The Negative Impact of Estrogen Imbalances

Estrogen Imbalances hormone therapies

Hormone replacement therapy is about returning balance to the hormones in your body. When your hormones are out of balance (particularly estrogen imbalances), you will develop a range of uncomfortable symptoms. But those symptoms, when left unattended, can sometimes be indicators of much bigger problems.

Estrogen is of the one of the hormones that can cause significant symptoms when levels are too high or too low. When there’s an imbalance in your estrogen levels, cells are less able to resist infection and proper function can decrease.

Estrogen dominance can occur because the world we live in today is filled with chemicals that act like the hormone estrogen. Dozens of chemicals known as xenoestrogens can be found in our environment, in products such as pesticides, plastics, cosmetics, and animal feed. These xenoestrogens imitate the effects of estrogen, and yet they are toxic to the body.

For instance, antibiotics used on “food animals” can potentially change your gut flora, the microbiota that balance your digestive system and help your body absorb nutrients, vitamins, and minerals.

Food animal antibiotics can change the way your body absorbs estrogen, and can even lead to breast cancer, since roughly two out of three breast cancer cells have receptors that readily attach to estrogen. Studies have found that estrogen may increase breast density, and higher breast density is an indicator of heightened breast cancer risk.

High estrogen levels have been pointed to as the underlying cause of premenstrual syndrome (PMS); menorrhagia, or menstrual periods with abnormally heavy or prolonged bleeding; and uterine fibroids, benign tumors that grow in the muscle layer of the uterus and can cause painful periods and other symptoms. Elevated estrogen levels also raise your risk of developing endometrial cancer, or cancer of the uterus.

Low estrogen can cause those symptoms associated with menopause—night sweats, hot flashes, and urinary incontinence.

Low estrogen is also the culprit for vaginal dryness, which may first appear as itching, irritation, or a burning sensation that over time leads to painful intercourse.

Low estrogen eliminates the beneficial effects it has on the heart, which includes raising good cholesterol while lowering the bad, dilating blood vessels to improve blood flow, and soaking up harmful particles in the blood that damage arteries and tissues.

Your body’s hormones are designed to work in concert with each other. If one is elevated or deficient, it will affect the actions of all of the other hormones.

When it comes to hormone replacement therapy, converting too much or too little of one hormone without looking at the overall picture can be just as harmful to your body as having too much or too little of a hormone to start with. At Signature Hormones, we know that one size does not fit all, and that it takes careful consultation and experience to help return balance to your body’s hormones.

Learn more about the proven therapies that can help you feel great again by visiting my website. Be sure to take my Signature Hormone Diagnostic Assessment!

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