You're lying awake at 3 a.m. again, sheets damp from another hot flash. During the day, you can't seem to find the right word mid-sentence, and your patience has disappeared. Or maybe you've been experiencing mood swings, trouble sleeping, hot flashes, brain fog, headaches, PMS-like symptoms, or low libido. The surprising root of all this? You may be dealing with high estrogen symptoms, even as you approach or move through menopause.
Wait. Isn't menopause about losing estrogen? How can it be too high?
Well, the reality is more nuanced, and understanding what's actually happening can help you find relief.
My high estrogen support toolkit:
High Estrogen Levels Symptoms
During perimenopause and even into menopause, the issue isn't always that estrogen is too low.
It's because estrogen is too high relative to progesterone. This imbalance is commonly called estrogen dominance.
Think of estrogen and progesterone as dance partners. When they're in sync, everything flows smoothly. But during the menopausal transition, progesterone levels tend to decline faster and more dramatically than estrogen. The result? Estrogen ends up leading without a partner to balance it out.
This hormonal imbalance can produce a wide range of high estrogen symptoms.
Think:
I’ve also had more than one patient with estrogen dominance describe feelings of intense dislike aimed at their partner. So “hating your husband” during certain times of the month could also be considered an unofficial symptom.
It’s important to note, hormone symptoms can look different for everyone. Sometimes high estrogen keeps you up at night, sometimes it makes you want to sleep a lot. It just depends on your body.
Your Gut's Role In Estrogen Balance: Meet The Estrobolome
Have you heard me talk about the estrobolome? The estrobolome is a collection of bacteria in your gut that specializes in metabolizing estrogen. These microbes produce an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase, which influences how much estrogen gets recycled back into your bloodstream versus how much gets eliminated. (1,2)
Here's a simple way to picture it: your liver processes estrogen and packages it up for removal through your digestive system. But if your estrobolome is out of balance, due to factors like a low-fiber diet, chronic stress, antibiotic use, or gut dysbiosis…those bacterial enzymes can "unwrap the package" of estrogen before it leaves your body. The estrogen then gets reabsorbed, adding to your circulating levels and potentially worsening high estrogen symptoms.
I’ve created a very special probiotic formula aimed specifically at supporting this colony of gut bacteria. Be the first to try it out.
Supporting Your Estrobolome
The good news is that you can take meaningful steps to support the bacterial community that helps regulate your estrogen levels. Eating a diverse, fiber-rich diet is one of the most effective strategies. Many vegetables and fruits provide the probiotics and prebiotics that beneficial gut bacteria need to thrive. Cruciferous vegetables like kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts deserve special mention. They contain compounds that may support healthy estrogen metabolism.
Fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi can also introduce helpful bacteria to your gut ecosystem. Limiting alcohol, managing stress, and getting adequate sleep are critical for a healthier microbiome. While these lifestyle factors won't single-handedly resolve estrogen dominance, they create an environment where your body can process hormones more effectively.
Bioidentical Progesterone: Restoring The Balance
For many women, lifestyle changes alone may not fully address estrogen dominance, especially when progesterone levels have dropped significantly. This is where bioidentical progesterone may play a role.
Bioidentical hormones are molecularly identical to the hormones your body produces naturally.
Bioidentical progesterone, often prescribed as oral capsules or topical creams, could help restore the estrogen-progesterone ratio that your body needs for equilibrium. By bringing progesterone back into the picture, many women find relief from the mood swings, sleep disturbances, and other symptoms that estrogen dominance creates.
It's worth noting that hormone therapy is highly individual. What works beautifully for one woman may not be the right fit for another.
This is one of the reasons I love using topical progesterone cream, because it gives you control over how much you use. Plus, it bypasses the liver and is absorbed directly.
If you're curious about whether bioidentical progesterone might help with your high estrogen symptoms, this is a conversation to have with a healthcare provider who understands hormone health and can evaluate your specific situation through testing and a thorough health history.
Adrenal Support: The Secret Weapon
When it comes to hormone equilibrium, a gentle and natural topical formula (like my Balance cream) is great.
But, you also have a secret weapon in the hormone balance department in the form of your adrenal glands.
Here’s how it works.
When you’re in your more fertile years, you ovulate. And after ovulation, your body produces progesterone. This is pretty much the sole source of progesterone for much of your life.
Now, we can’t really turn the ovaries back on and jumpstart ovulation again…
But we can give the adrenals a little jumpstart. We can help them deprioritize cortisol production and help them start churning out DHEA, which gets turned into other hormones, notably progesterone.
When you support your adrenals in this way, it creates several amazing benefits.
Your body makes progesterone all by itself, even without your ovaries. Thus helping with all of this high estrogen-related discomfort.
You feel less stressed.
Your cortisol belly starts to shrink.
You feel more energetic.
You sleep better.
My #1 adrenal support helper is Mighty Maca® Plus. Check it out here.
Estrogen Dominance In Perimenopause And Menopause
Understanding estrogen dominance reframes the menopause conversation. Instead of viewing this transition as simply "losing hormones," you can see it as an opportunity to restore balance between estrogen and progesterone, and within your gut microbiome.
If you've been experiencing mood swings, brain fog, disrupted sleep, hot flashes, headaches, stubborn PMS symptoms, or low libido, these are signals. Your body is communicating that its hormonal ecosystem needs attention.
Start by nurturing your gut health with fiber-rich foods and fermented products.
Consider whether stress, sleep, or other lifestyle factors might be affecting your microbiome. And if symptoms persist, explore whether bioidentical progesterone or other interventions might help.
