Estrogen is a vital hormone that controls your reproductive system. Too much estrogen, or an imbalance of hormones, can create issues. High estrogen levels can interfere with reproductive functions, induce unpleasant symptoms, and raise your chance of developing certain diseases. In this article we’ll dive deep into high estrogen and what it means for you.
Symptoms & Risks
Hormone levels fluctuate naturally during the menstrual cycle, and moderate symptoms such as sore breasts before your period, as well as shifts in mood and energy levels, are common. If a person has persistently high levels over a lengthy period of time, they are more likely to develop.
- Hypothyroidism: There is a link between both estrogen and thyroid health; if your estrogen levels are too high, it causes a reduction in the number of thyroid hormones circulating in your body. Thus, giving you signs of a slow thyroid even if your thyroid is “technically” healthy.
- Endometriosis worsened: High estrogen can cause the formation of endometrial tumors, which can contribute to and aggravate your endometriosis.
- Endometrial hyperplasia: Excess estrogen can cause an overgrowth of the uterine lining, which can result in abnormal uterine bleeding.
- Years of studies have revealed that harmful fluctuations in estrogen might be connected to the advancement of various malignancies. These include breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and endometrial cancer.
- Modifications in estrogen levels have been related to several kinds of cardiovascular illness, including heart disease, stroke, and clotting issues.
When addressing these symptoms, there are several aspects to consider. However, here’s the secret: rather than just increasing progesterone levels with medication, the key to decreasing this is treating the factors that cause it.
What Are The Causes
The causes are not a clear and concise list. Each person has their own hormone system – the constellation of things impacting their hormones – and it’s crucial to look at the entire picture rather than focusing on a particular reason.
However, ensuring there’s no medical problem is critical. The following are some of the most prevalent reasons for excessive estrogen that modern science rarely acknowledges or addresses:
Digestive Issues
Your body cannot remove extra estrogen if you do not have regular digestive movements. Some probable reasons for estrogen re-circulation include a lack of digestive enzymes and/or low stomach acid. Low magnesium levels, dehydration, a lack of fiber, and dysbiosis can all lead to estrogen dominance.
Limit Toxin Intake
This includes toxins in food, personal hygiene items, cleaning supplies, and even your drinking water. These substances are toxins that will offset your hormone balance. The herbicide glyphosate is common in our food and water. You may lower your total toxin intake and boost estrogen metabolism by consuming organic foods and utilizing a water filter.
Reduce Stress Levels
When the body’s requirement for cortisol increases, the total availability of progesterone declines. As a result, progesterone levels are low and estrogen is dominant.
As a result, incorporate a range of stress-relieving activities such as deep breathing exercises, heart-centered meditation, yoga, prayer, writing, nature walks, and more. Estrogen dominance can have a negative impact on mental health.
Weight Loss
In addition, you can lower estrogen and hormone imbalances by decreasing fat and gaining muscle. Weight loss can lead to better hormonal balance. According to research, if you are severely ‘overweight’ or obese, lowering weight may help minimize your estrogen levels.
Given that fat cells can generate estrogen, it stands to reason that lowering body fat percentage can assist with reducing estrogen levels in the body. In one research of overweight and obese women, reducing 7.7 kilograms (approximately 16 pounds) resulted in a 13.4 percent drop in average free estradiol concentrations.
Treatment Options
If a hormone level blood test indicates that you have excessive estrogen levels, your physician may present you with two alternatives. The best alternative for you is determined by the remainder of your conditions as well as the health records of your family.
Medications
These include anastrozole, exemestane, and letrozole prescriptions. These prevent the enzyme aromatase from turning androgens into estrogen. Medication that prevents your ovaries from making estrogen is also available.
Surgery
Nevertheless, if your condition is dire, or if you have a family history of cancers linked to elevated amounts of estrogen, your doctor can recommend you to have the ovaries removed. It is a type of surgical menopause in which estrogen levels are reduced.
Following surgery, you may require hormone treatment to restore your hormone levels to a healthy level. Overall, this approach can help to regulate the elevated amounts of estrogen in your body, which can promote breast and ovarian cancers.
Take Supplements/Vitamins
The first step is to choose vitamins that will restore equilibrium to your hormone levels. Understand that this is closely linked to the hormone progesterone. Both are connected to other hormones like cortisol and pregnenolone. Because of these links, you should search for a product that treats the whole range of symptoms associated with elevated estrogen in females.
Balance Diet
Next, a hormone-balancing diet consists of meals that target the body’s vitamin and mineral balance, as well as organs and their hormone synthesis. The following foods are found in an estrogen-lowering diet:
- Wild-caught salmon
- Tempeh
- Pre- and probiotics
- Brazil nuts
- Helpful herbs and spices like turmeric and garlic
Detox
Your liver plays an important role in waste and toxin clearance. The only issue is that this detoxification center frequently becomes clogged with substances. These techniques can be used to do a liver detox.
- A nutritional strategy that incorporates husk and flaxseeds, as well as magnesium, b-vitamins, and calcium d-glucarate.
- Using herbal medication such as curcumin longi, flavonoid chrysin, and rosemary officinalis extract.
- Getting rid of endocrine-disrupting substances like phthalates and BPA (found in plastics).
Get Help Today
There are steps required to treat excessive hormone levels in women. Begin with blood tests to determine these levels. Midwife360 can help you identify what’s causing your elevated levels and propose solutions. We firmly believe in empowering and educating each woman and family we serve. If you have any concerns or would like to make an appointment, please contact Midwife360 today.
This is such an informative blog. I never knew that all of these could be reasons for high estrogen levels. Great post!
Oh wow. I had no idea that a woman COULD have high estrogen. This was a very interesting read.
Hhhhmmm…estrogen can be very good for the body and deadly to the body, as well. Thank you for those pointers on the diet we can have, to change all that.
My daughter was just diagnosed with Endometriosis. She had surgery yesterday and is thankfully back at her home already today. She has two little ones under 3 so I worry about her lifting before she heals. She’s not one to wait…
Very informative, first time to know about this. I will note this just in case this information will be needed.
Such a great post and very informative. It’s very essential that we know this kind of condition and how we can treat it or prevent it. Thanks for sharing this with us!
Very informative. I haven’t really paid much attention to Hormone types but it`s important to know about these, especially for our health.
Balanced diet really helps in preventing many sicknesses. Thanks for this, I will be more cautious when I see signs of high estrogen.
A very interesting read on the level of estrogen. Thanks for sharing
This is very interesting! I had no idea about the possible side effects and what it could mean.
I have an appointment with my gynecologist next week. I am going to ask him to test me for high estrogen. This was a very interesting article.
The opposite actually runs in my family. We suffer with low estrogen levels
I had no idea! Thanks for sharing as this is important for women to know!