# Battling estrogen dominance any ideas?



## jen379

looking back over my medical history it's pretty obvious that i have estrogen dominance...cystic fibroids in breast, gallbladder issues, and endometriosis. 

i'm trying a new supplement called DIM but wondered if anyone had any other success balancing hormones?


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## skimomma

Watch your diet. Some foods promote the production of estrogen and there are also supplements and herbs you should be wary of. Also, try the endo diet (google it).


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## jen379

thanks SkiM, i'm now doing paleo diet which has already helped but i didn't really eat the things that increase estrogen anyways.


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## Briss

what is the estrogen promoting food? 

have you had your estrogen levels checked? mine is usually below 200 (about 170) on CD3. is this high? it can get much higher when I have functional ovarian cysts.


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## jen379

Briss said:


> what is the estrogen promoting food?
> 
> have you had your estrogen levels checked? mine is usually below 200 (about 170) on CD3. is this high? it can get much higher when I have functional ovarian cysts.

hi Briss, i haven't had my estrogen checked in a while and don't remember the numbers but in last couple of months, i have been so unbearably sluggish after ov that i'm miserable. my naturopath told me to use prog cream to keep it at bay but i started using DIM because i think i needed something to help me metabolize the extra estrogen. it seems to be working, i ov mid week and haven't felt as tired. plus, i'm sure new diet is working. 

i just wondered if anyone had any additional success. ???

estrogen promoting foods, i think..., include lots of caffeine, anything with soy, foods that aren't organic that have pesticides and hormones can compromise hormone levels as well. perhaps even sweet potatoes, yams, foods with high amount of carbs. (those nasty carbs:nope:)

i'm not sure what numbers are high? do you suspect estrog dominance? 

what do you mean with functional cysts? just curious??


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## tryfor2

Hi Jen, I know nothing about this but just this evening read that B6 can apparently help with metabolizing estrogen and therefore give progesterone a fighting chance! Do you take any B6 over and above a multivitamin? Supposedly a B6 deficiency can result in a glut of estrogen. Not sure if that helps or not but thought I'd share....


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## Briss

functional cysts are the ones that come and go, basically it's a follicle that keeps growing and releasing oestrogen post O, instead of releasing the egg, turning into yellow body and producing progesterone. 

I do drink one cappuccino a day and eat chocolate but I do not think I eat any of the other nasty stuff. I know we live in a very oestrogen dominated environment but I thought it was more damaging to men and their sperm (hence general reduction in sperm count in the last 50 years). I even minimised chemicals by not using any synthetic body washes and replaced them with natural tar soap (took a while to get used to the smell though). using filtered water is also a way to minimise estrogen 

I just thought estrog dominance would be picked by a blood test? 

as far as I know anything above 200 on CD 3 is high for estrogen. 

btw, what is DIM?


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## jen379

Hi Try! good to hear from you and thank you for that info. i wasn't aware of the b6 thing, at least to that extent. i do take extra b vitamins and take them in methylated form instead of synthetic. hopefully, i'm doing what i can on that front. maybe my estrogen has gotten better since on the new vitamins. i have obgyn appt in Dec and maybe i can request that it be checked so i know exactly what i'm dealing with. 

Briss, i think your safe on your cappuccino (sounds so good right now too). i think in order for it to raise estrogen, it has to be the equivalent of 5 cups of coffee or something really high. 

it's interesting that symptom of estrog dom is breast fibroids which i was dx with in my 20's (oh the days, lol!) and gall bladder issues which i had removed before 30 and western med doesn't recognize as symptoms of estro dominance. my naturopath told me about it when in my 40's--immediately when i told him about my endometriosis, which FS never discussed as est dom at all. i guess this is something i just prone to, regardless. 

Briss, DIM is something that i can not pronounce but is suppose to be a natural supplement composed of compounds found in cruciferous (sp??) veggies which help metabolize the estrogen. i guess when estrogen is high, prog is low so it works to balance everything out. 

don't know if explained well and working from memory. frightful!! thank you ladies!! is so wonderful to get some support and just be able to unpack all these issues!!


