Hormone Imbalance: Unraveling a Mystery in Womens' Health

Did you know that many hormone problems experienced by women have a single common cause?

It's called "estrogen dominance" and it comes in many shapes and sizes!

It may be hard to believe that a huge number of women's (and men's) hormonal problems are linked to a single imbalance.

Why doesn't my doctor tell me this?
How can one imbalance cause so many problems?

Estrogen works in many parts of the body. The ovaries make it and it works in the bones, muscles, reproductive organs, as well as the nervous system and the mucous membranes.

But there is one factor that is more important to know about than estrogen itself. That is, many problems develop when there is an inadequate elimination of estrogen once it has done its job. Estrogen is a steroid hormone made from cholesterol, so if you have a high cholesterol level, you can assume that your body does not eliminate estrogen well.

Our bodies make estrogen everyday. They are supposed to eliminate the same amount of estrogen everyday also. If estrogen lingers in the body, the quality of the estrogen declines. It actually loses its ability to do all the good things that it is supposed to do. As it loses this ability, it still stimulates estrogen receptors, but in a different way. It tells them that estrogen is in the body continuously, so the cells of the body never get a rest from estrogen stimulation.

Estrogen receptors are found on nearly all cells, tissues and organs of the body. They are most numerous in the female organs and glands. Their job is to be available when estrogen is circulating, to receive estrogen's signal to build tissue and store energy. Please note here that the stored energy is sometimes in the form of fat, a sign of excess estrogen activity.

Hormones either stimulate the body to rebuild itself in many ways or they stimulate it to break down and release energy. A given hormone does one thing or the other, but not both. Estrogen is more the type of hormone that builds tissues and stores energy. But due to a number of common problems , the estrogen hangs around in your body. You don't really want this to happen. When the estrogen hangs around for too long, some other problems begin.

Estrogen is only supposed to be at its highest activity for 6-12 hours per day. It also has high and low points throughout the monthly cycle. When the body does not succeed in reducing estrogen by metabolizing it, the estrogen hangs around and accumulates, as described above. When it accumulates too much, your body starts doing things such as gaining weight, bleeding too heavily, etc.

Now, there is one other very important thing to understand. Pay attention to this because if you can understand this part and put it to work for yourself- your body will thank you many times over with improved health. The activity and effects of estrogen are dependent on many other things than whether or not the body can make or absorb (from treatment) enough estrogen. The effects have everything to do with how well your body metabolizes it!

What do you mean by this word "metabolize"? Your body has inborn ways to detect everything that enters it! When it detects a hormone, it has a special way of handling it, using special proteins to carry it. That part requires a healthy liver. The next step is for the cells and tissues to respond to it when it has made its way through the circulatory system. When there is too much estrogen all the time, the body becomes "resistant" to it and starts to accumulate fat. Now, you think that's the end of the story, right? Not yet. Now the estrogen has to GET OUT of the body when it is used up. That is much easier said than done in our society.

If your body does not eliminate ALL of the estrogen it has made or taken in during a day, your body begins the next day with too much estrogen. And if it does not metabolize all its estrogen the next day it carries over again. Well, the truth is, most women have this lack of metabolism and excess stimulation occurring in their bodies not for a few days here and there- but for years and decades. Add to that condition a medical treatment of birth control pills or other hormones and you can begin to see how the EXCESS and DOMINANCE of estrogen develops.

If you are fortunate enough to get good medical help that can help you, all of the factors mentioned above will be addressed, as we do at Greenspan Good Health Center. In most cases, women (and men) are not aware of the imbalance until there is some type of illness that requires surgery or stronger medications. These treatments don't resolve the problem; they merely distract your body from dealing with it. Read about the CAUSES of estrogen dominance to learn more.