April 27, 2018
If we consider our body as a hardware, then the hormones are its software. Each aspect of our body and mind are affected or controlled by the hormonal regulations. The importance of hormonal balance to maintain our physical, mental and emotional well being cannot be overstated. Therefore, when the fine balance of the hormonal delicacy is toppled over, a range of inconveniences can creep in to our life.
"My mood is always bad. I feel constantly down, tired, and disconnected from people. I do not find any motivation to do my daily works and getting through the day feels like a struggle every day." - 30 years old Theresa (not real name), a store manager said.
"I was a brilliant little girl with a sharp memory. but now I forget the simplest things. Soon after I became a teenager, my memory started to become dull. I started to forget things, and learning new things got difficult. I feel that I am the same brilliant girl inside, but my memory betrays myself. People think me to be a dumb because of my forgetful memory. Which is so frustrating" - 21 years old Emma (not real name), a college student said.
"Most of my female friends seem to like sex, but I never enjoyed sex and never felt excited about it too. I had some really great relationships, but sex never clicked. My female friends describe sex to be an ecstatic experience, but I barely feel anything during sex." - 38 years old Jenny (not real name), a finance lawyer said.
The above statements are from women at different age and from different ethnicity. Although they do not sound similar, but all three of them have the same underlying root cause! When they were tested, it was found that they all have some common symptoms. And if the above statements sounds like similar to "your" story, there is a good chance that you also share the following symptoms with the women above.
If the majority of these symptoms are coincidental with any woman, then there is a good chance that she has been suffering from Estrogen hormone deficiency. This problem is also known formally as "hyper luteal phase dominance" or progesterone dominance. In this article, we are going to discuss the cause, impact, and more importantly solutions of this problem.
There are two primary hormones in the post-adolescent female body: estrogen and progesterone. Both of these hormones have important functions in the maintenance and well-being of the body. Estrogen and progesterone level fluctuates during the menstrual cycle and it is important that the balance between them is maintained. But sometimes the balance can be disrupted for a variety of reasons. If the body produces less estrogen than the baseline level, or if the generated estrogen cannot initiate the functionality of the subsequent physiological mechanism, then this can cause progesterone dominance or hyper luteal phase dominance, or estrogen deficiency.
Cause 1 - Lack of estrogen production: Some women naturally produce less estrogen; cause can be genetic or malnutrition during developing age. This can be identified through hormone study. Lack of natural estrogen production cannot be permanently treated, but the symptoms can be eradicated through natural estrogen boosting habits (mentioned later in this article).
Cause 2 - Lack of responsiveness of estrogen receptors: Symptoms of estrogen deficiencies can also appear due to lack of responsiveness of estrogen receptors (ER). In such cases, it can be difficult to diagnose the problem, because hormone study tends to show regular level of estrogen presence in blood analysis, but the subsequent workflow are suppressed as the recipient organisms are not activated sufficiently. In such cases, medications are not advisable, but the estrogen boosting habits and routines can help significantly.
Cause 3 - Disease or malnutrition: Some other women’s estrogen production can be impaired by other diseases or medications - which can lead to this problem at any age. These cases are often reversible by treating the original disease or replacing to a less invasive medications, if the original hormone level was regular before the disease or medication.
Both our physical and mental status is determined by the biochemistry of the hormones in our body. Therefore, any hormonal imbalance can cause a series of problems.
Estrogen is a primary female sex hormone that plays a crucial role in a woman's overall well-being. It provides a sense of energy, confidence, and motivation, and is known to enhance memory and cognitive function. Estrogen levels naturally fluctuate throughout a woman's menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause, and these changes can impact various aspects of physical and emotional health. Optimal levels of estrogen help regulate mood, improve sleep patterns, reduce symptoms of PMS, and enhance sexual function.
Estrogen is structurally a steroid type protein and estrogen is the primary source of steroid in female body (whereas, testosterone is the source of steroid for male body). Steroid boosts brain regions, like hippocampus (improves memory and cognitive ability), amygdala (reduces stress and manages emotions), and hypothalamus (maintains body temperature, menstruations, and improves social skill and bondings).
Due to low levels of estrogen, estrogen deficient women often suffer from a lack of motivation, depression, difficulty in memorizing, difficulty in learning new skills, uncontrollable anger, or stress. These may often lead to physical problems, like arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat), sense of suffocation (irregular or difficult breathing), and thermal imbalance of the body (lowered body temperature with occasional hot flashes).