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## jen379

Briss said:


> functional cysts are the ones that come and go, basically it's a follicle that keeps growing and releasing oestrogen post O, instead of releasing the egg, turning into yellow body and producing progesterone.
> 
> I do drink one cappuccino a day and eat chocolate but I do not think I eat any of the other nasty stuff. I know we live in a very oestrogen dominated environment but I thought it was more damaging to men and their sperm (hence general reduction in sperm count in the last 50 years). I even minimised chemicals by not using any synthetic body washes and replaced them with natural tar soap (took a while to get used to the smell though). using filtered water is also a way to minimise estrogen
> 
> I just thought estrog dominance would be picked by a blood test?
> 
> as far as I know anything above 200 on CD 3 is high for estrogen.
> 
> btw, what is DIM?

Briss, are these cysts related to PCOS? or do they affect fertility at all?


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## Briss

these cysts are not PCOS. They come and go, one cyst at a time. My FS said they do not affect fertility but who knows.

I have breast fibroid type of things or smallish cysts. No one seem to care about them. also my breasts are very painful after O but I guess this is due to progesterone. when I was on synthetic progesterone in my IVF cycle my breasts hurt a lot as soon as I started taking it.

what are the gall bladder issues that are relevant for estrogen dominance?


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## jen379

Briss said:


> these cysts are not PCOS. They come and go, one cyst at a time. My FS said they do not affect fertility but who knows.
> 
> I have breast fibroid type of things or smallish cysts. No one seem to care about them. also my breasts are very painful after O but I guess this is due to progesterone. when I was on synthetic progesterone in my IVF cycle my breasts hurt a lot as soon as I started taking it.
> 
> what are the gall bladder issues that are relevant for estrogen dominance?

Briss, here's a website with a list of estrogen dominance related issues. can't remember where i heard that first but if you google it you'll probably find a lot more sources. once i started reading, i get a little freaked out. :nope:

https://www.naturalbodyinbalance.com/estrogen-dominance.php


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## Briss

I was looking at various hormonal imbalances https://www.johnleemd.com/store/resource_hormonetest.html#answers and I think mine is more like Excess androgens (male hormones), although I do not have PCOS (but I do eat LOTS of chocolate) and I did blood tests and my testosterone and DHEA were OK. confusing.


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## jen379

Briss said:


> I was looking at various hormonal imbalances https://www.johnleemd.com/store/resource_hormonetest.html#answers and I think mine is more like Excess androgens (male hormones), although I do not have PCOS (but I do eat LOTS of chocolate) and I did blood tests and my testosterone and DHEA were OK. confusing.

Briss, i just wish things would be easier for us. or at least, give us more encouragement for our efforts. i always feel like it's a guessing game and it drives me bonkers! :haha: it's not like i can get my hormones checked every month to see if they're balanced or not or even getting better. although, if i had the resources...i might...

we are improving our overall health and that has to count for something...SOON!!!!!


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## LuckyW

I believe animal protein is estrogenic. I was estrogen dominant (long history of uterine fibroids) and found to have low progesterone when I first started ttc. A year into ttc, my progesterone levels were fine and my estrogen was on the low side. This was a big surprise. The only thing that had really changed with me in this time was going vegan.

The couple years before going vegan, I didn't eat a lot of meat, but the meat and dairy I did eat was always organic. So I tend to think it's not even about the hormone treatments that livestock in the US are subjected to, but in the nature of animal protein itself.

Don't mean to sound like a vegan propagandist, but do think of this choice as one of the best decisions I've ever made. Good luck!


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## LuckyW

BTW, I just noticed your sig- I have a friend with the MTHFR gene and she keeps gluten free. I don't know anything more than that, but thought it might be a helpful direction for you to pursue.


