It is a trip most women look forward to, but few want to take. They plan for it privately on their monthly calendar of events. Then carry the baggage with them when they leave.
Menstruation and menopause, like arrival and departure dates stamped on passports for different phases of aging, describe the journey of life for females.
Travel expenses vary.
How to find relief from bloating, cramps, hot flashes, and depression? According to Sharon Grimes, a certified natural health counselor, the answer is not estrogen - conversely, that is the cause.
“Fifty percent of women over 35 are not producing enough progesterone. In my opinion their bodies are not receiving it because of elevated levels of estrogen. Estrogen is very acidic in nature; the body puts fat around organs to store it, it takes calcium from the bone,” Grimes said.
Progesterone, she explained, is the balancing hormone in the body to cancel the detrimental forces of estrogen. However, due to dietary, medicinal and environmental exposure to estrogen, the balance is disrupted. Progesterone becomes overwhelmed by the abundance of estrogen, resulting in what she terms the predicament of “Estrogen Overload.”
“The average age of hysterectomies is 27,” said Grimes, resulting from women taking “birth control pills to regulate their cycles.”
Lack of menses ceases the production of progesterone, which in turn allows unchecked the production of estrogen. That factor, in conjunction with the medicinal intake of estrogen results in a number of uncomfortable symptoms and, damage to the endocrine system, which ultimately can result in cancerous breast and uterine tissue. One in eight women currently contract breast cancer, compared to one in 30 in 1960, prior to hormone replacement therapy.
Heart and liver disease are traceable as well.
“The body produces cholesterol to protect it from hormonal imbalance,” Grimes said.
Symptoms of excessive estrogen are familiar to many women, according to Grimes. They include: mood swings, cramps, uterine fibroids, fibrocystic breasts, thinning hair, hot flashes, and unexpected weight gain. Precaution regarding medicine might not be sufficient to stave off elevated estrogen, however. Xenoestrogens exist in the most unlikely, but common places.
“The number one plastic surgery (for males) is breast reduction in young men,” Grimes said. “Fifteen hundred men die every year from breast cancer.”
This, she attributes to dietary and environmental invasion of estrogens on the body. They are evident in the plastic used for bottled water, soda or your morning coffee. Ditto in soaps, air deodorizers, meats and unfiltered water.
“Xenoestrogens are found in baby bottle nipples. If you eat grapes, make sure you wash them for about an hour and a half - they have the highest concentration of pesticides. A produce manager told me, ‘don't touch the outside of bananas with your bare hands; pick them up with plastic bags,'” said Grimes, because of high pesticide content. Baby formula is many times soy based - a natural estrogen - as well, she added.
How to help avoid estrogen overload, including the discomfort of menstruating? The answer is progesterone, which can be introduced topically, in a non-invasive way, according to Grimes.
“Three months after my miscarriage, I was having my period week after week, month after month,” Grimes said. A natural health consultant told her she was experiencing “estrogen dominance.” She began to learn what the medical community had not told her about menopause. She then tried natural progesterone cream. “It stopped. Within two weeks it was back into control. That is what catapulted me into natural health.”
In addition, it is effective to relieve hot flashes and cramping, said Grimes, who instructed: “Apply it to thin skin areas - inside the wrist, the elbow. Look for veins. It would benefit women to use it everyday.”
In addition to the cream, other natural remedies to alleviate hot flashes include clary sage, frankincense, geranium, peppermint, pine, roman chamomile and rose.
Dr. James W. Alexander, of Contemporary Obstetrics and Gynecology in Skaneateles sees no harm in using progesterone cream. But he believes progesterone containing IUD's are more effective.
“I think there is absolute validity in using it topically,” Alexander said. “However, absorption can be erratic, and you cannot be confident in the amount.”
He also noted, as did Grimes, that potential users, as with any other medicines, traditional or natural, should be cautious of masking symptoms of a serious condition.
“We see patients on a regular basis with a delay in diagnosis of pre-cancerous or cancerous cells because of self-treatment or non-proven therapies,” he said.
Use of oral contraceptives to regulate menstrual cycles can be beneficial , he believes, adding that women should have four episodes of bleeding annually.
