Painful periods? Consider Estrogen Dominance
Having painful PMS or periods?
Growing up, I always thought this was a normal thing, like a woman’s rite of passage. Suffering each month is NOT normal.
Something to consider is a term we call “estrogen dominance”. This is when the body has an imbalance of hormones, especially the two big players in females, which are progesterone and estrogen. When estrogen is high it leads to painful periods.
What causes this?
There could be many reasons, here are my top considerations:
Diet: foods high in estrogen, like red meats, can increase levels.
Environment: There are few substances that are a notorious for affecting hormones, which we call endocrine disruptors. Here are a few to name: plastic, canned goods, paper receipts, hair and face products and much more.
Stress. This always has a bad rep, which in long term chronic cases isn’t a good thing.
Lack of movement. In Chinese medicine we refer to this as blood stagnation. Main “stagnation” symptom is pain, usually sharp pain. When blood isn’t flowing throughout the body properly, it gets stuck, which leads to pain.
There are other possibilities, conditions and diagnoses, but this is a good place to start.
How can Naturpathic Medicine help?
- Functional labs and comprehensive hormone labs to determine what is the root cause
- Nutrition and lifestyle counseling
- Supplement & botanical medicine recommendation
- Prescribe bio-identical hormones and medications if necessary
Schedule an appointment and we can help with balancing your hormones!