My naturopath and doctor say I have oestrogen excess symptoms and am wondering what you can do about this?
My doctor has suggested I change my ocp / contraceptive pill, but I find that this can sometimes make matters worse.
My symptoms are of irritability, weight gain, bloating fluid retention in legs, mood swings and heavy menses.
Oestrogen excess issues
This entry was posted in Women's Health. Bookmark the permalink.
3 Responses to Oestrogen excess issues
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Hi there
There are many answers for you query and therefore may options for you, be assured you don’t have to suffer from those mood swings and menstrual problems lets see if we can turn into
Ok so it does seem you have oestrogen excess or dominance I’ll try and give you a bit of info on Oestrogen, its bodily functions and what this excess means. After that I will make some suggestions for your treatment options and hopefully that way you will have a deeper understanding of your body and this ailment as well as the importance of supplements recommended for you.
Oestrogen has many actions and numerous body functions besides the main role it plays as a sex hormone (development of female sexual characteristics and reproduction). Oestrogen also helps temperature regulation, thyroid function, prevents memory loss, regulates cholesterol and weight, preserves the density of bones. Oestrogen is also very important to our emotional wellbeing and regulates mood swings (as you would already know) anger outbursts as well as depression and fatigue. Oestrogen excess or dominance implies that the relative levels of oestrogen to progesterone are unbalanced, in favour of oestrogen. Low levels of progesterone are the primary cause of your emotional instability and bloating as well as fluid retention. The causes of this hormonal imbalance are many but mainly this is due to chronic stress which depletes our progesterone; impaired liver function which is the main vessel for oestrogen breakdown and detoxification; environmental oestrogen overload (food mainly). Also did you know that the OCP can contribute to this excess as well? It decreases progesterone production therefore further misbalancing the ratios of the two hormones.
The best way to approach this is by increasing your livers ability to metabolise oestrogen, this way we will also increase elimination/detoxification of excess oestrogen. The oxidation of oestrogen is mediated by cytochrome P450, there are certain foods and nutrients that will help this enzyme along such as all foods from the brassica family (brusselsprouts, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower etc) Methionine and Glutamine are some of the amino acids that ‘power’ this enzyme along. Have a look at Ultraclear or Ultraclear Plus in our E-shop, they have been specifically formulated to aid in liver detoxification. Dietary changes are also necessary so you can avoid extra oestrogen intake, this involves removing all Diary products from your diet (at least for some time 6 weeks or more); increasing fibre rich foods will reduce the amount of oestrogen that can be reabsorbed through the intestines; reduce alcohol and caffeinated beverages as these will put extra demands on your liver and therefore slow down detoxification.
Some nutrients I would highly recommend for you are:
Indolplex (this regulates the balance of Oestrogen: Progesterone)
Gynavite one per day (is a vitamin/herbal supplement specifically formulated for women who experience hormonal disturbance) or Formula SF88 Plus as a general multivitamin (did you know that OCP reduces the absorption of many minerals and vitamins?)
Vit B 6 one per day (this will help with mood swings and will lower irritability as it helps make serotonin and GABA a powerful relaxing neurotransmitter)
Marine Oil + EPO two per day (this will help with fluid imbalance, bloating, mood swings also you may find that your skin will clear up)
Other supplements you may benefit from are Elezac (with St. John’s Wort to help with mood), Black Currant Seed Oil and Same will help in that department as well. Now you have indicated that you are currently on OCP, you might want to take some form of probiotics as ‘the pill’ reduces the amount of good bacteria in our gut and increases candida growth (Prodophilus or SB Flora) and lets not forget Magnesium (which is decreased due to lowered absorption as a result of long term OCP use).
Hopefully you have got the answer you were searching for somewhere in this jargon up there.
In Health and Happiness
Gabriela
BNat
Thank you for that . Could you please explain cytochrome p450.
Cytochrome p45o is a system of enzymes that have health implications. Many medications are metabolized and or affect these enzymes. Interesting the enzymes are inhibitable and inducible by many natural and food substances . In general natural foods, vitamins and minerals have a positive effect on these enzymes and the paradigm of modern living like cigarettes and alcohol have a deleterious effect. These enzyme systems are geneticly determined in function , but modifiable by ” healthy living “.
The beneficial effects of ultaclear , ultraclear maintain, gtox,rejuvenx are dependent on modification of these enzyme systems. The formulations are slightly different to account for these genetic aberrations.
How often and how long you need to take these products is dependent on clinical responses.
In general 2 to 3 weeks is useful every 2 to 3 months to keep things at premium responses.