5 Truly Enlightening Facts About Estrogen
by Marissa Pomerance
If you’d like to nod along to a piece about why women generally feel shitty all the time, please read our magnum opus on estrogen. But since you’re here, you probably already feel shitty all the time. You might be fatigued and headachey and crampy and bloated, and all of the other wonderful, painful things our doctors love to tell us are “normal.” Your gut is screaming that all of this is probably hormonal, but you also might be a bit confused about what hormones actually do (aren’t we all?). If you’re still grappling with the basics, then you’ve come to the right place.
1. Estrogen Isn’t One Hormone, But A Group of Sex Hormones
Surprisingly, estrogen isn’t one simple, defined chemical. In fact, “estrogen” is actually a group of sex hormones that promotes our sexual development, including estradiol, estriol, and estrone.
Estradiol is the strongest and most common form of estrogen, and it’s the one we hear about the most, because it’s involved in the functioning of everything from our skin, bones, and muscles to our kidneys, gastrointestinal tract, and pancreas.
2. Estrogen Imbalances Can Lead to Weight Gain (And Other Issues)
While it’s normal for hormones to fluctuate over time (and even over the course of the day), when estrogen becomes imbalanced, it can lead to irritability, depression, weight gain, painful periods and a slew of other conditions.
Weight gain might come from imbalanced levels of estrogen, and a drop in progesterone levels can lead to estrogen dominance (when estrogen levels are too high). This slows the metabolism, making it easier to gain weight and harder to lose it.
Irregular periods, spotting between periods, heavy bleeding, severe PMS, and intense cramps might be signs of higher levels of estrogen, while cramping, vaginal dryness, painful sex (due to low lubrication), and lowered libido are signs of declining estrogen levels in older, menopausal women.
3. Some Changes in Estrogen Levels Can Be Great!
Remember those falling estrogen levels in menopausal women? Actually, women ages 50-70 report feeling happier, which might be due to a convenient absence of estrogen fluctuations and mood swings.
4. There Are A Lot of Potential Causes of Estrogen Imbalances
A few potential causes of estrogen imbalances include hormonal contraceptives, antibiotics, genetics, and (of course) stress.
But environmental and dietary factors have started gaining recognition as well. Exposure to certain chemicals found in everything from the environment to food to personal care products might be potential hormone disruptors. Food-related phytoestrogens, pesticides, and growth hormones could also be contributing to estrogen imbalances. And a compromise microbiome might also disrupt the release and absorption of estrogen by the body; in other words, your gut can throw your estrogen out of whack.
Some more traditional explanations for estrogen imbalances include eating disorders, like a low-functioning pituitary gland, turner syndrome, chronic kidney disease, perimenopause, heredity, medication, obesity, ovarian tumors, and liver disease.
5. Hormone Tests are Notoriously Unreliable
Researchers, laboratory clinicians, and doctors have called hormone tests unreliable, according to the CDC. The CDC has even called for more standardization of hormone testing and results, since small variabilities in tests can lead to “different clinical interpretations of test results on the same patient, misdiagnoses, delayed diagnoses, or suboptimal patient care.”
Unfortunately, more studies need to be done to improve the accuracy of hormone testing. And even test results that come back as “normal” can be misleading. Dr. Sarah Oreck, a reproductive psychiatrist, explains, “we aren’t where we wish we were in terms of hormone testing, regarding the technology and research. With the limited evidence we have, we might think that someone’s test results are in a ‘normal’ range, but it certainly might not be the case for that person.”
The scariest part? When it comes to hormone studies, the medical community has historically focused more on testosterone than estrogen. Dr. Sarah Oreck believes this has created a huge gap in medical knowledge when it comes to women’s hormones, and reiterates that “most studies are done on healthy males.”
Despite these issues, Dr. Oreck still believes that seeking out an endocrinologist for estrogen testing and estrogen treatment is a better option than turning to at-home tests or physicians who don’t specialize in hormonal issues. An endocrinologist can test estrogen levels over time to understand changing hormones, and might still be able to spot any obvious estrogen imbalances.
Now that you know the basics, you’re probably wondering how to balance your estrogen levels. Because we love anticipating needs, we’ve got a handy guide, with options ranging from more natural changes in diet to the pros and cons of hormone replacement therapy.
Marissa Pomerance is the Managing Editor of The Candidly. She’s a Los Angeles native and lover of all things food, style, beauty, and wellness. You can find more of her articles here.