During puberty, estrogen is responsible for "secondary sexual development" and progesterone is responsible for
"primary sexual development". Estrogen deficient women goes through proper primary sexual development, but lack of
secondary developments.
Primary developments include: introducing fertility (development of
the uterus, starting the menstrual cycle, widening the hip to accommodate pregnancy).
Secondary developments include: development of the breast, vagina,
and vulva, restructure of pelvic girdle to widen birth canal, increase sexual attraction.
Estrogen deficiency causes the imbalance between these two domains. Due to progesterone dominance, uterine wall can be overly thickened, which causes painful menstruations with heavy discharge, and also increases the risk of cysts or inflammation at the later ages. Due to lack of secondary development, these women generally have small breasts and underdeveloped vaginal walls. Their pelvic opening is often narrower than regular women - which can cause childbirth difficult. Instead of mature vaginal structure, their vaginal wall generally resembles of the young girls (consists of mostly structural tissues of cuboidal cells and lacks of nerve enriched sensory squamous epithelial cells).
Estrogen receptors in hypothalamus is important to maintain the thermal regulation of the body and these women often face difficulty to maintain constant body temperature - causing the body to have slightly lower steady state temperature with occasional hot flashes. Hot flashes can be prominent after menopause. Estrogen also helps to maintain good hair and skin health. Estrogen deficiency is a main reason for excessive hair fall, acne and other skin conditions. Estrogen also helps to maintain bone mineral density, and estrogen deficiency is a precursor for bone diseases and bone lose.
Estrogen deficiency also makes it difficult to use hormone-based contraceptives. Contraceptives take into account the “optimal” hormone balance of the female body and work based on that control level. Contraceptives are effective on estrogen deficient women, but it takes a great toll on their body, as it disrupts the physiological mechanism significantly.
Estrogen deficiency has great impact on the sexual life for both the women and their partners due to the lack of secondary sexual development. Estrogen promotes interest and attraction towards sexual activity during puberty.
During puberty, estrogen prepares vagina and vulva for both receiving and providing sexual pleasure and prepare vagina for sex by enriching vaginal wall with soft tissues with plenty of nerve endings. Estrogen redirects additional nerve endings from the groin, buttock, and thigh regions toward the clitoris, vulva, and vagina and make sex pleasant for women.
Like adolescent girls, estrogen deficient women generally do not have interest in sex. Also, due to their vaginal structure (consists of predominantly strong structural tissues, instead of soft sensitive tissues), they feel little to no sensation during sex. Due to dryness of vagina, the penetration can become painful instead of fun.
Duration of penetrative sex of estrogen deficient women with their male partners are generally shorter and dispersed compared to the same with other women. Because, most men ejaculate within merely seconds after putting their penis inside their adolescent-like vagina due to the unusually higher stimulation. Also, men's complete semen stock squeezes out uncontrollably; therefore, recharging for getting another erection can take upto several days for the men. During sex with other regular women, vaginal stimulation usually can squeeze out only a small portion of men's semen stock, which allow the men to get an erection again for a second round on the same night. With an adolescent-resembling vagina of the estrogen deficient woman, only the men with remarkable sexual prowess can manage to perform more than once in a single night, or last for a few minutes (instead of seconds) per session.
Evolutionary biologists think that, these characteristics of adolescent girls sexuality has been sculptured by evolution to protect them from unwanted pregnancy, vaginal injuries by having sex with adult men. Young girls do not feel interested in sex, and if they are involved into sex, the intercource is guaranteed to be short lasted and the man will not be able to engage again for a long time - reducing the sex related risks.
Women with estrogen deficiency remain stuck in this adolescent period of sexuality. As they miss the train of secondary sexual development during puberty, they tend to never grow regular attraction for sex, also miss out the pleasure of penetrative sex.
Also, due to higher percentage of structural tissues, estrogen deficient women's vagina usually remain similar in structural streangth for the duration of lifetime - which enables them to remain sexually active even at their old age. However, due to lack of soft tissues, their vagiga lacks elasticity, which makes the vagina prone to become "loose" with age. "Kegel exercise" is a good way to maintain the tightness of the vagina in post-menopausal age.
Estrogen deficiency does not impact much on fertility. Instead, it may boost fertility due to progesterone dominance causing the growth of the uterus. However, there can be two notable challenges.
The menstrual cycle is maintained by hormonal balance. Due to a lack of hormonal balance, the menstrual cycle can vary for women, and it can cause ovulation to fluctuate. Estrogen deficient women often complain about volatile ovulation dates, which make it difficult to pinpoint ovulation time, and getting pregnant can be an issue. Calendar method of birth-control does not work for them due to the same reason.
