What is Estrogen Dominance?

Are you someone that struggles with painful, irregular periods? Or maybe they’re not painful, but they’re super heavy. Or super light. Whatever your cyclical experience may be, you could very well be experiencing a phenomena known as Estrogen Dominance. 

If you’ve been in the hormone space for any amount of time, you’ve probably become acclimated with the term “Estrogen Dominance”. I feel like it’s been thrown around so much recently, that we’ve started to lose sight of what the term means and why it’s so important to understand in your hormonal health journey. 

One of the main reasons it’s critical to understand this occurrence in the body is because estrogen dominance and progesterone deficiency are the #1 causes of painful periods (including PCOS and endometriosis) and PMS symptoms. They also contribute to a wide array of issues when it comes to just functioning like a normal human being. The estrogen/progesterone relationship is paramount for female fertility and physiology, so let’s dive in.

The term “estrogen dominance” was originally coined by Dr. John Lee and has to do with the balance between estrogen and progesterone in the body. Essentially, when estrogen is high in relationship to progesterone, that’s when one might experience this phenomena.

But what causes this? 

When your liver and thyroid are not functioning optimally, your body cannot detox excess estrogen and it will not be able to produce progesterone. Active thyroid hormone (T3) is required to convert cholesterol into progesterone, however, thyroid hormone is converted into its active form in the LIVER and kidneys. Estrogen is also detoxed through the liver and kidneys.  If we do not have a high functioning thyroid and a relatively unburdened liver, then our body cannot do the necessary work of hormonal conversion AND estrogen detox. Thus contributing to estrogen dominance. 

When estrogen is in excess in the body, it will store in your tissues: specifically your fat cells. 

This is one reason I don’t recommend typical blood panels for assessing your hormonal function. They only look at where your hormones are in the blood at that moment—it does NOT take into account what is stored in the tissues (this is also a reason why iron blood tests are extremely inaccurate). 

You can easily assess whether you suffer from estrogen dominance by looking at a couple biomarkers. If you have ANY of the following, it could mean you need some help moving estrogen out of the body:

• Painful (or long or heavy) periods or PMS symptoms

• Cold hands and feet

• Trouble sleeping

• Cellulite

• Trouble losing weight

• Major mood swings

• Low body temps

• Low libido

• Cystic acne

This is not an exhaustive list, but some simple ways to assess if your body needs help moving estrogen out and restoring progesterone levels. Understanding these metabolic markers can be an incredible tool when it comes to preparing your body for pregnancy as they will let you know if your body is ready to conceive. 

So if you are someone who knows they want to get pregnant in the next year, I would suggest assessing whether or not you may be experiencing symptoms of estrogen dominance and start working to restore your natural estrogen/progesterone balance.

Remember: your body is constantly telling a story. If you want to dive deeper, check out my free webinar - How to Assess Your Metabolism From Home.