What is estrogen dominance?
Estrogen dominance is a condition where a woman has too much estrogen relative to progesterone. This hormonal imbalance can cause various symptoms like weight gain, fluid retention, breast tenderness, mood swings, and headaches.
Some key facts about estrogen dominance:
- It's often caused by environmental estrogens from chemicals, poor liver function, chronic stress, and low fiber diets.
- Birth control pills contain estrogen and can contribute to the imbalance.
- Perimenopause and menopause cause progesterone levels to decline, leading to estrogen dominance.
- High estrogen thickens the uterine lining, increasing risk of abnormal bleeding and uterine cancer.
- It's linked to conditions like endometriosis, fibroids, and ovarian cysts.
- Testing estrogen and progesterone levels can help diagnose it.
How can you treat estrogen dominance?
The key is to balance out your hormones by:
- Reducing external estrogen exposure from foods, plastics, and cosmetics.
- Supporting your liver's ability to flush out estrogen with cruciferous veggies and milk thistle.
- Managing stress through yoga, meditation, and social support.
- Boosting fiber to eliminate excess estrogen from your gut.
- Taking targeted supplements like DIM and progesterone cream.
- If needed, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy under a doctor's guidance can help.
The integrative physicians at Balance Hormone Center specialize in customized treatment plans for hormonal imbalances like estrogen dominance. They provide cutting-edge testing, evidence-based therapies, and ongoing support to help women regain optimal hormone health.
In summary:
- Estrogen dominance is having excessive estrogen relative to progesterone.
- It's caused by environmental and dietary estrogen exposure, stress, poor liver function, etc.
- Symptoms include menstrual irregularities, fluid retention, and mood changes.
- Treatment involves lifestyle changes, supplements, and bioidentical hormones if needed.
- Balance Hormone Center provides specialized care to balance hormones and resolve estrogen dominance.
I hope this gives you a good overview of this common but often overlooked hormonal disorder!