Female Hormone Therapy

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Female Hormone Therapy

Optimizing quality of life

Valerie Phillips ND

2020

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Introduction

Hormones are really important

What is a hormone?

A hormone is a signalling molecule in the body. There are many different types and they do many different things. If we think of the body like a country, a hormone is like a speech at a political rally. A statement can set a tone for the body politic as hormones can set a tone for the body.

For the purposes of this pamphlet we will limit our discussion to the class of hormones that control the female reproductive system, the female sex

hormones. These little molecules are so powerful they can often make the

difference between enjoying life and being miserable. Hormone imbalance can cause mood disturbance to the point of psychosis(1). hormones can make you feel sexy, make you cry, give you acne, let you sleep or keep you up walking the floors all night.

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The purpose of this pamphlet is to give an overview of hormone therapies for women as an introduction and a guide for patients under my care. It is by no means comprehensive. It is meant to whet your palate for future

quenching your thirst for knowledge.

Hormones are deeply important to everyday quality of life, and we live in a stressful and toxic world that disrupts our natural hormone milieu. Our goal is to live our optimal life by making our systems work as well as is possible for us. I truly believe that optimizing female hormones makes the world a better place. I have a list of happy male partners who will corroborate this statement.

FEMALE HORMONES 4

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Female hormone cycle

A woman has a symphony of hormonal fluctuation every month from puberty to menopause. This orchestra of life ebbs and flows, then it just ebbs. Sometimes this feels ok, and sometimes it feels terrible in indescribable ways.

Image credit: http://menorrhagia.de/uterine-bleeding/features-normal-menstruation/

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Estrogen

Estrogen is one of the most important determinators of health in the life of a female (and those close by). It’s ups and downs regulate ovulation and fertility, breast swelling, vaginal lubrication, mood, libido, temperature regulation, bone strength, collagen synthesis and more.

FEMALE HORMONES 6 Image credit: someecards.com

https://restorativemedicine.org/ journal/estriol-good-estrogen-advances-updates-clinical-uses/

Low estrogen

Vasomotor symptoms – Hot flashes, night sweats

Vaginal dryness Sleep disturbances New onset depression

Joint pain Memory loss Cognitive changes Mood disruption/changes

Loss of libido Diminished sexual function

Menstrual migraines Bone loss Cardiovascular disease Abdominal weight gain Decreased collagen and elasticity

of skin

High estrogen

Weight gain or bloating Fibroids Fibrocystic breasts PMS Low libido Fatigue Abnormal periods Endometriosis Depression and anxiety

Breast tenderness Mood swings

Insomnia Difficulty concentrating

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Progesterone

Progesterone and estrogen are meant to be together. They act all over the body, not just in the uterus. I never recommend the use of estrogen without progesterone aka unopposed estrogen therapy, regardless of the presence or absence of a uterus.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/progesterone-and-brain-health-4589255

Estrogen effects

Thickens uterine lining

Increases blood clotting

Excitatory

Inflammatory

Progesterone balancing

Thins uterine lining

Normalizes blood clotting

Calming

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Estrogen Dominance

Estrogen can dominate not only your life, but the lives of everyone around you. It is optimal for estrogen to cycle, to rise and fall smoothly. The problem is that there are a lot of environmental toxins that mimic estrogen, artificially raising the body’s estrogen burden. This coupled with inefficient breakdown in the liver and plow progesterone because of stress creates the perfect storm of estrogen

dominance that is afflicting our females and confusing male partners worldwide. These chemicals are

furthermore obesogens, altering fat metabolism to promote accumulation of fat.

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Image credit: https://butternutrition.com/estrogen-dominance-hormonal-imbalance/

http://www.ovulationcalculator.ie/blog/5- Environmental-Toxins-That-May-Harm-Your-Fertility-22.html sciencedirect.com/science/ article/abs/pii/ S1357431099014719

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Estrogen Detoxification

How do we get these toxic estrogens out of our bodies? 1. Don’t put them in there.

2. Poop them out

3. Flush them out with water

4. Make them go down less inflammatory pathways with supportive nutrients.

Don’t put them in there. Avoid drinking out of soft plastic bottles, get a glass or stainless steel container. Get a good water filter. Stop filling the landfills and oceans with single use plastics. Eat organic foods if possible. If 100% organic is not possible, try to avoid “dirty dozen.”

https://www.ashevillegreenworks.org/

mind-your-plastic-may/plastic-bottles-are-evil

The Dirty Dozen (the most toxic fruits and vegetables to not buy organic) 1. Strawberries 2. Spinach 3. Kale 4. Nectarines 5. Apples 6. Grapes 7. Peaches 8. Cherries 9. Pears 10.Tomatoes 11. Celery 12.Potatoes https://www.caixinglobal.com/2017-12-29/will-chinas-ban-on-plastic-waste-imports-choke-the-world-101191394.html

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Poop them out.

The body targets and removes toxins from the body like the penal system removes criminals from society. But there is no rehabilitation for toxins. Toxins are

identified and targeted for excretion in the liver, dumped into the gut with the bile where and then they are excreted with the poop or peed out through the kidneys. Sometimes however that target is removed by the gut bacteria and the toxin is allowed to return to the blood.

FEMALE HORMONES 10 J.L. Wittliff, S.A. Andres, in Encyclopedia of Toxicology (Third Edition), 2014

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Pay attention to your poop, it is a window into your health. Chronic constipation for the body is like not emptying the

kitchen trash until it is flowing over onto the floor and piling up on the counters and getting

in the way of food preparation. It can be caused by dehydration, poor fibre intake in the diet, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, a food sensitivity or other possibly more serious problems.

