Women really only have two hormones to worry about for the majority of their health issues: they are oestrogen and progesterone and they dominate our lives from puberty to menopause. We take for granted that they can cause us havoc, but do we really know when something is wrong?
What can go wrong?
Today women are the product of several generations of artificial hormone use from the first days of the contraceptive Pill to the newer implants and coils and finally HRT. These all contain synthetic hormones and to be in good hormone health women need progesterone, the natural hormone, as that is the only thing that will balance excess oestrogen.
Oestrogen is essential, but when found in excess in the body from artificial hormones, its presence in our food and water as residues from pesticides and plastics, we get out of balance. This has come to be known as oestrogen dominance and was a term first used by the late Dr John Lee to refer to a state where oestrogen is not being balanced by progesterone in a woman’s body.
In fact there is not one oestrogen, but three: oestradiol, oestrone and oestriol. The relative amounts of these three oestrogens to each other vary at different times in a woman’s life and all three are secreted in the ovaries, adrenal glands, placenta and fatty tissue. Whatever your age may be, these oestrogens need to be balanced by progesterone to prevent the benefits of oestrogen being outweighed by its potential problems. Excess oestrogen is linked to breast and uterine cancer, breast tenderness, heavy menstrual bleeding, PMS and PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome) as well as the many symptoms of menopuase including hot flashes, mood swings and fatigue.
What are the symptoms?
It is fairly simple to see if you have oestrogen dominance by looking at the list of the effects of progesterone and oestrogen listed here. If you have a lot on the oestrogen side then you may want to look at redressing the balance.
Effects of Oestrogen
- Increases breast and endometrial cancer risk
- Stimulates breast tissue – tenderness
- Creates proliferation of the womb lining
- Increases body fat
- Fluid retention
- Depression
- Suppresses action of thyroid
- Increases blood clotting
- Decreases libido
- Interferes with blood sugar levels
- Reduces zinc and retention of copper
- Reduces cell oxygen
- Slows bone breakdown
Effects of Progesterone
- Protects the breast
- Stabilises the womb lining
- Protects the breast
- Helps break down fat
- Natural diuretic
- Anti-depressant
- Facilitates thyroid function
- Normalises clotting mechanism
- Increases libido
- Stabilises blood sugar
- Normalises zinc and copper
- Restores cell oxygen
- Builds up bone
What can you do to stay in balance?
Oestrogen dominance can occur at any age and a first step is to look at your lifestyle. The basic building blocks of optimal hormone balance start with a good wholefood diet, regular exercise and stress reduction as that can play a major part in most hormonal symptoms.
Supplementing with bioidentical natural progesterone will also be necessary to get your hormones back into balance if you have a number of oestrogen dominance symptoms. Because of the confusion between natural progesterone and synthetic progestins do make sure you get the real deal and not a chemical substitute. You need a safe, guaranteed source and that is normally listed as USP progesterone so always check the ingredients list to make sure.
AnnA_R
AnnA Rushton is an experienced author and speaker on health, personal development and creativity. With a background in television, theatre and advertising she is a natural communicator with a particular interest in womens health and holistic medicine. Her books include 'Natural Progesterone', How to Cope Successfully With Stress', 'Tips For Hot Flushes', 'Dealing With Procrastination' and 'How To Write Your Life Story' all of which are available at http://www.creativecatalyst.co.uk
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“Women really only have two hormones to worry about for the majority of their health issues”. This is a horribly incorrect statement. Those are two very very important hormones for women to keep an eye on, but that does not mean that all other sex hormones are any less important!
Even testosterone is an important part of Hormone Replacement Therapy for Women. Testosterone levels decline in women as they age as well and needs to be replaced and optimized along with any other hormones that a specific woman may need. Furthermore, it is about optimizing hormone levels, not just increasing certain ones or balancing low levels to match each other. You want to bring up the important levels to match where they should be in a young healthy female for all hormones.
It is also very important to use only natural “BioIdentical” Hormones when supplementing with hormones. Synthetic hormones like estrogen come from such places as pregnant horse urine and has been shown to have serious health problems such as increase risk of cancer in some studies.
on January 15, 2014 at 7:07 pm Natural Hormone ReplacementHi
on May 30, 2017 at 3:24 pm Maria PascarelliI have a question , i stopped taking my progesterone birtg control pill , and since then ive gotten a rash on my boobs and down below , cohld this be a horomone imbalance ?