Estrogen Dominance syndrome

[Debswestlothian]

Any of you read about this? did a lot of reading on this today.

have any of you tried cream.

I have fibroids and endo and I think I have classic symptoms of this. But would like a Doctor to prescribe it.

Seen historic threads about it.

[Brownlow]

Oestrogen dominance is of great interest to me as it can also be a causative factor in other serious conditions. If I had been aware of this after my ops 7 years ago I think I could have done something about it.

I'm on the fence about the bio identical creams. I don't think a doctor would prescribe it unless they are open minded. I'd prefer to try something that helps the hormones balance themselves naturally. Maca root powder can apparently have this action. I want to wait until after my next period before I try anything new so I can't report any experience but there is info on the net.

I also found a wild article on hormones by a guy called David Wolf thelongevitynowconference.c... It's a transcript of a talk he gave and he has more on this on the net and also on endo. It nearly made my head explode but I intend to research all the things he mentions. He mentions that progesterone can backflip and turn into oestrogen. This would explain why some women get a return of symptoms when on progesterone.

Another forum member Grittyreads alerted us to a great article by Jeanette Winterson about hormones mostly focussing on menopause but still relevant for us theguardian.com/books/2014/... She mentions the creams.

[Hidden]

I have too much estrogen ( I think). My body shape (pear) also adds the extra estrogen, and it's why estrogen containing birth control causes such problems with me. Like severe anger issues to where I wanted to hurt family members. Severe crying and feeling depressed. Also severe antisocial feelings even for friends and family. I am now on the Depo shot (so far 3 months in with no weird mental issues). I am now looking into what it takes being gmo free ( I am already wheat and legume free due to lots of food allergies). Obviously being a woman you need "some" estrogen. I am fine with what amount my body naturally makes. But I need to have a fine line between estrogen and NO MORE ENDO!

[Brownlow in reply to Hidden]

Hi Aardvarklips,

Great name by the way!!!

I don't think my problem was oestrogen going up so much as progesterone going down. High oestrogen means high relative to progesterone. It's the widening gulf that's between the two that's the problem. I think my progesterone went down because I was experiencing high stress over a prolonged period of time. My progesterone was used to supply the demand for cortisol. So oestrogen probably stayed the same but ended up being high in relation to progesterone. Perfect for endo to flourish.

The trick could be to reduce that stress but now I'm stressed about my hormone levels!!

[Hidden in reply to Brownlow]

Thanks for the compliment on the name. When we were little we would ask Mom what was for dinner. She would say Mouse's knuckles and Aardvarklips. Good luck with the de-stressing. When you find out how, let me know too. Yeah, my best friends have been helping me try to figure out how to make me better. One of them actually was saying it's countering too much testosterone. I only ever had problems while on the oestrogen b.c., not the progesterone ones only (well, so far anyways). It's a very stupid and tricky slope. It annoys me that we have to figure our own stuff out instead of the Doctors helping us. They pat you on the head and send you on your way. pthppp.....

[Brownlow in reply to Hidden]

That's really funny about dinnertime!

I think stress was the final piece in the jigsaw for me. And guess what made everything worse? my stupid doctor putting me on the combined bc pill just to see how my cysts would behave. Well they didn't behave and the endo is now in overdrive. I feel pretty silly for paying him to do this to me! Aaaaaaagh!

[Brownlow]

I found another really good article that talks about this subject. cdn.womentowomen.com/wp-con... It's quite long but well worth a read.

There's a good graphic explaining how some of the different hormones are synthesised and how progesterone produces both cortisol and oestrogen.

The article outlines two possible oestrogen/progesterone imbalance scenarios.

1. "Many women convert progesterone immediately into estrogen; for them, a progesterone supplement will only worsen their imbalance.

2. There are many women whose bodies, either naturally or due to external factors, produce an abundance of estrogen. I call these patients highly estrogenic, and they are more susceptible to experiencing severe symptoms. They also feel the most dramatic improvement when they add progesterone to their routine."

My thinking on my own situation is that I experienced extreme stress and cortisol and oestrogen grabbed all my progesterone. When I was on the combined pill all the progesterone was immediately converted to oestrogen and my endo went wild. If I were to take the progestin pill or mirena coil I believe the same thing would happen. So I think I might be scenario 1 and explains why some women get on really well with progestin pill or mirena and others don't.

[Debswestlothian]

I'll read the article . I'm really scared of trying the mirena . Be careful about USA and uk terms too .

Had awful experience of pill mini and combined and remember once taken the morning after pill and the results were extreme .

Problem is gyno want me to try it ??

[Brownlow in reply to Debswestlothian]

If gyno wants you to try it I suggest that you point out your past experience saying that your history does not indicate that this would be successful. Also raise the issues referred to in the article. Ask for evidence that the progestin in the mirena will not just get converted to oestrogen. I don't know the answer to this. The main advantage of the mirena is that it reaches its target immediately and bypasses your liver and digestive system so there is possibly less chance of it getting into the bio chemical hormonal processes in your body. I suspect that this is the case.

Sometimes by being questioning or even appearing resistant we are able to draw out answers from doctors and push them into explaining things in a bit more depth and defending their recommendation.

The other option is to try the mirena and see how it goes. You can always have it removed. It is also being suggested to me but I just can't seem to get my head around it! I think it's great that some women have success with it but personally it just bothers me. That's just me being me!