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## SweetPotatoPi

jen379 said:


> Briss, i just wish things would be easier for us. or at least, give us more encouragement for our efforts.* i always feel like it's a guessing game and it drives me bonkers!  it's not like i can get my hormones checked every month to see if they're balanced or not or even getting better. although, if i had the resources...i might...
> *
> we are improving our overall health and that has to count for something...SOON!!!!!

Yep! Still battling what I am positive is estro dom here too. Right now I'm waiting for my progesterone to arrive and will be taking that after O. During my FP will be taking around 1200-2,000 mg Vitex daily. I was taking around 6,000 (worked up to this dose) but haven't found my usual Vitex in stock anywhere around here so working with different formulas (1:4's vs 1:1's). I was thinking about adding some DIM as well. Jogging and strength training also in addition to lots of fresh veggie juices. We'll see :shrug: . The mid-cycle bleeding I was dealing with seems to have ceased so that hopefully means I'm on the right track. There's so much conflicting stuff out there I'm just going to do what makes sense to me. I wasn't trying to figure out supplements, diets, etc. and so on and was just fine fertility-wise before so working my way back there.



LuckyW said:


> I believe animal protein is estrogenic. I was estrogen dominant (long history of uterine fibroids) and found to have low progesterone when I first started ttc. A year into ttc, my progesterone levels were fine and my estrogen was on the low side. This was a big surprise. The only thing that had really changed with me in this time was going vegan.
> 
> The couple years before going vegan, I didn't eat a lot of meat, but the meat and dairy I did eat was always organic. So I tend to think it's not even about the hormone treatments that livestock in the US are subjected to, but in the nature of animal protein itself.
> 
> Don't mean to sound like a vegan propagandist, but do think of this choice as one of the best decisions I've ever made. Good luck!

I think going grain-free/low-grain and high fat (animal and otherwise) as well as increasing my meat consumption likely made this a worse issue for me than it has been (I believe, after looking at my history and digging into what estrogen dominance/low progesterone is all about that I've dealt with this for years but never had fertility issues from it until now). I went veg for a month to help me give my liver a break. Once I started feeling not so good on the no-meat train I have gone back to the way we were eating before all these problems started coming up for me/us with some meat consumption but not the center of our meals, lots of juicing, fresh veggies, some junk, etc. Didn't have a problem with m/c's and fertility before and I think in my quest to find the "health panacea" for our family (my children deal with severe food allergies as well) things got all out of whack for us, worse than before. I'm sticking to moderation all around being key.


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## SweetPotatoPi

Oh, and *LuckyW*, I hope I didn't come off as snarking on your decision to go veg (tone is so ultra hard to read on forums and I'm typing my thoughts out quickly before I get my DS1 started on his lessons). It's all you, whatever you want to do and think is best for your body. I was veg (not vegan) years ago and find it's not the best choice for *me* long-term (great as a detox for me though!) but for others it's a great decision for them. After trying various diet switchups (even with the grain-free/low-grain bit I felt *amazing* at first and lost lots of weight, which I wasn't aware would happen so nice surprise :haha: , but then I started not feeling so good on that particular path) I've come to the conclusion that a little bit of everything is what's right for us.


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## jen379

LuckyW said:


> BTW, I just noticed your sig- I have a friend with the MTHFR gene and she keeps gluten free. I don't know anything more than that, but thought it might be a helpful direction for you to pursue.

thanks LuckyW, i started doing paleo diet about 3 wks ago and so far, so good. my homocysteine levels are in the normal range and have been taking non synthetic form of b vits and folic acid. my naturopath said this alone would get it even lower. at least i have one thing in my favor!!


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## jen379

SweetPotatoPi said:


> Oh, and *LuckyW*, I hope I didn't come off as snarking on your decision to go veg (tone is so ultra hard to read on forums and I'm typing my thoughts out quickly before I get my DS1 started on his lessons). It's all you, whatever you want to do and think is best for your body. I was veg (not vegan) years ago and find it's not the best choice for *me* long-term (great as a detox for me though!) but for others it's a great decision for them. After trying various diet switchups (even with the grain-free/low-grain bit I felt *amazing* at first and lost lots of weight, which I wasn't aware would happen so nice surprise :haha: , but then I started not feeling so good on that particular path) I've come to the conclusion that a little bit of everything is what's right for us.

