every day. Carol has spent more than thirty years on the question most of medicine skips past: what happens when our hormones fall out of balance, and what it actually takes to put them back. Together they walk through how progesterone calms an overstimulated nervous system through its metabolite allopregnanolone and the GABA receptor, the adrenaline-to-cortisol-to-burnout cycle that leaves caregivers wired and exhausted at the same time, and why "sensitive" people may be running low on the cortisol they need to meet their environment. They go deep on the women's side, estrogen dominance and its many signs, progesterone and sleep, and the perimenopause and menopause window when anxiety climbs at the worst possible time. The conversation then turns to a part of the story Carol's own audience rarely hears laid out this way: progesterone in men. Men have progesterone too, and they need it. Carol explains the male nervous system, the androgen load, and the calm that men are often missing, and Nadia poses the question at the center of the episode: autism shows up far more often in boys and men than in girls and women, so does the wired, overstimulated, under-calmed picture rhyme with what so many caregivers see in their sons, and in themselves? This is not a claim that progesterone treats autism. It is a question worth asking. "Estrogen can induce anxiety and progesterone will relieve it." - Carol Petersen, RPh, CNP CONNECT WITH CAROL PETERSEN Website: https://thewellnessbydesignproject.com/ Coaching: https://thewellnessbydesignproject.com/coaching/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thewellnessbydesignproject LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-petersen-71514220/ CONNECT WITH BIOHACKING AUTISM Website: https://biohackautism.com Listen, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and on YouTube. SUBSCRIBE If this episode gave you a new way to look at hormones, calm, and caregiving, follow Biohacking Autism and share it with someone who needs it. New episodes every Monday. PRODUCTS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED Progesterone deficiency symptoms (Carol's reference list): https://thewellnessbydesignproject.com/2022/08/symptoms-of-progesterone-deficiency/ - the catalog of progesterone-deficiency symptoms Carol references in the episode. Ray Peat's research archive: https://raypeat.com/ - foundational work on progesterone and hormones referenced in the conversation. Pregnenolone (25 mg option): https://amzn.to/441xGnt - the precursor hormone discussed for calm and cognition. Pregnenolone (100 mg option): https://amzn.to/4xXBT9f - higher-dose option of the same. DHEA: https://amzn.to/4gMHNnx - adrenal hormone discussed in the hormone-balance picture. Creatine: https://amzn.to/3Rg0965 - discussed for energy and cellular support. Betaine: https://amzn.to/3QzK8aZ - methylation support discussed in the episode. TMG (trimethylglycine): https://amzn.to/4bhvYSI - methyl-donor support. NAC: https://amzn.to/4y43F4i - discussed for glutathione and detoxification support. Calcium d-glucarate: https://amzn.to/4p08bwz - discussed for estrogen clearance and detoxification. Sulforaphane: https://amzn.to/4oZCiEc - discussed in the detoxification context. SAMe: https://amzn.to/4gkXmTv - methylation and mood support discussed on-mic. ABOUT CAROL PETERSEN Carol Petersen, RPh, CNP, is a compounding pharmacist and certified nutritional practitioner with more than thirty years of experience in hormone health. Her work centers on restoring hormone balance, with particular attention to progesterone, the nervous system, and the questions conventional medicine tends to skip. She writes and educates t
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My son was nonverbal. I was told he would never speak, and that if a child does not talk by five, he never will. Jimmy started talking at eight. This is the 11-minute version of my episode on autism recovery: the stories you never hear, what recovery means, how Jimmy started talking, and the five things it takes.
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