Hormone Imbalance

In the first 10-12 days of the menstrual cycle, only estrogen is produced in the female body. If ovulation occurs, then progesterone is produced by the ovaries. On day 28 or so, levels of both hormones drop, resulting in menstruation. However, if ovulation did not occur, you can still have the menstrual period, but the estrogen is never "balanced" by progesterone, which needed ovulation to trigger its production. And this results in symptoms of hormone imbalance appearing -- you have estrogen but progesterone production drops to very low levels.

In the industrialized countries, women take birth control pills, are exposed to household chemicals at home, car exhaust and other environmental xenoestrogens. In addition, women often have stressful lives, eat processed foods or skip meals, take synthetic estrogen HRT (hormone replacement therapy) and have hysterectomies. All these factors can add more estrogen to the female body, resulting in excess estrogen which will cause hormone imbalance symptoms.

Symptoms of hormone imbalance in women may begin as early as the late 20's to the 40's. Symptoms of hormone imbalance in women tend to increase as a woman ages, especially if ignored in the earlier years. Hormone imbalance symptoms can be any one or more of the following:

- Allergy symptoms
- Depression, fatigue and anxiety
- Endometriosis
- Fibrocystic breasts
- Hair loss and facial hair growth
- Headaches, dizziness and foggy thinking
- Low sex drive
- Osteoporosis
- PMS
- Urinary tract infections and incontinence
- Uterine fibroids
- Weight gain, water retention and bloating
- Wrinkly skin