Blog — Estrogen Dominance

Weight management is a topic that generates a lot of questions and hormone imbalance is one of them, so I've answered 10 of the most frequently asked questions that arise when patients start to think about getting tested. Let's jump in... 1. Why do postmenopausal women gain weight? What are the hormone imbalances that trigger this?Women of any age can have a hormone imbalance that causes them to gain, but those over 50 often find that the end of periods marks the beginning of weight problems. In the absence of ovulation, deficiencies of progesterone create a relative surplus of estrogen...

By Dr. Kate Placzek, ZRT Laboratory Estrogen.  We've heard Dr. Zava call it the "angel of life, and the angel of death." Too much can be hazardous. Too little can be problematic also.  Not many people realize this, but estrogen plays a role in more bodily functions than just reproduction. In fact, estrogen has many important functions in the brain.  Studies show that decreasing levels of estrogen can cause two of the most common perimenopause symptoms – hot flashes and mood fluctuations. Curious how this happens? Read on to learn the details of this biochemistry.  SUMMARY The main focus of this blog is the time in a woman’s life...

We invite you to discover Dr. Kate's Clinical Cases, a library of presentations, created by Dr. Kate Placzek, to assess patient issues with the aid of neurotransmitter testing. You’ll find case reviews on conditions including anxiety and depression, ADHD, PTSD, insomnia and many others – highlighting real patients and their results, ranging in age from children to post-menopause, as well as a veteran with PTSD. For Menopause Awareness Month, let’s take a closer look at a recent case study of a postmenopausal woman. Guest speaker Dr. Allison Smith joins Dr. Kate Placzek to present a common scenario of mood and vasomotor...

One of the primary objectives of the Women's Health Initiative was to see if postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) improved long-term risk of coronary heart disease, among other chronic diseases. However, the combined estrogen/progestin (Prempro) arm was halted in 2002, citing that the participants’ risk of cardiovascular disease outweighed any potential benefit of HRT in the prevention of colorectal cancer and bone fracture [1]. The conjugated equine estrogen (CEE)-only arm was also halted in 2004 citing no improvement in heart disease risk but an increased incidence of stroke, and no benefit in terms of fractures, although there was a reduced breast...

As January's Thyroid Awareness Month winds down, now is the time to practice all we've learned about the care and feeding of our master of metabolism. In Part I of our last blog post, we zeroed in on the enemies of a healthy thyroid. In Part II, we will help you fend them off to protect the health of your thyroid gland with the following key action steps. Reverse Estrogen Dominance - An imbalance of high estrogen / low progesterone can suppress activation of thyroid hormones that drive metabolism. Your best defense: If testing detects a problem, consider supplementing with natural (bioidentical) progesterone to re-balance estrogens...