Menopause, Estrogen & Your Health
Menopause Overview
A commonality of the worlds’ industrialized societies is the prevalence of uterine fibroids, fibrocystic breast disease, breast and/or uterine cancer, PMS, pre-menopausal bone loss as well as a high incidence of post-menopausal osteoporosis.
Significantly, the common thread weaving its way through all of these conditions is estrogen dominance, secondary to an insufficiency of progesterone. However, after menopause or a hysterectomy, estrogen production decreases by about 40% to 60%. In other words the female body still produces estrogen at about 40% to 60% of pre-menopause levels.
Because natural progesterone is the biological precursor for the production of natural estrogen, it is the natural choice for menopausal women as well as for pre-menopausal women to enjoy optimal health, free of the risks and side effects associated with synthetic hormones. Additionally, natural progesterone will stimulate the body’s natural bone building cells (osteoblasts), offer significant protection against stroke and heart disease and benefit virtually every cell and organ of the body.
By establishing a balance of these hormones through proper Diet, Stress Management and Natural Progesterone supplementation, fluctuations of estrogen and progesterone, the resultant hot flashes, night sweats and other symptoms of menopause are either significantly alleviated or completely eliminated.
Persistent Symptoms
For those women for whom hot flashes, night sweats and/or vaginal dryness still persist they have found that 400 i.u. of natural vitamin E three times per day (1200 i.u./day), essential oil supplementation (primrose oil, omega III) and four to six tablespoons of whole psyllium seed husks in juice daily has been effective in ameliorating these persistent symptoms.
In cases where Estrogen Replacement Therapy is elected to control hot flashes, vaginal dryness or night sweats, natural estriol cream is recommended usually for several months or, in some cases a year. This is a safe, non-cancer promoting form of phyto-estrogen available here.
In most cases, however, estriol is not needed when a sufficient amount of Natural Progesterone is available, as it is the precursor (raw material) for other adrenal hormones, including all three forms of natural estrogen and cortisone.
Safety of Natural Hormones
Natural Progesterone has been found to be safe and effective when applied topically, in a cream formula free from petrochemicals and animal by-products.
Risks of HRT
This is in contrast to the standard medical protocol of HRT.
What is peri-menopause?
Peri-menopause is the time between 40 and 50 when a woman is approaching the end of her monthly cycles. She begins to experience an imbalance in her hormones, causing such complaints as increased fatigue, unexplained weight gain, breast tenderness, night sweats, insomnia, worsening PMS, etc. It is important to correct this imbalance early to ensure a better quality of life later.
It is now believed that hormonal imbalance can be the result of insufficient progesterone production due to lack of regular ovulation, thus resulting in estrogen excess.
Studies have shown that women taking replacement estrogen have a 2 to 8 times higher risk of developing breast cancer, ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer than women who do not take estrogen. The risk increases after 2 to 4 years of estrogen use and seems to be greatest when large doses (>1 mg./day) are taken or when the estrogens are used for long periods of time (>4 years). This risk factor increases sharply in women who smoke cigarettes.
Revision date: July 9, 2011
Last revised: by Dave R. Roger, M.D.