How I Deal with Estrogen Dominance (without birth control)

Ever since I started getting my period as a teen, my cycle has been erratic and my periods have been heavy and long. Almost immediately, they started coming every two weeks, usually lasting for two whole weeks. I was exhausted all the time. I developed anemia before a doctor (or I, as I hadn’t been tracking my periods) realized I was bleeding way too often and way too much. As I’ve detailed in many past posts, my gynecologist put me on hormonal birth control right away, and I stayed on some form of the pill for the next decade, and then some, causing a whole host of new problems (vulvodynia and vaginismus) that forced me to stop using hormonal birth control.

When I went off the pill, I had a six—honestly, blissful—months with no period at all. It didn’t take long, though, for my heavy, frequent periods to come back with a vengeance. This is because the pill doesn’t fix period problems like PCOS or hormonal imbalances, it just temporarily masks them. Once those artificial hormones leave your body, you’re back to wherever you started—and sometimes worse. After a few months, I started bleeding all the time, sometimes for weeks or even months with little to no break. It was absolute hell.

I saw a litany of gynecologists over the next few years, none of whom could figure out what was wrong with me. I had blood tests done that didn’t show anything unusual, and an (extremely painful) vaginal ultrasound that also turned up nothing. Stumped, the doctors had only one suggestion, which was an endometrial ablation. This is a surgical procedure that burns the endometrial lining of the uterus, with the goal of making periods lighter, and sometimes eliminating them completely.

Given my history with doctors, I was not convinced that this was the right solution for me. After all, I thought, shouldn’t we get to the root of my problems before deciding to burn out my uterine lining? What if something was really wrong with me, and the ablation only did what the birth control pills did—mask the issue until it morphed into something even worse? Unfortunately, no doctor seemed to share my desire to determine the root problem. If I didn’t want the ablation, then I was on my own.

To cut a very long story short, it took years of trial and error to reach any sort of stability with my periods, but I finally have. I still have protracted bouts of bleeding during stressful times, and travelling always seems to screw up the fragile hormonal balance I’ve managed to achieve (which really sucks because it’s made me kind of hate traveling, which is not something people tend to be very understanding about). But I’ve finally come to the fairly certain conclusion that my long, heavy periods boil down to one major factor: estrogen dominance (and running parallel to that, chronic low progesterone).

Estrogen dominance can be caused by a number of factors, including (but not limited to):

• Stress: Stress causes your body to create cortisol, which in turn depletes progesterone (the hormone that helps to balance estrogen in the body). With too little progesterone, you end up with chronically high levels of estrogen.
• Alcohol: Alcohol raises estrogen levels, so if you’re sensitive or already have too much estrogen circulating in your system, even a small amount of alcohol can cause problems.
• Synthetic xenoestrogens: These are chemicals found in your external environment (in foods, plastics, pesticides, and even makeup) that can enter your body through your skin/mouth/etc. and increase estrogen levels.
• Body fat: Fat tissue secretes estrogen, so having a high level of body fat can, unfortunately, increase estrogen.
• Hormonal birth control: Some birth control pills contain high levels and estrogen and low levels of progesterone, which can cause an imbalance over time.
• Medical issues such as liver problems/PCOS/insulin resistance: All of these medical issues make it more difficult to break down estrogen and eliminate it from your body.

High estrogen isn’t only a nuisance, unfortunately—it can have serious consequences, which is the reason I felt it was so important to figure out how to fix this imbalance in my body. Some of the side effects of high estrogen include:

• Very heavy, irregular, or prolonged periods (ahem, my two-week-long period marathons)
• Fatigue or insomnia
• Worsened PMS or mood problems
• Decreased sex drive
• Weight gain
• Hair loss
• Yeast infections
• Increased risk of breast cancer
• Reproductive health issues, including polyps, fibroids, and dense breast tissue

So, as you can see, estrogen dominance comes with some very annoying side effects as well as some very significant risks, which is why I don’t think an endometrial ablation is an adequate “solution” for this problem. An ablation doesn’t fix hormonal imbalances or lower estrogen levels, it merely masks some of the symptoms.

Luckily, I’ve found ways of dealing with my estrogen dominance, and mostly (though not always) mitigating the effects. Please keep in mind, I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice; I’m merely relaying the strategies and habits that seem to have worked for me in the hopes that they might help other people struggling with the same issues.

First off, the things that have helped me the most…

Exercise

This is, by far, the most important part of my routine. I was definitely not getting enough exercise throughout most of my young life, and yet (probably because I’m naturally on the thinner side), no doctor ever mentioned that this might be a factor in my heavy periods and prolonged bleeding.  Once I started exercising on a regular basis, however—and I mean really exercising, sweating, and getting my heart rate up—I saw an incredible improvement in my bleeding issues.

