Estrogen Dominance is essentially too much estrogen relative to progesterone. Where does the extra estrogen come from? The excess estrogen can come from xenoestrogens (chemical estrogens) and phytoestrogens (plant estrogens). The patient can also have elevated estradiol, this is usually from coffee. 2 cups of coffee will increase estradiol levels by 70%. Lastly, after the age of 35 years old, women stop producing progesterone for most of their cycles but not all of their cycles.
Estrogen Dominance is caused by:
1. Chemical Estrogens (xenoestrogens) and plant estrogens (plant estrogens) from household products.
2. After age 35, women most of the cycles, but not all the time stop producing progesterone resulting in too much estrogen versus progesterone.
3. 2 cups of coffee per day can increase you own estradiol by 70%.
What are Estrogen Dominance symptoms?
- Weight Gain on the Belly and Hips
- Water Retention - bloating - just before the period
- Breast tenderness just before the period
- Losing Hair
- Mood Swings
- Depression
- Post Partum Depression
- Loss of Sex Drive / Libido
- Normal or Low Normal Thyroid Blood Tests, but looking hypothyroid (low thyroid) anyway
- May or may not have fatigue
- Magnesium Deficiency - leading to muscle tensing - for example constipation, uterine cramps/menstrual cramps, leg cramps, muscle cramps, restless leg syndrome, possible muscular wall artery constriction leading to temporary small arteries leading to cold hands (possible Reynaud's syndrome)
- Chocolate Craving just before the period. - from a Magnesium Deficiency. Chocolate is a food that is one of the highest in Magnesium.
- Sugar Craving - Estrogen Dominance can contribute to insulin resistance.
- Vitmin B Deficiency - leading to carpal tunnel syndrome with swelling tissue in the wrist area compressing nerves and vessels
- High Copper levels - leading to mood swings just before the period
- Estrogen Dominance may provoke diseases that are stimulated by estrogen such as breast cysts, fibrocystic breast disease, uterine fibroids (myomas), endometriosis, adenomyosis, ovarian cysts, premenstrual syndrome, menstrual migraines, breast cancer, endometrial cancer.
- Usually, but not always has normal hormone tests.
- Lack of Progesterone - may cause lack of implantation of the embryo into the inside of the uterus wall, and this will prevent pregnancy. Supplementing with progesterone will help a woman to become pregnant.
- Lack of Progesterone - may cause miscarriage during the first trimester usually at 5-8 weeks. Supplementing with progesterone for a miscarriage at 5-8 weeks usually stops the miscarriage. If you are using a chemical on the skin that is a progesterone blocker, such as the herb aloe, this may also cause a miscarriage.
The key question that I ask is whether the patient has bloating and breast tenderness just before her period. The key dead give away is if the patient has chocolate cravings before her period. However, if she takes magnesium supplements, then she may not have chocolate cravings.
Many times allergies and sometimes chemical sensitivity are the key symptoms that will accompany Estrogen Dominance Symptoms. Fear / stess / anxiety increases histamine levels and interleukin-6 levels. These increased levels cause increased allergies. These increased allergies will cause an impaired ability to get rid of all chemicals. I call this a "clogged toilet" syndrome. The fear / stress / anxiety will make it difficult for the body to get rid of xenoestrogens and the patient will become Estrogen Dominant. If there is Fear, then this is not good for the body, and the body cannot get rid of the chemicals. A fearful person cannot get rid of xenoestrogens. Her "toilet is clogged".
How would you test for impaired excretion and Chemical Sensitivity? You can test this with 3 simple questions.
1. Do you have a hypersensitivity to smell? Do perfumes bother you? Do perfumes or the grocery store detergent aisle give you a headache or bother your sense of smell? Can you smell cigarette smoke from very far away?
2. If you drank a cup of coffee just before sleeping would this keep you awake all night? This tells me that you cannot
excrete caffeine very well. This means you cannot excrete all drugs well. Typically, the patient is sensitive to small
amounts of drugs as compared to her normal friends.
3. Put your feet together, stand on your tip toes, and close your eyes. Can you keep your balance? Do you wobble as compared to a healthy young teenager? This is called a Rhomburg test. This is the only neurological test that is consistently positive in chemically sensitive individuals. However, the patient may also complain of "brain fag", she may not be able to think or have a cloudy mentation if she begins to smell fragrances in the department store.
I would say that two thirds to four fifths of my endometriosis patients have all three of these signs. Most endometriosis patients have severe fear / stress / anxiety.
The experts on dealing with fear/ stress / anxiety are the people at Pleasant Valley Church (www.pleasantvalleychurch.net) in Thomaston, Georgia. Thomaston, GA is about 1 and 1/2 hours south of Atlanta, GA. They run a week long seminar for $149.00. The work on personal issues like getting rid of bitterness, unforgiveness, envy, jealousy, and the last thing to go on Friday is Fear. Many times if the person is wiling to work on the issues, then there is a major improvement by the end of the week.
The following is a report of an experiment that demonstrates that fear/stress/anxiety contribute to allergies.
Fear / Stress / Anxiety makes Allergies Worse
Friday, August 15, 2008 9:22 AM
Psychological stress and anxiety can make seasonal allergy attacks
worse and linger longer, according to research presented Thursday at
the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Boston.
"People may be setting themselves up to have more persistent
problems by being stressed and anxious when allergy attacks begin," Dr.
Janice Kiecolt-Glaser, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Ohio
State University in Columbus noted in a telephone interview with
Reuters Health ahead of the meeting.
To gauge how stress and anxiety affect allergy sufferers,
Kiecolt-Glaser and colleagues recruited 28 men and women with a history
of hay fever and seasonal allergies to participate in a laboratory
study.
On different days, the volunteers were subjected to a low-stress
condition -- reading quietly from magazines -- and to much more
stressful conditions -- giving a 10-minute, videotaped speech in front
of a group of "behavior evaluators" and solving math problems without
paper or pen in front of the group and then watching their videotaped
performance.
The researchers assessed participants' levels of stress and
anxiety and performed standard skin prick allergy tests before and
right after the stressful events, as well as the next day.
Anxiety following the stressful event, the researchers found,
heightened the magnitude of the allergic reactions induced by the skin
prick tests. These allergic reactions show up on the forearm as slight
wounds, or "wheals."
People who were moderately stressed because of the experiment
had wheals that were 75 percent larger after the stressful event
compared to the same person's response after the low-stress condition.
People who were highly stressed had wheals that were twice as
large after they were stressed compared to their response when they
were not stressed. Moreover, these highly stressed people were four
times more likely to show allergic wheals a full day after the
stressful event.
This suggests, the researchers say, that highly stressed people
had an ongoing and strengthening response to the allergy-causing
substances. "The stress seemed to affect them into the next day,"
explained Kiecolt-Glaser. That is, being stressed seems to cause a
person's allergies to worsen the next day.
According to Ohio State immunologist Dr. Ronald Glaser who was
involved in the study, greater anxiety was associated with increased
production in the body of stress hormones called catecholamines and the
inflammation-related protein called interleukin-6. He thinks the
elevated levels of these compounds are to blame for the delayed
allergic reactions.
This delayed allergic response is "really what's ugly about
allergies," Kiecolt-Glaser noted, because they are typically
unresponsive to antihistamines. She advises trying to keep stress at a
minimum, if possible, during allergy season.