The Hormone Estrogen And Why Do You Need It Balanced

Highlights

Estrogen is health-supportive, meaning that it supports energy, sleep, libido, mood, skin, metabolism, and more when it’s in optimal amounts throughout our cycle, or when we are menopausal.

Estrogen Dominance can also happen if we’re exposed to too many estrogen-like chemicals in our environment like plastics, household cleaning and beauty products.

With recent fad diets, eliminating entire food groups and prioritizing weight loss over nutrient content could cause suboptimal levels of these important nutrients. This can also lead to estrogen dominance symptoms

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Have you been feeling a little off lately and not being able to understand why?

While it could be due to many things going wrong in your life, ever wondered if hormones was one of them?

Here are a few questions and if you check most answers then I have news for you.

· Your energy level has hit a sudden low

· You are having a tough time remembering things as your brain is foggy most of the time.

· You can’t keep off sugary and carb rich food and find yourself reaching for it more than usual.

· You’ve slept well all night but still wake up tired.

· Your stress and anxiety have gone up

· You can spot sudden changes in your skin, hair and body.

· You seem to break down into tears at anything slightly emotional.

· You can’t seem to control your moods and find yourself lashing out at people around you more than often.

Well, if you got most of the above going for you, then it might be your hormones. Hormones are chemical messengers running the show, day in, day out. They control everything. We’re all hormonal. Hormones are ongoing, at every age and phase of life across all genders and ages, even kids. Being hormonal, means being alive. It is only when the balance is disrupted and they go out of control that it starts causing havoc.

So if the body is regulated by so many hormones, which hormone exactly could be causing this upheaval in your life?

The answer is Estrogen. Estrogen is ONE of our sex hormones. While all sexes have estrogen, people with ovaries have more. Estrogen plays an important role in nearly 400 functions in the body. Especially for those who menstruate, it fluctuates with our cycle. During the follicular & ovulatory phases it rises and is the highest before ovulation. In the second half of the cycle, it drops & progesterone is boosted (when we ovulate, that is).

If estrogen remains dominant during the second half of the cycle that’s called being estrogen dominant, which can sometimes happen. Estrogen dominance can happen during perimenopause when there’s a shift in ovulation. And during menopause when estrogen and progesterone are out of balance.

What causes Estrogen Dominance?

Estrogen is health-supportive, meaning that it supports energy, sleep, libido, mood, skin, metabolism, & more when it’s in optimal amounts throughout our cycle, or when we are menopausal. It is mainly eliminated via bile & poop. But when this is not being excreted properly from the body, it gets recirculated adding estrogen dominance.

Estrogen Dominance can also happen if we’re exposed to too many estrogen-like chemicals in our environment like plastics, household cleaning and beauty products. These are called xenoestrogens or even endocrine disruptors. Alcohol can raise estrogen too. Estrogen is broken down & packaged up in the liver & gut so healthy liver & gut functions are important.⠀

Important factors that affect estrogen production

· There are three main types of estrogen produced in the body: estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), & estriol (E3).

· Estrone is produced by our fat cells. The more we have, the more estrone we produce. Estrone can convert to estradiol.

· Estrone & estradiol influence our body shape (estradiol = pear, estrone = apple).

Estrogen production is facilitated by these nutrients: zinc, magnesium, boron, B vitamins, vitamin D, vitamin E. But it begins to decline in our 30s or 40s, depending on the women. Many lifestyle factors can affect when this happens, and our experience. During menopause natural estrogen is at its lowest.

Heavy training, exercises, stress, head trauma, birth control, hysterectomies, or other factors can suppress our natural health-supportive estrogen. When this isn’t flowing optimally before menopause, it can result in no periods which can in turn stop progesterone production too.⠀

Make sure you get these nutrients from foods which is one reason why good balanced nutrition for women is so important. ⠀

– B2, B3, B5, B6, B9, B12⠀

– Vitamin C⠀

– Choline⠀

– Amino acids (from protein)⠀

– Phospholipids (from fats)⠀

– magnesium⠀

– glutathione (comprised of amino acids)⠀

Knowing your hormones can help you work with them and regulate them to keep them in balance and control making sure that you enjoy good health.

Also Read Have You Heard Of Seed Cycling For PCOD?

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I got my first period at the age of 13. Always painful, heavy and irregular. My gynaecologist said the condition will improve with age. And yes, it did. The irregular periods were gone by the age of 16-17. But what never left my company was this pain, this unmerciful and burning pain. I remember sometimes I used to faint because of the pelvic pain and heavy bleeding. I see many girls who play, swim, party and lead a normal life even when they are menstruating. I would say “Girls you must be God’s favourite”.

So, I considered myself a not so favourite of God and started leading my life accepting the monthly challenges. But then my life took another turn. When I was 26, I started getting random cramps. Cramps like mini ninjas were trying to kill me from inside. Getting down from my bed in the morning became like a battle. I rushed to my gynaecologist. And after all the scans and tests, I was diagnosed with Endometriosis, a chronic illness I have to live with.

I had not heard of endometriosis before nor had any member of my family. I had to do my own research by consulting the internet and doctor. Endometriosis is a disorder in which tissue similar to the endometrial tissue (tissue that forms the lining of your uterus) grows outside of the uterine cavity, on ovaries, fallopian tube, bowel, and tissues lining your pelvis. Some of the symptoms I suffered from were:

chronic pain during or in between cycles
heavy bleeding during periods
Fatigue/lack of energy/weakness

Some days can really be hard when the pain is to the extent that I cannot stand up straight or walk properly as the pain is down my legs and up my back. Lying curled up in bed in the fetal position around a hot water bottle becomes a common way of coping.

The treatment my doctor suggested is of combined oral contraceptive pills. These pills contain a mixture of estrogen and progesterone and works by suppressing ovulation and affects the production of female hormones in the ovary. The hormones in the Pill cause the uterus lining to become thinner, causing periods to become shorter and lighter, thus reducing endometriosis symptoms. I have been taking this treatment from past 3 years now with planned breaks in between. I can say that in my case the treatment did not work as effectively as expected. Instead it brought some side effects like weight gain and mood swings.

This is when I had to bring some changes in my lifestyle. And trust me these changes work as add-ons to the treatment.

Yoga and workout: There are yogasanas which are specially for Endometriosis pain relief. Workout is important because this treatment can cause an unproportionate weight gain.
Avoid dairy products: As suggested by an ayurvedic doctor because dairy products contain hormones which can affect the natural hormone generation of the body.
Add green vegetables and fruits in your diet.
Positive attitude: This illness can sometimes play with your mind and you can feel sick and on your own. Don’t fall for it. Go out, spend time with people and try to lead your life as normal as you can. Just take one day at a time.

People often say, “You don’t look sick”. But I am not surprised, even I was not aware of it before. A surprising fact is that approximately 10 per cent of women in India are suffering from this debilitating illness, still, no one knows about it till they suffer themselves. So, I just want to bring this awareness among girls who are suffering from lethal pelvic pain or any other symptom. Don’t spend half of your life assuming that it is just normal period pain and go see your gynaecologist for correct diagnosis before it’s too late.

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