What I'm Thinking Wednesday...

I am thinking about Fibroids and estrogen dominance. I've been doing some research on this whole fibroid issue. Fibroids seem to be most prevalent in women who are estrogen dominant. What does that mean? That the estrogen/progesterone balance is out of whack in our bodies.

Progesterone is released at ovulation, if you don't ovulate than you don't produce progesterone..or at least not enough to balance out the estrogen. Here's the tricky thing though..even if you do ovulate you can still be estrogen dominant. Phytoestrogens are a group of chemicals found in plants that can act like the hormone estrogen. These are also found in some of the foods we eat. Particularly soy. (Now, go check the ingredients of the food on your shelf, you are probably eating some type of soy whether it says it or not.)

Phytoestrogens are naturally occurring and mimic estrogen in the body. Xenoestrogens,substances foreign to the human body that, directly or indirectly, act like estrogens, are chemically produced and can wreak even more havoc. Yet we take 'em in, probably without evening knowing it.

Birth control (this is why women on birth control gain weight), benzophenone-3, homosalate, 4-methyl-benzylidene camphor (4-MBC), octyl-methoxycinnamate and octyl-dimethyl-PABA, estradiol, alkyl hydroxy benzoate preservatives (namely methyl-, ethyl-, propyl-, and butylparaben),phthalates,nonylphenol(a chemical added during the manufacture of plastic to prevent it from cracking) also found in some detergents, all of these estrogen mimics can cause cancers and infertility in women. Check your ingredients.

In my search to understand fibroids, I realized that this overabundance of estrogen could be my problem. Once fibroids grow large enough, they can actually produce their own estrogen. Well that certainly won't help will it? Not only does an overabundance of estrogen cause health issues it can be linked to obesity as well. Fat cells can actually produce estrogen.

So what can we do? Well, I encourage you to check ingredients. We are inundated with chemicals and hormones. Try to eliminate these.

I am headed to the doc on Friday to discuss my fibroid issue. I am going to ask all these questions. I encourage you to talk with your doctor as well. Please feel free to comment here and share your stories with estrogen dominance.

There are many sources online that offer information on estrogen dominance. I encourage you to research this if you think it may be an issue for you.