The precursor to hormonal issues — Are you experiencing estrogen dominance?

As I began writing my 10-part blog series on the root causes of female hormonal imbalances, I realized I first need to bring to light the most overlooked, and number one hormonal issue, effecting women’s health today. If you have been troubled by weight gain, low mood, sleep issues, bloating, gut issues, overwhelm, brain fog, headaches, blood sugar imbalance, joint pain, night sweats or menstrual cycle irregularity, you could be suffering from estrogen dominance. Women of all ages are experiencing symptoms of estrogen dominance, and don’t even know it. This is because when you test your hormone levels with a traditional blood test, you are given your estrogen levels and progesterone levels. And both can be fundamentally in range, so essentially you are healthy, right; no “treatment” needed. But are you optimal? How are you feeling? Do you have signs and symptoms of estrogen dominance? The KEY to balanced hormones is in the ratio of estrogen to progesterone. When this is out of range your body begins to act like you have too much estrogen and you can begin to see a host of symptoms. This is why functional medicine lab testing is so important. Assessing estrogen dominance ideally involves free, or bioavailable, estrogen and progesterone, as they reflect the active hormone levels in the body. Traditional bloodwork measures total serum levels, which include both free and bound hormones, and may not accurately capture the active balance between estrogen and progesterone. The lab testing I recommend is easy to do at home with salvia and is proven to measure free hormone levels including the ratio more accurately. The ratio between estrogen and progesterone must be in balance. This is what dictates how you are feeling and why you have those symptoms. Usually, it comes down to the body not producing enough progesterone. This is what most women are struggling with. And the biggest complaint: apathy – feeling like you don’t care, no motivation, no get up and go, just blah, going through the motions. Combined with a sense of overwhelm, lower stamina, low libido, belly weight, tender breasts, bloating, headaches, brain fog, sleep issues. A lot of these symptoms will take place during the last 10 days of your cycle. And when these symptoms go on for too long and become chronic based, is when things turn more serious and you can experience bigger issues like, cycle dysregulation, PCOS, infertility, low metabolism, depression and low thyroid. And the biggest issue causing all this? Stress! Chronic stress fundamentally breaks down the body. Stress hugely affects the nervous system and in turn the endocrine system, otherwise known as our hormones, and it also leads to weakened immune system, increased cortisol production, and consequently lowered progesterone. But how do we get back in balance? We don’t need to turn to pharmaceuticals or even hormone replacement therapy but why not take a deeper look into our lifestyle factors. Assessing your lifestyle could be key to balancing your hormones. Are you eating three meals a day? Are you under/overexercising? Are you stressed? How’s your toxic load? How’s your sleep? Do you take time for you: meditate, light massage, hatha yoga, epsom salt bath. Are you supplementing with whole food supplements? How’s your mindset? You can see it takes an integrative approach to finding optimal health, but it’s very easily attainable if you have the right foundation. Next up, my 10-part blog on the Top 10 Root Causes for Female Hormone Imbalance where you will see estrogen dominance plays a big role.