The second challenge is childbirth. Estrogen deficient women often have an Android-shaped pubic bone opening, which is narrower than the regular wider gynocidal opening. This can lead to difficulty in natural childbirth.
HISTORIC ANECDOTE
Historically estrogen deficiency may have been glorified, as sexuality in women was treated negatively in society. In ancient greece, the depictions of godesses and priestesses resembles the bodily feature of estrogen deficiency. (Venus of Arles is one such example.)
In ancient India, padmini or harini women were celebrated as the most desired, who also resembles estrogen deficieny symptoms.
As estrogen deficient women do not demand their own sexual need, but can provide great pleasure - ancient male dominated society identified these characteristics as desirable.
Every person is unique in their hormone signature and there is often no common solution for a problem that works for everyone. But there are some ways to improve most of the effects of estrogen deficiency, by following a few steps to boost estrogen production. A lot of women suffering from the estrogen deficiency have reported great recovery in their symptoms by maintaining a few regulations.
There are some medications gynecologists prescribe to increase estrogen levels, but these medications have major side effects and risks, which often lead to other problems. Also, doctors suggest these medications to post-menopausal women to avoid risking impact on regular body functions.
Once the body is dependent on external medications for estrogen, it often reduces the production of natural estrogen even further, which complicates the original problem.
Therefore, doctors in general advise avoiding medications for estrogen levels and encourage following other good habits which boost estrogen production naturally.
Estrogen deficiency is a condition, not a desease. If an affected woman can cope up with the condition, then they can lead a normal life without major issues and without major risks of deterioting their health.
Here are some helpful advices to assist coping up with estrogen deficiency;
There are some habits, which can boost estrogen level naturally. The natural estrogen boosting routine includes four habits: (i) food, (ii) sleep, (iii) sex, and (iv) weight control and exercise. If the routine can be followed, women report significant improvement in majority of the issues; like improved mood, memory and cognitive function, feel more energetic, motivated, easier menopausal changes and slow ageing, reduced risk of ovarian cysts - are some of the notable benefits.
There are some foods that increase estrogen production naturally.
Importantly, cutting down carbohydrate intake is also very helpful. Also, drink a lot of water to stay hydrated.
Having good quality sleep is very important for estrogen production and for maintaining estrogen receptors. The amount of sleep varies depending on several factors, but having 6-8 hours of sleep per night can help significantly. You need to make time to have full sleep. If you are not fulfilling your sleep quota, try to find out the factors that disrupt your sleep and eradicate those factors to improve the quality and quantity of your sleep.
It is also important to have long streatch of good quality sleep. Short naps can lead to difficulty. For example, untimely short nap (like day time naps) can cause thermal regulation issue and hot flashes. A good night sleep on the other hand comes along with perks.
Having regular sexual intercourse with male partners improves the symptoms of the estrogen deficiency by uplifting the sensitivity of the estrogen receptors (ER). Independent studies from Dr William Perloff and the team led by Dr Trond Viggo Grontvedt based on women both in their fertile age (18-45 years) and in post-menopausal age (45-70 years) conculded that, regular sex helps women to experience improvements against most adverse effects of estrogen deficiency. Sexual intercource on a daily basis was suggested to be the most beneficial, but women having sex at least 3-4 times per week also experienced noticeable benefits; such as better stamina, mood, memory and cognitive ability, reduced stress, reduced risk of ovarian cysts, easier menopausal transition, and slow ageing by maintaining better skin and hair after menopause.
The studies indicated that, sex helps in this way because of two key-actors: oxytocin and secondary testosterone transmission.
Sex releases oxytocin (pair bonding neurotransmitter) in women's body. Oxytocin helps the estrogen receptors (ER-alpha) to be several times more effective, therefore the body utilizes the estrogen much more efficiently. In general, any sexual activity with the partner encourages oxytocin secretion, but the best result is achieved if the men provide love and affection during sex- with intimate cuddle, affectionate foreplay, and very slow and shallow penetration.
Another contributing key-factor is the secondary transmission of testosterone. Testosterone is a male hormone, structurally very similar to estrogen, which is generated in men's body, and responsible for increasing sexual desire, as well as helps to improve memory, cognitive abilities, mood, humor, physical growth, and body hair. (Men with higher testosterone resembles these signs substantially, and most women crave for men with these attributes).
