Period Probs? Estrogen Dominance May Be Key

I have been in naturopathic practice for over 12 years now and as women have always made up the largest subset of my patient population - I see a LOT of menstrual issues or “period probs”. Many of these complaints are due to a condition called estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance is a hormonal imbalance of estrogen and has multiple causes but the outcome is many common period complaints.

Here is a list (not exhaustive) of symptoms related to estrogen dominance:

• Severe cramping

• Heavy bleeding

• Irregular periods

• PMS/PMDD

• Hormonal acne

• Hormonal mood changes

Most of the folks I see with these complaints have seen their OB or Primary Care Provider about these issues with little to no improvement… hence a visit with me! The approach to these “period probs” is multi-fold. Sure, my new patient has issues with their period - but I have to ask questions to tease out more information that tells me, yes, their hormones are off and it’s probably due to estrogen dominance.

Additional symptoms that tell me they may have estrogen dominance:

• Trouble losing weight

• Insomnia

• Family history of fibroids, breast cancer, fibrocystic breasts, etc

• Irritability or anxiety

What can you do about estrogen dominance? The answer to that questions is complex because it depends on their “flavor” of estrogen dominance.

Here are some basic recommendations for estrogen dominance:

• Sweat - daily

• Clear up gut issues

• Get tested - blood tests won’t always do it! I will often need to order a DUTCH Test as well.

• Drink green tea

I could really go on about estrogen dominance because it is such a common and under-recognized issue. If you have had issues with estrogen dominance yourself I’d like to hear from you! Leave a comment here or on social media.

I’d like to offer you more help if you’re interested. I will be coming out with my first course soon which will help folks dealing with this issue. Hormone Rehab: Healing Estrogen Dominance & Reclaiming Your Cycle will be released soon. Sign up for my newsletter and follow me on IG and TikTok to be the first to find out when it drops!