Estrogen deficiency causes fatigue, weight gain, hair loss, depression, and insomnia. It also causes dry skin, recurrent bladder infections, and vaginal dryness.
Vaginal dryness is one of the most characteristic signs of estrogen deficiency and a good indicator that you do have deficiency.
Too much estrogen can cause heavy periods, breast pain, fibroids, and premenstrual irritability. It can also suppress thyroid function and increase the risk of breast cancer.
What natural treatment works to lower estrogen? To understand that, you need to think about the types of estrogen and why they’re high.
Endometriosis is not a hormonal condition. It’s affected by estrogen but it’s not caused by estrogen or “estrogen dominance.”
Instead, endometriosis is a whole-body inflammatory and immune disease, and possibly a microbial disease.
What does that mean for treatment?
PCOS cannot be diagnosed by ultrasound because polycystic ovaries are not cysts. They’re follicles or eggs which are normal for the ovary.
It’s normal for all women to sometimes have a higher number of follicles. It’s normal for young women to always have a higher number of follicles because young women have more eggs. That’s why the new international PCOS guidelines state that “ultrasound is now not recommended in diagnosis in those within 8 years of the start of periods.”
Wheat or gluten is not usually an obstacle to healthy menstruation but can sometimes be a problem for endometriosis, amenorrhea, and thyroid disease.
Keep reading for a short survey of how wheat affects periods, but first, let’s take a closer look at wheat’s two main symptom-causing components: FODMAPs, which are a type of carbohydrate, and gluten, which is a protein.
Phytoestrogens are a special group of phytonutrients that occur naturally in most plant foods. The two major classes are isoflavones in soy, and lignans in seeds, whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables.
They’re called phytoestrogens because they interact with estrogen receptors but they’re not estrogen. In fact, they bind so weakly to estrogen receptors that they effectively block estradiol and are therefore better classified as ANTI-estrogen.