If generated or applied directly in the women body, testosterone can cause male characteristics (like body hair, muscle growth) in women. But if transmitted secondarily from men's body, testosterone does not cause masculine attributes, but significantly helps women with other benefits, like improved memory, cognitive functions, mood, and sexual desire. When a man is sexually aroused, his saliva gets flooded with testosterone. Female tongue, vulva, and anus are especially good at absorbing testosterone from male saliva (surprisingly anus is the best absorber, with tongue a close second).
Secondary transmission of testosterone happens during sex, as saliva exchange happens between partners with the tongue play while they kiss. Men often drive their tongue deep inside the women's receptive mouth during sex, which helps the cause very much. Enthusiast men also unknowingly performs the delivery of secondary testosterone through oral plays on the vulva and the anus.
(Generating testosterone has some adverse effects, which contribute to men's lower average life-span compared to longer lived women counterpart. Evolotionary biologists think that, human and other great ape females have stopped producing testosterone themselves to avoid the risks and receive the benefits of testosterone from the male partners. This is probably why human and great apes have sex all year round instead of during a short fertile season.)
Notes:
Maintaining weight and exercise is another important factor for boosting estrogen levels. Having the right kind of exercise is very important. Having no physical exercise is harmful, on the other hand having too much hardcore exercise also hinders estrogen production.
Regular aerobic exercise, yoga, running, cycling, and swimming - are the best kind of activities for improved estrogen levels. You must drink a lot of water. You can also try intermittent fasting to maintain your weight. This article contains some of the best tips for women to reduce weight.
Research has shown that body weight directly impacts estrogen levels in women. Estrogen is responsible for maintaining female body fat. Therefore, if a woman is slightly underweight, it encourages estrogen production to make up the fat level. Overweight women tend to have lower levels of estrogen. On the other hand, slightly underweight women may experience a boost in estrogen production.
Studies from Fernando Lizcano and Guillermo Guzman (Biomedical Research Center, CIBUS) have shown that maintaining a body mass index (BMI) below 20 boosts estrogen production, and maintaining BMI between 17.5 and 18.5 can result in best result for maintaining elevated estrogen levels.
However, it is important to note that extreme dieting or rapid weight loss can also negatively impact estrogen levels and overall health, so it's crucial to maintain a balanced and healthy diet and exercise regimen. Also, note that the suggested BMI range for healthy persons is between 18.5 to 23.5, therefore, a 17.5 to 18.5 BMI can be considered slightly underweight. You need to consult with your physician and dietician to ensure that it is healthy for you to maintain this BMI.
You can use this BMI calculator to find out your current BMI, and your target weight for a certain BMI. For example, if your height is 170cm, and you want to maintain a BMI of 18, your target weight is 52kg.
Please provide your height (in cm) and your expected BMI to calculate your target weight.
Height (in cm)
Expected BMI
If it is difficult or unhealthy for you to maintain the suggested weight, then try to keep your BMI at least below 20.
The estrogen deficiency is a complex problem for women and has far reaching consequences. The impact on the quality of life - both physically, mentally, and emotionally - are immense. Female health is often neglected area of research and there is no medication/treatment without risk of side effects for estrogen deficiency yet.
Although it can be frustrating, almost all the effects can be reversed through following some habits or routines. Proper food, regular sleep, proper exercise, maintaining weight and having a routine sex life will ensure all the symptoms to be in check - irrespective of the age of women.
It is important to note that, you should not self diagnose yourself. If you have suspicion of having estrogen deficiency, you need to check with your gynecologist and get tested. If they confirm the syndrome, then discuss the routine with them to confirm that it is suitable for you.
Follow the advice of your doctor and you should be fine!
Answered a lot of questions i had for all my lifetime! Thanks for posting with so much detail!! Cheers, bravo!!!
Copyright © 2019 - Women Health Inc.
Anonymous (Female)
Posted on Dec 10 / 2018 at 09:43 am
I knew that there was an underlying issue for all the problems that I had all my life. My doctors always told me, I am ok. But i always felt there was something. This post makes a lot of sense to me as it is telling the story of my life. I had a lot of friends, but gradually became alone because of my mood. I dated few men, but could not make long term relationship because according to men I do not have chemistry, or play along in bed. Finally i met a sweet guy who loved me and cared me. We got married and we are living happily with our two lovely daughters. But still the problems bother me. PMS, forrgeting things, havoc with implant - i feel fed up often. Nice to see some actual advice to follow here. this can be a life changer for me. also for my gentleman husband too.