Estrogen dominance is simply the imbalance between estrogen and progesterone in the body, where estrogen becomes the dominant hormone. This leads to a proportionally greater stimulation of cells that possess estrogen receptors (breast, uterus, bone, etc.).
The classic example of estrogen dominance is the woman who takes prescription estrogens to deal with a problem that her doctor believes is caused by estrogen deficiency.
In many cases, taking additional estrogen is the exact opposite of what that woman needs to do.
Symptoms of estrogen dominance, some of which may mistakenly be treated with prescription estrogen, include:
- Heavy or irregular periods
- Depression
- Fibrocystic breasts
- Uterine fibroids
- Fluid retention
- Headaches
- Loss of libido
- Infertility or inability to maintain a pregnancy
- Blood sugar disorders
- Blood clotting
- Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
- Weight gain
- Mood swings
- Fatigue
- Dysmenorrhea (painful periods)
Estrogen Deficiency: An Inaccurate Hypothesis with Far-Reaching Consequences
Ever since 1966, when Dr. Robert Wilson penned his “groundbreaking” book, Feminine Forever, American physicians have avidly prescribed estrogen for a multitude of “female” problems, ranging from premenstrual syndrome and sexual dysfunction to infertility and abnormal menstruation.
Estrogen deficiency, Wilson argued, was at the root of many conditions suffered by women, and estrogen replacement would cure them.
Wilson’s treatise on female aging – as well as several articles published in medical journals of the day – outlined his ideas surrounding the inevitable decline of women as they approach and pass through menopause:
“The transformation, within a few years, of a formerly pleasant, energetic woman into a dull-minded but sharp-tongued caricature of her former self is one of the saddest of human spectacles. Multiplied by millions, she is a focus of bitterness and discontent in the whole fabric of our civilization.”
Throughout his published works, Dr. Wilson extolled the virtues of estrogen supplementation for helping women maintain the “beauty and allure” that makes them attractive to men.
Not surprisingly, Wilson was a well-paid representative for several pharmaceutical companies, including Wyeth-Ayerst, the manufacturer of Premarin – a brand of estrogen derived from pregnant mare’s urine. Due in large part to Dr. Wilson’s efforts, Premarin became the most frequently-prescribed brand-name drug in the United States in 1966. It remained in wide use until the 1990s, when studies firmly linked unopposed estrogen stimulation to an increased risk for breast cancer.
Sadly, once his “work” was done, Dr. Wilson was largely neglected by the drug companies who had once paid his bills. He committed suicide in 1981. (Medicalizing Menopause in Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine. John Abramson, MD. Harper Collins, 2004:58-62)
However, three decades of campaigning by the pharmaceutical industry – and the insinuation of its “research” into medical thinking – are still taking their toll. Many physicians continue to believe that women’s complaints often stem from a lack of estrogen.
Their only dilemma, it seems, is how to prescribe estrogen without increasing a woman’s risk for cancer.
Achieving Hormonal Balance and Treating Estrogen Dominance
Progesterone, estrogen’s natural competitor in the body, typically bottoms out when a woman reaches menopause. Since estrogen persists (albeit at somewhat lower levels than before menopause), this leads to estrogen dominance.
Estrogen can also predominate over progesterone at other times during a woman's life.
Hence, doctors who espouse the idea of estrogen dominance often prescribe natural progesterone creams to oppose the effects of estrogen (prescription progestins, like Provera, are synthetic progesterones with a bevy of their own side effects. Oral micronized progesterone is also sometimes associated with side effects).
However, using progesterone creams – which can be made by any compounding pharmacy – only represents a part of what can be done to achieve hormonal balance.
Phytoestrogens are progesterone-like compounds found in a variety of plants; many of them attach to the same receptors that estrogen does, but they exert a much weaker effect. In essence, then, phytoestrogens prevent estrogen from exerting its full spectrum of biological effects.
One phytoestrogen – genistein (juh-NIS-tee-uhn) from soy – has been well-studied. According to Duane Townsend, MD, author of A Maverick of Medicine Speaks to Women and a prominent gynecologist, over two thousand clinical studies document the action of genistein as a “desirable weak estrogen in the body.” (Pg 146)
By hooking to receptors that would normally link to estrogen, genistein blocks the influence of excess estrogen and ameliorates estrogen dominance.
Dr. Townsend recommends 35 – 70 mg of genistein in combination with 3 – 5 mg of daidzien (another soy isoflavone) every day. Genistein and daidzein are often found together in supplements.
Estrogen dominance plays a role in many conditions that affect women on a daily basis…including menopause, which is a natural event, not a disease. Genistein and natural progesterone cream can play significant roles in helping women to achieve hormonal balance.
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