Oestrogen is a really important hormone.
Most of us only really think about oestrogen levels as it pertains to pregnancy, menopause, or possibly menstrual cycles (if you are using birth control).
But oestrogen impacts more than you realise.
Low Oestrogen {Estradiol aka E1}
Most women have a drop in oestrogen around menopausal years when the body stops menstruating.
But that’s not the only time oestrogen lowers…
Many women suffering from low oestrogen experience symptoms like:
- diarrhoea,
- moodiness or irritability,
- insomnia or trouble sleeping,
- heavy periods,
- and weight gain (especially around the mid section).
Now, when oestrogen drops these symptoms increase because in many cases their body doesn’t have adequate levels of other hormones or isn’t producing enough oestrogen due to other imbalances in metabolic hormones, testosterone, or progesterone levels.
It’s especially common for the cortisol hormone to kick into overdrive during stressful seasons or after stressful periods of life. This is often where that puffy midsection and insomnia stem from!
But if low oestrogen persists and is not addressed, doctors have found a profound connection between low oestrogen and arthritis or joint pain.
In fact, it’s believed that low oestrogen is a major contributing factor of the increase levels of pain women experience when they get arthritis compared to men.
And 1 in every 4 women have arthritis compared to 1 in every 5 men. And most women getting arthritis are diagnosed after 55, compared to most men that are diagnosed earlier.
Oestrogen Dominance
PCOS and oestrogen dominance are often connected.
With oestrogen dominance in PCOS, many women also see insulin resistance, and high androgens.
Unfortunately more than half of the women that have PCOS don’t know they have it, and, it’s a condition that has more than doubled in diagnosis in the last ten years (still missing a significant number of women being diagnosed).
Oestrogen dominance causes excess visceral fat and weight gain. It has also been known to be a leading reason for the spike in insulin resistance.
Many women with PCOS number one complaints is the struggle to loose weight. No matter what diet or exercise they go on – weight simply doesn’t shift!
This is largely because they body is converting food into sugar and the oestrogen dominance stores excess fat.
This is one of the reasons many women suffering from oestrogen dominance or high oestrogen levels not only struggle to loose weight, but also hold a much higher ratio of visceral fat.
Visceral fat is the stubborn fat that sits on top of the organs – it’s the bad stubborn fat.
Excess Oestrogen or High Oestrogen
High oestrogen also shows up as weight gain. Often women suffering from high oestrogen tend to hold their weight around the breasts, hips, arms, and bum.
High oestrogen loves fat.
So many women suffering from high oestrogen complain about their ability to loose weight. No matter what they do, their bodies want to keep the fat.
Like Oestrogen dominance, many women suffering from excess oestrogen, hold onto higher levels of that bad visceral fat. Which is that stubborn fat that is quite challenging to shift!
You ever dropped a kilo or two on a strict diet and exercise routine for 2 or 3 months, then it come back after a cheat day or a cheat week?
This is a common connection to the kind of fat you LOST when you were on your strict routine!
High oestrogen also causes fatigue (often feeling an underlying tiredness all day), sugar cravings, tear-ness, sore or lumpy breasts, depression and long night’s sleep.
It’s not uncommon for our patients suffering from high oestrogen to be prescribed antidepressants.
One of the signs we see in the clinic is oestrogen levels so high that we may ask our patients to do a pregnancy test!
High oestrogen can be common in mums, especially mums 18 months to 10 years after having their babies. It’s also common in women that may be concerned about breast cancer.
High oestrogen can also be caused by high levels of metals or minerals – which needs to be carefully treated.
With time, untreated, we find many women suffering from high levels of oestrogen suffer from obesity and in long periods of time with elevated levels, can develop breast cancers.
It can be common for our patients to experience symptoms as we’ve explained today, but have “normal” Medicare blood work.
Many women suffering from menopause are offered hormone prescriptions, though that doesn’t necessarily negate other underlying issues (like potentially arthritis) due to the low levels of oestrogen and high levels of cortisol.
If you feel like something isn’t quite right with your oestrogen or this resonated with you, we’d love to support you. You can organise a Free Introductory Consultation with us here:
We’ll go through a symptoms analysis with you to detect what could be going on for you and walk you through a treatment plan that can support you.
I hope you enjoyed this!
Oestrogen is specially crafted for women. And when you understand how it works, it can be such a major indicator of how your health is going.
Look forward to connecting with you again soon.
Warmly,
Tiaan