Chronic loose stools are equally problematic. It could be caused by a food sensitivity such as gluten or

dairy intolerance, a bacterial infection in the gut, gall bladder issues to name a few. Please see your doctor if you have chronic digestive disturbances, especially if associated with pain. I recommend for most

people to be tested for food sensitivities via combined IgG and complement

testing. I use a lab called KBMO which I find to be more accurate than tests that use IgG alone. https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/poop-chart-bristol-stool-scale Dehydration Optimal Probable food sensitivity

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Flush them out with water

One of the best things you can do for your long term health is to stay hydrated. Many people are walking around like wilted plants. Your body needs 1/2 your body weight in ounces per day of water, that includes herbal (not caffeinated) tea, and does not include coffee, soda or

alcoholic beverages. For each drink of the above you need an extra 8 ounces of water. If this causes urinary frequency, it might resolve as your body becomes more

accustomed to hydration, much like a dry sponge, when first whetted the water runs off at first. If the urinary frequency persists, see your doctor as you might have a bladder

infection or some other issue with the urinary system. Bladder

infections are not to be taken lightly as they can crawl up into your kidneys and cause permanent damage or even death.

Personally, I find hydration apps to be very useful. My current favorite is called Plant Nanny. When you drink a glass of water, you water your virtual cartoon plant. If you are dehydrated, your plant starts to look very sick and sad.

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http://www.watercure.com/index.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/ what-is-plant-nanny-2015-3

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Sometimes when very sick or chronically dehydrated or hungover, it is very difficult to rehydrate through drinking. If this is the case, I recommend IV hydration. In an hour in the office we can generally rehydrate you and add some vitamins and minerals and get you back to feeling your best self.

https://www.mountainside-medical.com/blogs/medical-supplies/dehydration-information-key-factors-to-know-to-protect-your-health

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Make them go down less inflammatory pathways with supportive nutrients.

A large part of modern day toxicity has to do with nutrient depletion. We live in a world where the soils that grow our foods are dying. This means they are devoid of microbial life. The fungi and bacteria in the soils are symbiotic with the plants and allow them to uptake nutrients. In order to get the plants to grow in this environment, chemicals have to be used. The fertilisers and herbicides used in modern farming are toxic to our bodies. Epidemic nutrient depletion combined with unprecedented toxicity makes our immune system incompetent to protect us from disease such as cancer. When we become frankly sick we are offered more chemicals in the form of drugs and chemotherapy.

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If our diet and gut function were perfect, which it is not, we would still have to take nutrient supplementation to make up for the nutrient depletion in the soil. Some of the nutrients that influence the metabolism of estrogen are:

1. DIM (3,3’-diindolylmethane) from Cruciferous veggies like Broccoli sprouts.

1.1.(https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3048776/pdf/thy.2010.0245.pdf) 1.2.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5059820/

2. Iodine - clinical observation Dr Jonathan Wright Iodine: Why You Need It, Why You Can’t Live Without It 5th Edition2014 by David Brownstein, M.D.

3. Calcium-D-glucarate https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12197785/

I recommend a combination nutritional formula such as LEF’s Breast Health Formula

especially if the breasts are swollen or tender premenstrually or with hormone therapies. OR try broccoli sprouts!

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Androgens

Androgens are classically male hormones. Andro-gen “Male generating.” Ideally our masculine and feminine energy is at the perfect balance for us. Everyone has their sweet spot where they feel their best.

Androgens are powerful for mood, libido and strength.

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Too much

Testosterone

Acne

Facial hair

Aggressive mood

Head hair loss

Too little Testosterone

Low Libido

Difficulty building muscle

Fatigue

Depression

Brittle bones

https://portaltoascension.org/article/energy-divine-masculine/ Caption https://leanbulking.com/low- testosterone-women-symptoms-treatments/

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Hormone precursors

Hormones are not just estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. They are all the precursor hormones as well. I like to support all the steps along the hormone synthesis pathway with a little oral Pregnenolone and often DHEA as well.

Pregnenolone is called the mother hormone because it is the first step in the hormone synthesis pathway from cholesterol. It is called the memory hormone because deficiency is associated with cognitive dysfunction . 1 DHEA is just

upstream of testosterone and has many of the same effects. These are both easily obtainable over the counter oral supplements, so often a good cost effective solution top gently support the hormone pathways.

Brain Research Reviews 37 (2001) 301–312

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Hormones and Cancer

Cancers that arise from hormone sensitive tissues such as the breast, ovaries and uterus tend to have hormone receptors on them and are often stimulated by hormones. If someone has a personal history of a hormone driven cancer or a strong family history of such, it is likely that hormone therapy is not for them. Although as you can see in the figure below, different forms of estrogen have different estrogenic activity. Bio-identical hormones will not initiate cancer,

although synthetic hormone analogs have been shown to increase risk . The type 2 and route of administration (oral, transdermal or injection) of estrogen can make a huge difference in terms of this process. This is why I never recommend oral

estrogen. When swallowed, estrogen tends to be transformed into more

inflammatory metabolites .The inflammation and agitation that can result from the 3 dynamics of estrogen, is worse when progesterone is low.

http://dx.doi.org/10.3810/pgm.2009.01.1949 Dr Holtorf ’s review article on hormone safety and cancer.

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Kuhl H (2005). "Pharmacology of estrogens and progestogens: influence of different routes of

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administration" (PDF). Climacteric. 8 Suppl 1: 3–

63. doi:10.1080/13697130500148875. PMID 16112947. S2CID 24616324

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Metabolism of sex steroids. (.Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(1), 116; https://doi.org/10.3390/ ijms21010116

Female Hormone Therapy