Signs of Low Estrogen in Women

Estrogen is a hormone that is essential to a woman’s health.  Many of the traits and characteristics that we attribute to femininity, like body shape, the menstrual cycle, and the reproductive system are products of estrogen.  From the body changes that take place during puberty to the effects of menopause, the estrogen levels in a woman’s body directly affect how a woman looks and feels.  Many symptoms may result from low estrogen levels, but with the right treatment, hormone levels can be re-balanced while making the body feel younger and healthier again.

What Does Estrogen Do?

Primarily produced from the ovaries, estrogen is a sex hormone that helps create many of the differences between the male and female bodies.  Physical attributes that society typically associate with women; such as wider hips, narrowed shoulders, curved and contoured body shape, and higher pitched voices are a result of the higher estrogen count in women compared to men.  It is also vital to a woman’s health, as it affects body weight, glucose, and cholesterol metabolism, and regulates food intake.

Estrogen is also very important to the reproductive function and menstrual cycle of a woman.  It causes breast change in women who are pregnant and controls the growth of the uterine lining when pregnancy begins and during the menstrual cycle.  The role it plays in these 2 functions is why menopause signals the end of a woman’s menstrual cycle and fertility, as the body stops producing estrogen and progesterone (another hormone crucial to pregnancy and fertility).

Low Estrogen Symptoms

When a woman is experiencing low estrogen levels, their body can typically react in a number of negative ways.  Symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, breast tenderness, irregular or absent periods, and fatigue may occur.  Mood swings, headaches, depression and trouble concentrating may also affect the mind. Sex can become painful because of vaginal dryness due to the lack of naturally produced lubrication, and urinary tract infections may increase due to the urethra thinning.  

In women over 40, low estrogen levels may be a sign that menopause is approaching.  This transition period is called perimenopause. While estrogen is still being produced, the process is slowed until menopause is reached, where the body no longer produces estrogen.  During this period of time, women typically will experience a decrease in bone density, which means bones can fracture or break more easily. This is because estrogen work with calcium, vitamin D, and several other minerals to help keep bones strong.  While many of the symptoms mirror those of menopause, low estrogen can occur in younger women as well that are not yet going through perimenopause.

Causes of Low Estrogen Levels

While age and genetics are 2 of the more well-known risk factors for experiencing low estrogen levels, other factors that can put you at increased risk include:

• Eating disorders
• Excessive exercising
• Extreme dieting

Other causes can be a premature ovarian failure, Turner syndrome, pituitary gland issues, and chronic kidney disease.  Because estrogen is primarily produced in the ovaries, anything that affects the ovaries will affect estrogen production as well.

Get Your Hormone Levels Checked

After a certain age, the body does not produce hormones at the same rate it once did.  Often times, the only way to reset your hormone levels back to what they were in your younger years is through medical help.  This is especially true of women once they reach menopause. Women should absolutely get their hormone levels tested during early menopause and postmenopause to make sure their levels are in balance.

The best way to reduce the risk of experiencing low estrogen and dealing with these symptoms is to simply get your hormone levels checked.  It’s simple to do, and typically just requires blood tests. An early diagnosis can help you prevent further long term complications, such as infertility in women who have not yet reached menopause.

BHRT as a Low Estrogen Treatment

The optimal solution for women looking to rebalance their hormone levels is bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT).  Bioidentical hormones are an all-natural solution to an all-natural problem. Synthetic hormones, used in traditional hormone replacement therapy, are extracted from the urine of a pregnant horse.  Bioidentical hormones are derived from plants and are identical to the hormones that your body naturally produces. Here at Restorative Health, we only use bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and we specialize in pellet therapy.  All of our products and ingredients are FDA approved for your safety

BHRT Pellet Therapy

Using pellet therapy, a pellet about the size of a single grain of rice is injected into the body where it is absorbed shortly after the treatment.  Each pellet is tailored to your specific needs and releases hormones into the body over time to maintain the correct levels you need at all times. Each pellet lasts about 3-4 months, allowing you to be the best version of yourself that you can be for a longer period of time.  Also, you don’t have to worry about applying a cream or taking a pill every day because it does the work for you, and the treatment can take as little as 30 minutes. After just the first pellet, you can expect a significant increase in quality of life.

Schedule Your Free Consultation Today

We are currently offering free consultations for first-time patients to speak with a specialist about customizing a treatment program.  Financing is available while also working with your insurance to help mitigate any out of pocket costs.  If you are experiencing low estrogen or symptoms of menopause, take our online hormone test and don’t hesitate to come and see if BHRT is right for you by calling us at (314) 300-9199.