Ladies, as the years go by, have you noticed a change in how you feel? Do you have symptoms such as fluid retention, menstrual cramps, PMS, anxiety, trouble sleeping, depressed moods and migraines? As you may already know, symptoms like these are commonly caused by hormone decline and imbalance.
To function optimally, a woman’s body requires a balance of estrogens (estradiol, estrone, and estriol) and progesterone. The ovaries are the main source of production for both the estrogens and progesterone. But while both estrogen and progesterone levels decline with age, progesterone declines much more dramatically, creating an imbalance with estrogen. By menopause, a woman’s progesterone level is likely to be a mere 1/120 of the level she had in her early twenties. This leads to higher levels of estrogen that is not balanced by progesterone – a condition called estrogen dominance.
Estrogen dominance occurs when the hormonal balance is shifted in favor of the estrogens, and estrogen is unopposed by progesterone. This condition can also be called a progesterone deficiency. Progesterone deficiency usually begins in midlife, around 35 years of age, and continues until menopause. Progesterone levels fall as women have anovulatory cycles (when ovulation does not occur) and as their ovaries age.
Keep in mind that a woman who is not ovulating produces no progesterone in her ovaries. Meanwhile, we’re living in an environment that is full of xenoestrogens (such as plastic containers, pesticides, chemicals in personal care products) that mimic estrogen in our body and disrupt hormone balance, which further contributes to this hormone imbalance. So why should you be concerned about estrogen dominance? It causes many unwanted health symptoms and increases your risk for cancer.
Symptoms of estrogen dominance or progesterone deficiency include:
- Premenstrual Headaches Often Migraine In Nature
- Fluid Retention
- Weight Gain
- Difficulty Sleeping
- Anxiety
- Panic Attacks
- Low Libido
- Pms
- Menstrual Cramps
- Breast Tenderness
- Depression
- Fibrocystic Breast Disease
- Uterine Fibroids
- Ovarian Cysts
- Menorrhagia (Heavy, Painful Menstrual Periods)
- Endometriosis
- Functional Hypothyroidism
- Increased Risk Of Breast Cancer And Endometrial Cancer
Did you know that the brain is highly sensitive to progesterone? In fact, progesterone is found in brain cells at levels much higher than in the blood. Here, as elsewhere in the body, progesterone counterbalances the effects of estrogen. Estrogen has an excitatory effect on the brain and progesterone has a calming effect. Women with estrogen dominance sleep restlessly, whereas restoring progesterone levels to normal enhances sleep.
It is important for you to know that there are 5 different stages in a woman’s life when you are at risk for a progesterone deficiency and estrogen dominance:
1. Puberty
2. After childbirth
3. When taking birth control pills
4. During midlife
5. When placed on counterfeit hormones, such as Premarin, prior to or after menopause.
Conventional doctors sometimes tell women that once they enter menopause or have had a hysterectomy that they don’t need progesterone anymore, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Women do still need progesterone even in menopause in order to balance the estrogen. Beware that conventional doctors also prescribe drugs such as Premarin and Prempro, which contain potent horse estrogens and has dangerous side effects.
Conventional doctors also are known to prescribe antidepressants, anti-anxiety and sleep medications, to name a few. Keep in mind that all of these drugs are literally toxins to your body. They have many negative side effects and have to be detoxified by your liver.
The natural, safe solution for symptoms of a progesterone deficiency is to restore your progesterone levels back to normal and balance the estrogen with bioidentical progesterone that is molecularly identical to the progesterone made by your human body. This will help keep your body in balance and healthy, and you will feel the difference.
It’s time to get your energy and vitality back so you can live your best life!
To schedule a Free Wellness Consultation with the Hotze Health & Wellness Center—call us at 281-698-8698 or visit hotzehwc.com. Click here to take the symptom checker to find out if you could be experiencing symptoms of hormone decline.
