14/11/2024
Estradiol is our main ovarian estrogen and one of our most charismatic hormones. Here are a few key insights.
🟡 Estradiol is highly beneficial for the brain, bones, muscles, metabolism, and more. It works best in partnership with progesterone.
🟡 The women who benefit most from estradiol are young women (as in, young women benefit from the estradiol they make). Unfortunately, most methods of hormonal birth control SWITCH OFF estradiol and either don't replace it or replace it with ethinylestradiol, which does not have the same benefits. Young women being robbed of their own estradiol and progesterone is one of the women's health issues I'm most passionate or concerned about.
🟡 Estradiol is such a strong mood stimulant that higher peaks (such as during the early phases of perimenopause) can be overstimulating. As I say in Period Repair Manual, "Estradiol is like an interesting and charismatic friend: great to have around but overwhelming after a while."
🟡 High estradiol can also trigger a histamine response, especially if there's not enough progesterone to balance it.
🟡 Even in young women, estradiol drops at the end of every menstrual cycle to very low levels, basically menopausal levels. Descent into this “estrogen trough” can cause estrogen WITHDRAWAL symptoms, such as anxiety, night sweats, and migraines, especially during the early phases of perimenopause when estradiol spikes up to 3x higher than normal. The higher estradiol goes, the further it has to fall, and estrogen therapy can be helpful during those week-long troughs. (The estrogen troughs of perimenopausal women are not as low as the troughs of young women, but the drop is steeper.)
🟡 In the later phases of perimenopause (when there are long gaps between periods), estradiol becomes more continuously low but still spikes up. In theory, the brain and body can adapt to that lower estrogen (after all, we evolved to have menopause). In practice (for reasons I describe in Hormone Repair Manual, especially insulin resistance), that adaptation does not always happen, and that's when estrogen therapy can be helpful.
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