SweetPotatoPi, thanks, I can really feel a difference with the DIM, however i'm not sure if i should continue taking after ov because you're not suppose to take if pregnant. i'm taking half the dose until AF arrives just as a precaution. compared to last month, i feel 10 times better with increased energy, less foggy thinking, etc. i'm also eating a more Paleo diet which has helped as well. although the closer i get to AF, the hungrier i get!! sometimes i can't win!!

i'm convinced that the answer lies within each of our bodies and we're making the right choices for each of us. good luck to all of us!! :flower:


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## jen379

hello ladies, sad to report that AF showed up last week. however, after being on the DIM, for a month i can tell a huge difference in my energy level. the past couple of months my lethargy after ov has increased with every cycle and this cycle, with DIM, i felt like i moved through the entire cycle without feeling that energy shift. i'm very pleased. i also think that the amount of tissue and clots during my period seemed not as severe either. i need to check on how long i can stay on DIM but i def felt more like myself and wanted to share the info with anyone struggling as well. 

hope all of you ladies are doing well and getting closer to your BFPs!!!!!


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## SweetPotatoPi

That's awesome news jen! :dance: Thanks so much for relaying your experience with the DIM :thumbup: . I've found the Vitex has helped with the crazy clots and amounts of tissue I lose as well. Sounds like we're getting closer to freeing ourselves from hormonal purgatory! :wohoo: I'm adding progesterone after O this cycle too. Come oooooonnnnnnn hormonal balance!


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## jen379

SweetP, I love what's in your signature...bahahahahaha!!!!!


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## SweetPotatoPi

jen379 said:


> SweetP, I love what's in your signature...bahahahahaha!!!!!

:haha: Yeah man, TTC is eeeeeeevil and I ain't talking to her :sulk: ; stuck-up heffa :toothpick: .


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## Solstyce

I started using DIM and fibrovan 2 days before my period started this month. 

What I have seen so far:


Only 1 small clot in my period blood (previously I had several clots on multiple days)

Period lasted 5 days (which is normal for me)

Spotting on days 6, 7, 8 & 9- started out as a lot of brown blood on day 6, by day 9 it was hardly anything.

Today is day 10. I have not had any spotting and in fact my fluid is clear and is approaching fertile (clear and slippery)

I hope that this makes the difference for me this month. I am cautiously optimistic.


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## Solstyce

Solstyce said:


> I started using DIM and fibrovan 2 days before my period started this month.
> 
> What I have seen so far:
> 
> 
> Only 1 small clot in my period blood (previously I had several clots on multiple days)
> 
> Period lasted 5 days (which is normal for me)
> 
> Spotting on days 6, 7, 8 & 9- started out as a lot of brown blood on day 6, by day 9 it was hardly anything.
> 
> Today is day 10. I have not had any spotting and in fact my fluid is clear and is approaching fertile (clear and slippery)
> 
> I hope that this makes the difference for me this month. I am cautiously optimistic.

Back to spotting today. :(


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## SweetPotatoPi

Dang, sorry about the spotting Solstyce :( . Are you taking any supplements other than the DIM?


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## Solstyce

SweetPotatoPi said:


> Dang, sorry about the spotting Solstyce :( . Are you taking any supplements other than the DIM?

Well I was taking everything in the world for several months but now I am just taking Fibrovan, DIM and folic acid.


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## Solstyce

I went to the doctor a few days ago (finally) after TTC for nearly 8 months. I was spotting the day of my appointment. I had a pap and I am going for a blood test (thyroid) and ultrasound on the 2nd. No answers yet about the 13 days of spotting I have every month after I get my period.


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