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DO ALL WOMEN NEED ESTROGEN AT MENOPAUSE?
There seems to be a consensus "out there" that as a woman approaches menopause she automatically should have some estrogens prescribed to her. I think this idea was spawned when the drug companies found out they could patent hormone look-alike drugs. It seems to have taken hold, even now when the use of horse urine derivatives and synthetics are not as popular.

Let's take a small step outside the pharmacy for a few minutes. Consider the environment. I won't go into all the details but you need to understand that all of us - women AND men too, are assaulted every day by substances that have hormone-like activity in our bodies. The substances most commonly have estrogenic activity - they act in some ways like estrogens. This means that our overall estrogen "load" is actually comprised of the estrogens we make PLUS those chemicals we ingest during the day.

Frequently, women will report symptoms that are strongly associated with what is called "estrogen dominance", yet their human estrogen levels are on the low side of normal. Estrogen dominance is really a way of describing that there is more estrogen activity than the person's other hormones can handle, or balance. The most notable balancing hormone in our bodies is progesterone.

It is true that estrogen levels become erratic as a woman nears menopause and that they drop when menopause is complete (defined as 12 consecutive months without a monthly period). But, it is important to know that the estrogen levels do not fall to zero. The drop is far less and the need for additional estrogen isn't always necessary.

I used the word, always. How and when would someone need estrogen? First, I want to be clear that I am focusing on women who have NOT had a hysterectomy, and who, up to this time, had relatively normal cycles. In a complete hysterectomy the entire "sex hormone factory" is lost and a person has need for many hormone supplements. But, in the vast majority of cases the drop is small so there would be no real need to automatically place a woman on an estrogen supplement.

But, you might ask, "How can I get rid of these menopause symptoms?" First consider what I mentioned above about the need for a balancing hormone, progesterone. Add to that my comments about estrogenic substances in the environment and you can come to my conclusion that large numbers of women in pre-menopause and menopause may get relief from their symptoms by judiciously using only a progesterone supplement.
This is contrary to standard practice but it makes sense and it has been shown effective in large numbers of situations. When used properly, progesterone can do a great job of helping a woman achieve hormone balance. Why? First, that's the hormone that falls the most at menopause, so replacing it seems right. Second, progesterone is the one hormone that can act as a precursor to many of the other necessary hormones. When a person is low on progesterone she may have other hormones that are low. Our bodies seem to be able to use the progesterone supplement a BOTH progesterone and an agent from which we produce other hormones we need.

There are TWO "yeah buts".

One,
Yeah, I use progesterone, but I still have hot flashes. Hot flashes seem to be related to abrupt bounces or dips in estrogen levels and sometimes the added progesterone can't keep up with the swings. Another widely available hormone can often be helpful. It's DHEA. The key here is to use a small dose, once daily, usually 5 to 10 mg. A small number of women develop some sleep disturbance when they take DHEA at night, so take it in the morning and the problem vanishes.

Two,
Yeah, I've been using progesterone cream, but my symptoms returned after a couple of months. I'm no better off now than before I started using the it. The problem isn't the progesterone, but the method used to apply it. We've found that it is important to take a few days OFF every month or so. This gives the hormone receptors a chance to clear and again become more sensitive and reactive. A person who doses herself with progesterone day in and day out will commonly find that the problems return. Just remember to take time off. Follow the instructions located at this link; http://www.thecompounder.com/hormonesprogesteroneuse.php

In conclusion, NO, I do not think that all women with menopause symptoms need more estrogen. In fact, adding estrogen to someone who is estrogen dominant may actually be the worst thing to do. Also, look FIRST to progesterone and (maybe) DHEA. Dr. John Lee said this many years ago and it really is true – probably more so today. Only consider doing more (adding estrogen) when the simple approach (progesterone alone) fails.

 

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