Western culture teaches us to tough it out. If we’re feeling off, many of us don’t want to make a fuss. It becomes a badge of honor to suffer through and ignore our symptoms.
But this “tough it out” mindset has dangerous consequences. If you’re between the ages of 35 to 55, failing to address your symptoms could increase your perimenopause cancer risk.
How so?
Because if you experience any of the 66 symptoms associated with perimenopause including: fibroids, ovarian cysts, infertility, irritability, mood swings, PMS, flooding, painful swollen breasts, brain fog, insomnia, fatigue, hair loss, depression or low libido, then you are not just perimenopausal despite what your doctor has told you. You likely suffer from estrogen dominance.
What’s estrogen dominance?
Just as it sounds, estrogen dominance is a condition where the body has an overabundance of estrogen. If left unchecked, it could lead to hypothyroidism, autoimmune disease, chronic fatigue, as well as ovarian and breast cancer.
So you see, you never should ignore any of your perimenopause symptoms.
And you definitely don’t want to mask them with prescription drugs. Medications do nothing to heal this condition. In fact, if your doctor prescribes estrogen, whether it’s natural or conventional, then you could exacerbate your symptoms. You may even increase your perimenopause cancer risk.
So how did you get to be estrogen dominant? Don’t estrogen levels decline during the perimenopausal years?
Yes, they do. But the term “estrogen dominance” refers to the balance between estrogen and progesterone. Stress and toxin exposure can raise estrogen to unhealthy levels. When that happens your body reacts by suppressing progesterone, causing an imbalance.
So all those nasty symptoms that are making you feel so sick right now? They are the result of having depressed progesterone levels.
And because the term refers to the ratio of progesterone to estrogen, you can simultaneously be estrogen deficient and estrogen dominant. In other words, you could have low levels of estrogen and even lower levels of progesterone.
You may be wondering how this all came about. Did women always suffer from this condition?
No, in fact, they did not. Estrogen dominance is a fairly recent phenomenon in the grand scheme of things.
The reason why so many women are estrogen dominant now is because we are exposed to synthetic hormones, or xenohormones, in our environment on a daily basis. These xenohormones have a big impact on our own natural hormones and can really do a number on our health. If you want to reduce your estrogen dominant symptoms then you need to make a conscious effort to avoid exposure to these toxins.
And it’s not just older, perimenopausal women who are at risk. Men and children also can become estrogen dominant and suffer health issues as a result.
What’s one of the biggest sources of xenohormones? The food we eat. Conventionally raised meat and dairy contain some of the highest levels of synthetic hormones. Rid these offenders from your diet and you’ll likely see a big improvement in your health.
But it’s not just the food we eat. Xenohormones are lurking in certain plastics, personal care products and even some furniture. You would be surprised by just how many of the products you use every day that contain these hormone-disrupting chemicals.
