Jenni Gilbert Its symptoms are many but insidious; often brushed aside as the result lifestyle factors such as stress, ageing, PMT or menopause, overwork … the list goes on.
We’re talking everything from depression, anxiety and severe mood swings to weight gain and/or difficulty losing it, digestive issues such as bloating and constipation and/or diahhorea, gynaecological issues like vaginal dryness, fibrocystic and/or tender breasts, and a veritable encyclopaedia of skin problems. (For the LONG list, see below).
Of course all these symptoms can logically be caused and explained by lifestyle factors, but it’s worth looking deeper if you or any of your clients are suffering from a whole host of these “lurgies” despite all manner of measures to correct them …
This silent epidemic is Oestrogen Dominance, and it can affect men, women and children alike. It’s been linked to birth defects in both humans and animals.
The term technically describes a condition where a woman can have deficient, normal or excessive estrogen, but has little or no progesterone to balance its effects in the body.
Even a woman with low oestrogen levels can have oestrogen dominance symptoms if she doesn’t have enough progesterone.
But over the course of nearly a century, excess oestrogen causing oestrogen dominance has been progressively skewed off the scale by industrialism, modern agriculture and synthetic hormone therapy (everything from the Pill to HRT); that is, by xenoestrogens received transdermally from all sorts of external sources.
Non-biodegradable in nature, the major sources of xenoestrogens are pesticides, detergents, petroleum products, plastic products, industrial waste products, car exhaust, meat and poultry, soaps and much of the carpeting, furniture and panelling that we live and work within on a daily basis, and cosmetics. Even spermicides used for birth control in diaphragm jellies, condoms and in vaginal gels.
You’d virtually have to live in a bubble to escape the excess oestrogens we’re exposed to. So, what to do? Some options for you and your clients:
GROUNDBREAKING SUPPLEMENT
Dr Ben Johnson, pioneering US medical aesthetician and founder of Osmosis skincare, has spent several years creating a supplement to combat Oestrogen Dominance. The result is DIM and it has just been released (available after medical consultation).
“It is a very serious problem in most of the civilised world,” says Dr Johnson. “However, the picture isn’t simple. Oestrogenic toxins only have certain effects on the body; they do not activate all oestrogen receptors.
“Therefore we see gynaecomastia (male breasts), fibrocystic breast disease, breast cancer, weight gain, endometriosis that are most likely related to the (approximately) 300,000 oestrogenic toxins the average person encounters daily.
“However, the actual effect on hormones is to lower oestrogen because the body thinks it has too much.
“This creates testosterone and progesterone effects that in women include irregular periods, infertility, PCOS, facial hair and body hair, hair loss and early menopause.
“For men, symptoms include acne, BPH (benign enlargement or growth of the prostate gland), prostate/testicular cancer, balding, back hair, reduced libido, moodiness and more.
“It affects children too – Oestrogen Dominance can lead to early menstruation, early breast development, acne, excess hair for girls, moodiness and more.
“DIM, derived from cruciferous vegetables, is a remarkable binder of these oestrogenic toxins. It will help raise oestrogen to more natural levels and create balance in the body.
“We use frequency medicine to balance the testosterone in the form of Skin Perfection and/or Hormone Health Harmonized Water. The two together will have dramatic effects on regulating symptoms.”
NATURAL BIO-IDENTICAL PROGESTERONE CREAMS
Oestrogen Dominance symptoms can be greatly improved, even reversed, with natural bioidentical progesterone creams, according to many holistic wellness professionals. These can be sourced at compounding chemists, some chemists, health food stores and wellness clinics, and online. It is recommended that a woman have a professional consultation before using any therapeutic products.
One of the best sources for bioidentical progesterone creams is wild yam (Dioscorea Villas), which contains Diosgenin. This is the active biochemical constituent with progesterone properties.
This herb has been used for years as the base for synthetic hormonal drugs which when put through the chemical process create more harmful side effects when taken. However, in its natural, unadulterated form, wild yam can work wonders when converted into bio-identical progesterone.
Also found in many of these creams are synergistic herbs such as dandelion and vitas cactus (chaste tree berry) that help the body remove exogenous (external excess) oestrogen.
LIFESTYLE TIPS
According to Dr Ben Johnson:
- Think twice about drinking hot coffee or tea in plastic or Styrofoam cups (besides, they’re bad for the planet)
- Avoid heating food in plastic cookware. These products and practices significantly contribute to Oestrogen Dominance.
- Avoiding highly preserved foods (eat fresh)
- Try to buy organic meat and poultry as far as possible to avoid artificial hormone content
- Wash fruits and vegetables well or buy organic whenever possible
- Filter chlorine out of your water
- Don’t swim in chlorinated pools
- Use caution when staying in farm communities and make sure the water is clean and the air you breathe is not heavily infiltrated with aerosolised pesticide residue
LOOK AFTER LIVER AND GUT HEALTH
Everyday care of the liver and gut lay a cornerstone for total body health.
Medical and wellness practitioners who look beneath the symptoms of an illness to its underlying cause know that the liver has a core role to play.
To boost its function and accelerate elimination of toxins (such as xenoestrogens), herbal supplements or tonics will often be prescribed that include ingredients such as Milk Thistle (Silymarin), dandelion and Vitex Agnus Castus.
However, dietary recommendations (or exclusions, as the case may be!) are overwhelmingly key to liver function.
Gut health is now also widely recognised as being fundamental to wellness and vitality, inside and out, as well as achieving and maintaining weight loss.
SYMPTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH OESTROGEN DOMINANCE
- Acceleration of the ageing process
- Allergies, including asthma, hives, rashes, sinus congestion
- Autoimmune disorders such as lupus erythematosis, thyroiditis, and Sjoegren’s
- Breast cancer risk
- Breast tenderness
- Cervical dysplasia
- Cold hands and feet as a symptom of thyroid dysfunction
- Copper excess
- Decreased sex drive
- Depression with anxiety or agitation
- Dry eyes
- Early onset of menstruation
- Endometrial (uterine) cancer
- Fat gain, especially around the abdomen, hips and thighs
- Fatigue
- Fibrocystic breasts
- Foggy thinking
- Gallbladder disease
- Hair loss
- Headaches
- Hypoglycaemia
- Increased blood clotting (increasing risk of strokes)
- Infertility
- Irregular periods
- Irritability
- Insomnia
- Magnesium deficiency
- Memory loss
- Mood swings
- Osteoporosis
- Polycystic ovaries
- Premature menopause
- Pre-menopausal bone loss
- PMS
- Sluggish metabolism
- Thyroid dysfunction mimicking hypothyroidism
- Uterine cancer
- Uterine fibroids
- Vaginal dryness
- Water retention and bloating
- Zinc deficiency
