When women start to notice strange symptoms prior to their menstrual cycle, it should make us wonder, but like most women, we get used to the fluctuations in our hormones so we ignore how we feel for a cycle or two. But it’s time to act if you start noticing things like:
Acne
Breast tenderness
Headaches
Mood Swings
Anxiety
Bowel disturbances
Lots of crying
A few months ago, I started having weird anxiety 2 days before a menstrual flow and had acne like a teenager. I realized that I may have a hormone issues. The anxiety felt like I was over caffeinated, I couldn’t tell you that I felt mentally anxious about anything but I did feel hyper and buzzy especially in my chest. The other reason I decided to do hormone testing was because of mild to severe headaches I was having almost daily.
When looking at my results, I will point out some highlights like low DHEA levels. Typically these decline with age, but at my current age it still should be higher than this amount.
What is also remarkable is how low my progesterone levels are. It is not uncommon for women to have what is called estrogen dominance which means that the estrogen level is much higher than the progesterone ratio. It does not mean that I have high estrogen, it just means that it is in a state of imbalance. This is exactly the case with my levels; my estrogen is a little low but compared to my even lower progesterone; I am in a state of estrogen dominance. I have also found that I tend to have poor estrogen detoxification, since my hormones knocked out of whack every time we have a major fire. Fires often burns plastics which contain xeno-estrogen.
So now that we see basically overall low hormone values we determine how to treat the patient: ME. See the basic treatment plan based on these results. Please make sure you get testing or consult your doctor to get your results accurately assessed. I consulted a trusted Naturopath friend of mine to make sure she concurred with my findings.
Calcium D-Glucarate – this is for estrogen detoxification and removal from the system.
Vitex (Chaste Tree Berry) – This is a progesteronic plant that will help balance the estrogen/progesterone ratio.
DHEA
Progesterone cream - used to up my levels especially important around menstrual cycles.
After being on this for at least 2 months, I have noticed less acne and a reduction in mood swings and some mild headache changes. I do encourage you to stick at it since hormones do not change rapidly and may take 6 months to a year to normalize. If you need testing, contact our office or a functional medicine doctor near you.