What Estrogen Does in Your 40s (and How Progesterone Can Help)

Estrogen rollercoaster of perimenopause

Night sweats, mood swings, and crazy heavy periods. Is this menopause already? And you’re only 42? No, menopause could still be a decade away. This is perimenopause or second puberty, which is up to twelve years before your final period.

Perimenopause is different from menopause (or post-menopause), which is the life phase that begins one year after your final period.

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Why I Prescribe Iodine for Breast Pain, Ovarian Cysts, and PMDD

iodine for women's health

Iodine can relieve breast pain, ovulation pain, premenstrual mood symptoms and help to prevent ovarian cysts. It works by promoting healthy estrogen metabolism, down-regulating estrogen receptors, and stabilizing estrogen-sensitive tissue in the breasts, uterus, ovaries, and brain.

Iodine’s anti-estrogen effect makes it one of the best treatments for estrogen excess or “estrogen dominance”— although I don’t use that term.

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How to Increase Estrogen

If you’re a woman of reproductive age, making sufficient estrogen is important for mood, bones, muscles, and metabolism.

Signs you’re making enough estrogen include the presence of cervical fluid and regular ovulation. 

Signs you’re not making enough estrogen include a lack of periods and vaginal dryness.

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How to Lower Estrogen

too much estrogenHigh estrogen can contribute to heavy periods, breast pain, fibroids, and premenstrual mood symptoms. It can also suppress thyroid function and increase the risk of breast cancer.

To lower estrogen, you need to understand all the types of estrogen and why they’re high.

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