WHAT IS ESTROGEN DOMINANCE?

Estrogen is the hormone that makes you a female, responsible for creating the breasts,hips,  menstral periods and high pitched voice.

Your body needs protective progesterone to work in harmony with estrogen its counterpart,estrogen will be working alone if your body is not producing enough progesterone to balance the effects of aggressive estrogen. (Estrone E1 and estradiol E2)

Estrogen dominance does not mean your body is making too much estrogen but that the lack of progesterone is causing estrogen to become the dominant hormone and without its important partner can play havoc on the way we think and feel.

Estrogen dominance is far more common now than it used to be.

Hence we are seeing a rise in pre menstrual tension, (PMT) lack of libido, post natal anxiety/depression, severe pre and menopausal symptoms, osteoporosis, fibroids, mood swings, heavy periods, weight gain/bloating migraines, miscarriages, infertility and sleep disturbances to name a few.

This has been linked to the environment we now live in and increased stress in our life.

Exposure to daily life such as pollution, plastics, pesticides, chemicals, some foods we eat and the hormone pill can produce what we call xenoestrogens.

This means we carry an unnatural burden of foreign estrogens, progesterone may help us reduce the effects of this.

We can’t go through life wrapped in a bubble or wearing masks everywhere we go, we have to still enjoy ourselves and not be overtly worried that everything we eat /drink or breathe in is going to make us sick, but now we know from research and case studies that progesterone can shield us from the ghastly side effects of too much estrogen and can act as a prevention towards an array of unwanted side effects.

Estrogen Dominance can occur from puberty and if left untreated can cause distressing symtoms right through to menopause.

As we age progesterone naturally declines, when a woman is officially in menopause (has not had a period for a year or longer ) her progesterone will be at an all time low, hence the distressing symtoms of menopause such as the hot flashes/flushes, night sweats, low libido.