Today, I make it a point to exercise at least every two-three days, and I make sure it is sweaty (because sweating helps support estrogen metabolization by getting the toxins out via your skin, reducing the overall load on your liver) and intense. My favorite workouts are high intensity intervals from FitnessBlender, mainly because they are sweaty and get my heart going, but they also only take 20-30 minutes (but because they are high intensity intervals, they do the work of a longer, less intense workout in a shorter amount of time) and I can do them in the tiny amount of space available in my apartment. However, high intensity exercise can also increase cortisol levels (which, as I mentioned, can deplete progesterone and spur on a cycle of imbalanced estrogen), so I wouldn’t do this if your body isn’t yet used to a lot of exercise. When I lived near a walking path at my old apartment, my husband and I would walk two to three miles every evening, and that also did the trick. Weight-lifting is another good option, but I would definitely pair it with something that gets your heart rate up a bit more, like power-walking/jogging/biking/etc.

If you don’t work out already, I know this can sound overwhelming, but please trust me: it’s the best thing you can possibly get in the habit of doing for your body. It is so worth it, for both the physical and mental benefits, and in my experience, it is the number one thing that will help reduce your overall estrogen load. Start slow and work your way up to more intense or longer workouts.

Reducing alcohol consumption (or stopping altogether)

Alcohol is another thing that I’ve noticed has one of the biggest effects on whether I spot between periods. During the pandemic, I was definitely drinking more than I usually do, and suddenly all of my old issues (the worst being near-constant bleeding without a break) started coming back, long after I thought I’d fixed them. I had to stop drinking altogether for quite a while before my period got back on track, and now I’m very careful about when and how much alcohol I let myself consume.

In short, I mostly limit myself to one drink when I’m out socializing with friends (which honestly, isn’t very often), or to a drink or two during my period. Keep in mind, estrogen is already high during your period, so drinking may exacerbate cramps or bleeding. However, because it’s the one time of the month that I know drinking won’t cause spotting (because, duh, I’m already bleeding), I sometimes let myself have a little treat of a glass of wine or a beer (and beer is better because of the lower alcohol content). I never let myself drink when I’m nearing ovulation or in the weeks between ovulating and my period, because I can be fairly certain it will cause spotting or trigger a very long period. It’s just not worth it to me.

Eating well

I try to eat an overall healthy diet, mainly comprised of whole foods that I cook at home. The key phrase here is try, because I do go out to eat, and I do let myself indulge in sugary treats from time to time, but I don’t allow that to be my main diet. I eat a lot of chicken, turkey, vegetables, and salads—but luckily I love those things, so it doesn’t feel like a hardship. I try to listen to what my body is craving, and in my experience, the healthier you eat, the more your body craves those things. I try to limit how often I cook pasta (even though it’s one of my favorite things) and how often I eat white bread/rolls, because those carbs are very sugary and will increase estrogen over time.

But don’t starve yourself! Eating healthily throughout the day also helps mitigate insulin resistance and avoid blood sugar spikes, which can also be factors that contribute to high estrogen. I eat as much healthy food as I want all day long. I eat avocado toast for breakfast every morning and I fucking love it. Find the healthy foods that bring you joy—they exist, I swear.

Other things that have helped me (but probably won’t fix an estrogen imbalance on their own)…

Vitamins and supplements

Especially when I was getting off the pill for the first time in over a decade, my body was screaming for micronutrients it had been deprived of for years—because the pill leaches micronutrients from your body, particularly folic acid, vitamins B2, B6, B12, vitamin C and E and the minerals magnesium, selenium and zinc.  I took vitamins for all of these in the months and even years after getting off the pill. Today, I find that I don’t need them most of the time because I seem to be getting enough from the food I eat, but sometimes when traveling or during especially stressful times, I will supplement with them.

I also supplement my diet with different teas. Some of my favorites are dandelion root tea (which is loaded with vitamins and helps detox the liver), and I drink green tea and raspberry leaf tea during my period (which help to lighten bleeding, and can help with cramps). I also make sure to avoid certain teas, as many of them can increase estrogen: black tea, hibiscus, chamomile, elderberry, and even raspberry leaf tea can all increase estrogen, so I largely avoid those (except raspberry leaf during my period, when it seems to have positive effects for me). But again, I’m not a doctor, and there is conflicting information on a lot of these plants and herbs, so make sure to do your own research and figure out what works for your body.

Progesterone cream

I don’t whole-heartedly recommend progesterone cream, mainly because there aren’t a lot of studies on how it affects the reproductive system. However, I will say that when I was first getting off the pill and I was back to two-week-long periods, I did turn to plant-based progesterone cream out of desperation (I used this brand), and it did seem to be one of the things that helped get my body to break out of its constant cycle of bleeding. I only used it for a few months, around ovulation and afterwards in the weeks leading up to my period, and it did seem to reduce my spotting between periods. But I would suggest using this option as sparingly as possible, and to stop as soon as your periods even out a bit.

 

 

Header image via Unsplash.