Ranging anywhere from mildly uncomfortable to severely debilitating, many women experience some form of hormonal based symptoms during their lifetime.This problem occurs a lot more frequently that what we think.
Symptoms such as fluid retention, irregular cycles, cramps, backpain, irritability, sleeping disorders, heavy cycles, blood clots, the list goes on….
Many women believe this to be normal and never seek any help.
This is certainly not “normal” and women do not have to put up with these symptoms.
In addition, it is not unusual for these symptoms, if left untreated, to lead to problem such as polycystic ovaries, endometriosis and more serious health issues.
The causes of these symptoms are an imbalance in your hormonal system. Whenever one hormone dominates or is too low, symptoms are produced, Simply put, the main hormones responsible are oestrogen and progesterone. As these rise and fall during the different stages of your cycle, such as ovulation, egg maturation, release of the egg, symptoms are produced.
So you ask, what contributes to this?
Here are some influencing factors:
- Inflammation: causes an increase in local tissue oestrogen production (meaning oestrogen produced in places other than in the ovaries), elevates androgens, (this may provoke excess facial hair for example) increases insulin levels and causes decreased progesterone levels.
- Toxins, such as endocrine disrupting chemicals increase the oestrogenic load on the body, and are linked to abnormal puberty, irregular cycles, reduced fertility, PCOS, endometriosis, fibroids and early menopause
- Gut dysbiosis: an imbalance of the normal, healthy microbial life residing within the gastrointestinal tract can reduce the efficiency of oestrogen detoxification and elimination, increasing the overall oestrogenic load. Dysbiosis has been linked with PCOS, endometriosis and fibroids.