“I think it's important to point out there is a major advantage in taking oral contraceptives,” Alexander said. “It reduces ovarian cancer by 50 percent in most women and reduces endometrial cancer as well.”
Travel expenses vary.
How to find relief from bloating, cramps, hot flashes, and depression? According to Sharon Grimes, a certified natural health counselor, the answer is not estrogen - conversely, that is the cause.
“Fifty percent of women over 35 are not producing enough progesterone. In my opinion their bodies are not receiving it because of elevated levels of estrogen. Estrogen is very acidic in nature; the body puts fat around organs to store it, it takes calcium from the bone,” Grimes said.
Progesterone, she explained, is the balancing hormone in the body to cancel the detrimental forces of estrogen. However, due to dietary, medicinal and environmental exposure to estrogen, the balance is disrupted. Progesterone becomes overwhelmed by the abundance of estrogen, resulting in what she terms the predicament of “Estrogen Overload.”
“The average age of hysterectomies is 27,” said Grimes, resulting from women taking “birth control pills to regulate their cycles.”
Lack of menses ceases the production of progesterone, which in turn allows unchecked the production of estrogen. That factor, in conjunction with the medicinal intake of estrogen results in a number of uncomfortable symptoms and, damage to the endocrine system, which ultimately can result in cancerous breast and uterine tissue. One in eight women currently contract breast cancer, compared to one in 30 in 1960, prior to hormone replacement therapy.
Heart and liver disease are traceable as well.
“The body produces cholesterol to protect it from hormonal imbalance,” Grimes said.
Symptoms of excessive estrogen are familiar to many women, according to Grimes. They include: mood swings, cramps, uterine fibroids, fibrocystic breasts, thinning hair, hot flashes, and unexpected weight gain. Precaution regarding medicine might not be sufficient to stave off elevated estrogen, however. Xenoestrogens exist in the most unlikely, but common places.
“The number one plastic surgery (for males) is breast reduction in young men,” Grimes said. “Fifteen hundred men die every year from breast cancer.”
This, she attributes to dietary and environmental invasion of estrogens on the body. They are evident in the plastic used for bottled water, soda or your morning coffee. Ditto in soaps, air deodorizers, meats and unfiltered water.
“Xenoestrogens are found in baby bottle nipples. If you eat grapes, make sure you wash them for about an hour and a half - they have the highest concentration of pesticides. A produce manager told me, ‘don't touch the outside of bananas with your bare hands; pick them up with plastic bags,'” said Grimes, because of high pesticide content. Baby formula is many times soy based - a natural estrogen - as well, she added.
How to help avoid estrogen overload, including the discomfort of menstruating? The answer is progesterone, which can be introduced topically, in a non-invasive way, according to Grimes.
“Three months after my miscarriage, I was having my period week after week, month after month,” Grimes said. A natural health consultant told her she was experiencing “estrogen dominance.” She began to learn what the medical community had not told her about menopause. She then tried natural progesterone cream. “It stopped. Within two weeks it was back into control. That is what catapulted me into natural health.”
In addition, it is effective to relieve hot flashes and cramping, said Grimes, who instructed: “Apply it to thin skin areas - inside the wrist, the elbow. Look for veins. It would benefit women to use it everyday.”
In addition to the cream, other natural remedies to alleviate hot flashes include clary sage, frankincense, geranium, peppermint, pine, roman chamomile and rose.
Dr. James W. Alexander, of Contemporary Obstetrics and Gynecology in Skaneateles sees no harm in using progesterone cream. But he believes progesterone containing IUD's are more effective.
“I think there is absolute validity in using it topically,” Alexander said. “However, absorption can be erratic, and you cannot be confident in the amount.”
He also noted, as did Grimes, that potential users, as with any other medicines, traditional or natural, should be cautious of masking symptoms of a serious condition.
“We see patients on a regular basis with a delay in diagnosis of pre-cancerous or cancerous cells because of self-treatment or non-proven therapies,” he said.
Use of oral contraceptives to regulate menstrual cycles can be beneficial , he believes, adding that women should have four episodes of bleeding annually.
“I think it's important to point out there is a major advantage in taking oral contraceptives,” Alexander said. “It reduces ovarian cancer by 50 percent in most women and reduces endometrial cancer as well.”
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