Estrogen is the hormone predominantly found in females, being the hormone which gives women their feminine features and regulates various processes in the body. Estrogen dominance in one's body may lead to certain positive outcomes, when it comes to general health.
On the other hand, too much estrogen produced in a person's organism can also lead to health complications.
What is Estrogen?
Estrogen is a hormone which was found to be beneficial for preventing women from suffering from heart disease.
Basically, estrogen is a group of compounds which serve many functions in the human body. In women, however, the main role of estrogen is regulating menstrual cycles. Also, estrogen in women is related to their fertility. Men have lesser amounts of estrogen in their body, even though they have estrogen nevertheless.
Everything that helps us differentiate male features from female ones is made so by the activity of estrogen in the female body. This hormone regulates the growth of the breasts, the widening of the pelvis and the extra fat located in the thigh, hip and buttock area. Additionally, estrogen prevents excessive bodily hair growth in women.
During pregnancy, estrogen is in charge of preparing the body of a female for the labor, making the uterus stronger and the endometrium thicker.
This hormone is produced in the ovaries, even though the placenta may produce it too. Some other organs which might be involved in the creation of estrogen in our organism are the breasts, the liver and adrenal glands.
When women enter menopause, their estrogen levels start dropping and this can lead to numerous problems including vaginal dryness, memory issues, hot flashes, irritability and decreased bone density. Thus, commonly, women opt for estrogen hormone therapy, making it possible for them to balance their estrogen levels anew and avoid the above mentioned health problems.
Estrogen Dominance
Even though certain researches have shown many benefits present in estrogen use in women, some dangers can be related to this state of affairs too. Basically, using estrogen through therapy can be dangerous for women who have experienced a stroke or a heart attack, as well as breast cancer. Uterine cancer patients should not use estrogen and neither should those who are suffering from acute liver disease or bladder disease. Finally, people having blood clots and those suffering from a pancreatic disease should stay away from excessive estrogen too.
Furthermore, some of the general complaints that some female users of estrogen have reported are nausea, headaches, breakthrough bleeding, depression and retention of fluids.
Therefore, not all women should undergo hormone replacement therapy. Rather, if you are in the right age, you should pay attention to the changes in your body, knowing when menopause has resulted in a significant increase in estrogen levels in your body, making hormone replacement therapy inadequate.
If your sex drive has decreased lately and your menstrual periods have become abnormal, there are great chances that you might be suffering from estrogen dominance. Some other signs of this condition are bloating, swelling and tenderness of the breasts, fibrocystic breasts, headaches, mood changes, weight gain, cold hands and feet, hair loss, metabolism dysfunction, memory loss, sleeping problems, general fatigue and PMS symptoms.
Additionally, estrogen dominance is a condition which can make you more susceptible to allergies, autoimmune diseases, breast and uterine cancer, fertility problems, cysts in the ovaries and blood clotting. All these problems get even worse with the age of the sufferer.
In order to overcome these problems or prevent them from ever happening in the first place, you are advised to pay attention to certain factors. Too much body fat can make you more susceptible to estrogen dominance and so can excessive exposure to stress. Your nutrition plays an important role here too, since consuming refined carbohydrates and low-quality food can produce the same effect. Finally, some environmental factors, along with certain immune function problems, both can trigger estrogen dominance as well as the health complications that go hand-in-hand with it.
Note that the increase in estrogen can appear during some parts of a woman's life other than menopause. Namely, this situation can be the case during the last half of every menstrual cycle or during ovulation periods.
Yet, not everything is so grim when it comes to the effects of estrogen. Recent studies have discovered that many cases of illnesses which were related to estrogen dominance actually appeared in smokers, alcoholics or people who had the illnesses in question present in their family health history.
All in all, estrogen dominance can prevent heart problems in some individuals while, at the same time, it can lead to the appearance of heart disease. Thus, estrogen, being a hormone which is present in every human body but more in female one, is a factor which controls many bodily processes and regulates numerous physical traits which separate the sexes from one another. However, estrogen imbalance in one's body can lead to various health problems and, therefore, this is a condition which should be avoided.
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