Three Common Causes Of Estrogen Dominance and What You Can Do To Prevent it.

Dr. Richard Hagmeyer of the Naperville Institute For NeuroMetabolic Solutions explains the Three most common causes of female hormone imbalances including estrogen dominance.

Woman of all ages are experiencing hormone imbalances in record numbers. One of the most common problems affecting these woman is a state of hormonal imbalance called Estrogen Dominance. Estrogen Dominance involves an imbalance in the ratios of the hormones estrogen and progesterone.

Many time Estrogen Dominance overlaps another condition called hypothyroidism and Adrenal Fatigue. If you suffer with one, you most likely to some degree, are being affected by the other.

WARNING

Before you go out and take progesterone, you need to understand that it’s not that simple. Years ago many women in menopause rushed out to take estrogen, only to find out that the estrogen they were prescribed (because it was not properly balanced with the other hormones) caused cancer! Hormones are very powerful and if not used or monitored properly can cause many serious risks.

Estrogen Dominance
is usually the result of a progesterone deficiency or years of taking birth control pills, patches, fertility shots, Bio-identical Hormone creams or Hormones found in an IUD. Estrogen dominance can very easily cause a thyroid condition to develop despite being told you have normal thyroid levels. If you suffer with fatigue, weight gain, depression, sleeping problems, and other low thyroid symptoms despite you will want to get all of your hormones tested. I encourage you to work with a doctor who is familiar with the affects estrogen has on thyroid conversion of T4 to T3.

Learn more in Dr. Hagmeyers Video,  The Causes behind poor Thyroid Conversion– In this video I explain how Estrogen Dominance is one  of the causes

The good news is that estrogen dominance is fairly easy to correct by following a natural treatment protocol. Please do not follow some advice on the internet about hormone dosing, each woman with estrogen dominance has unique biochemistry and has different triggers to the estrogen dominance that will need to be identified and corrected. Here again avoid recipe cookie cutter approaches that will make you worse in the long run.

What Causes Estrogen Dominance.

Estrogen Dominance Cause #1: Stress.

Dealing with chronic prolonged stress(Physical, Chemical, Emotional) on a regular basis will “stress” out your adrenal glands.

This in turn can decrease the amount of progesterone produced, which will cause a progesterone deficiency.

This takes time to occur, but people who fail at identifying their stress will inevitably develop adrenal gland problems, which over time will most likely lead to a progesterone deficiency.

You can read more about the connection between hypothyroidism and adrenal burnout here and dietary changes that need to be made if you suffer with adrenal fatigue or Hypothyroidism here

Estrogen Dominance Cause #2: Birth Control Pills, Patches, Rings, Intra Uterine Device (IUD).

Taking oral contraceptives suppresses the production of progesterone. As a result, a progesterone deficiency can develop, leading to estrogen dominance. One obvious solution to this is to stop taking oral contraceptives. But many women won’t want to do this, even if it is negatively affecting their health. I actually wrote a separate article about the problems created by oral contraceptives, and went into greater detail about some of the potential consequences.

For those women who want to remain on “the Pill”, taking natural progesterone can help with the progesterone deficiency. Of course it’s not offering a permanent solution, so taking natural progesterone really isn’t a correction. However, this can help to manage the symptoms of estrogen dominance while someone is taking oral contraceptives. The ideal situation would be to stop taking oral contraceptives altogether. For every cycle that goes by where you do not ovulate your body will not make adequate progesterone. The downside to all of this is, If you don’t make progesterone, you continue to move towards a state of estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance is now accepted as being a cause of many female cancers.
You can read more about estrogen Dominance and Gall Bladder problems here or learn more about our Hormone Optimization Program

Estrogen Dominance Cause #3: Xenohormones.

These days, men, women and children are being exposed to xenohormones. This exposure is becoming a major problem and a major concern when it comes to thyroid cancers. Xenohormones are found in the foods we eat, our plastics, the personal care products, the cosmetics we buy, pesticides and through many other household products. These xenohormones act as hormone disruptors, and can easily cause a hormone imbalance to occur.

It is of course nearly impossible to completely eliminate your exposure to xenohormones, but chances are you can do a much better job of minimizing your exposure to them by eating organic foods, and purchasing natural personal care products and becoming a label reader. A great resource for xenobiotic exposure is the environmental working group you can visit their site here

The bad news is that it can be difficult to make these changes when you’re used to eating certain foods and using certain household products. Once again, simply eliminating the xenohormones won’t cure an estrogen dominance condition once it has been established. On the other hand, becoming knowledgeable about xenohormones is an important step in minimizing exposure and preventing a relapse.

Testing For Xenobiotic exposure

learn about testing for xenobiotic exposure here https://www.drhagmeyer.com/autoimmune-disease/new-testing-for-mold-and-heavy-metals-offers-new-treatment-options/

Saliva Hormone Panel Will Help Prevent Your Hormones From Getting Out Of Balance.

I’ve stated in the past that in order to diagnose estrogen dominance you will need to have hormone testing done. This will show the levels of both estrogen and progesterone, Cortisol, DHEA, 17 OHP, DHT along with the pituitary hormones FSH and LH. While the other hormones might not directly relate to estrogen dominance, they all interact with one another, and so in my office we evaluate all of them.

If you have been diagnosed with estrogen dominance and had this corrected through a natural treatment protocol, then every 6 to 12 months you should have your testing updated as a preventative measure. This will help you to maintain these healthy hormone levels, as many times a person won’t become symptomatic (hair loss, fatigue, depression, weight gain) until there is a significant imbalance. Also, we know the dangerous repercussion of excess estrogen and low testosterone.

By obtaining a hormone panel every 6 to 12 months, we can see if there are any minor imbalances in the hormones, and if so formulate the necessary protocol to correct this. Correcting a minor hormone imbalance usually isn’t as difficult as correcting a major case of estrogen dominance that has been ignored for many years.

Interested in being tested? Learn more here

What you need to take away from this article.

Estrogen dominance is a common condition, but one can usually correct it by following a natural treatment protocol. Although natural progesterone can help manage the symptoms of estrogen dominance when a progesterone deficiency is the cause, taking bio-identical hormones can not correct the cause of this condition.

Being familiar with the Common causes of Estrogen Dominance I listed here, will serve two purposes. It will help with the recovery process (limiting the stressors), but will also help prevent this condition from developing in the future.

To schedule an appointment or free 15 minute Phone consultation for you or a loved one call us at 630-718-0555 or fill out our short questionnaire here. Once we receive your questionnaire, a new patient Care Coordinator will contact you for our next opening phone consult.