In this second in a series of articles on hormones I’m going to write about estrogen dominance. This is a pattern where a person has too much estrogen relative to progesterone. It is very likely each and every one of us, regardless of sex, has some degree of estrogen dominance given how much estrogen there is in our environment. One would have to live in an organic bubble to avoid the excess estrogen-like molecules we are exposed to on a daily basis from furniture, carpeting, pesticides, meat, plastics and vehicle exhaust to name a few.
While not exactly estrogen, these environmental pollutants are called xenoestrogens because they are shaped so similarly that the body cannot tell the difference and they affect us as if they were actual estrogen. In men excess estrogen can cause low sex drive, erectile dysfunction, low sperm count and male breast enlargement. Women often experience bloating, swollen and tender breasts, low sex drive, irregular periods, headaches, mood swings, weight gain, fatigue, difficulty sleeping and PMS.
Even occasional sinus trouble, dry eyes, cold hands and feet and asthma can be due to estrogen dominance. Diagnosing this hormone imbalance can be done one of two ways: saliva hormone testing and breast thermography. Saliva hormone testing is simple, spit into a tube during a specific time(s) of the month and a few weeks later the lab reports the results. We can measure estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA and cortisol in saliva.
Thermography is a thermal imaging technique used to assess the health of the body by temperature. Thermal imaging of the breasts can be used to identify blood flow changes and changes in heat patterns that can highlight areas of hormonal or cell growth concern. The thermal image in estrogen dominance show islands of heat surrounded by cooler tissue giving a mottled pattern. Thermography can also used as an addition to mammography to help identify potential areas of hormonal imbalance and blood flow changes (as measured by heat) as they pertain to breast disease.
Once identified, estrogen dominance is relatively easy to treat, the details of which I’ll write about next week.
