Estrogen Dominance and Using Essential Oils

Those of us with estrogen dominance need to be very careful of any hormone or hormone mimicking elements that enter our bodies including what essential oils we use.  Our system is already so overloaded with estrogen and our liver is most likely not able to keep up with the flushing of our system from the extra estrogens circulating in our blood.  Your body is already producing its own estrogen and our fat cells as they are burned are releasing more estrogen into our system.  We are also ingesting phyto and Xeno estrogens from our food, beauty products and environment.  The last thing your body needs is a slathering of essential oils that also mimic estrogen. 

Unfortunately almost all essential oils with the exception of citrus oils contain some level of phytoestrogens.  All of your citrus oils such as lemon, lime, mandarin and orange contain little to no phytoestrogens and should be the first oils you reach for in use for body products such as lotions, shampoos and deodorants.  Coincidently citrus oils, especially lemon is very good for your liver and will help restore its full function in boosting your ability to flush out extra estrogen. 

Tea Tree, Lavender, Cinnamon and Peppermint happen to be on the high end of the phytoestrogen scale.  Now in a person with balanced hormones and a healthy liver, these phytoestrogens will be no big deal.  They will not turn your sons into girls or make your husbands grow breasts.  Under normal conditions their liver will simply flush out the phytoestrogens as waste.  However as we all know those of us with Estrogen Dominance are not dealing with a normal output of estrogen or a healthy perfectly functioning liver. 

I saw the most marked improvement in my hormones such as more regulated cycles, less bleeding and a lessoning of PMS symptoms when I cut out all essential oils except Citrus oils.  Now I don't mean I don't use them for medical intervention.  If I have a burn I still put lavender on it or if I am cut I still apply yarrow.  What I no longer do is apply them liberally for emotions, perfuming, and in my body products.  I would typically in times past apply oils every few hours throughout my day for a myriad of causes.  I also now look to see if one of the citrus oils will work for my ailment before I rely upon the other oils.  I do hold out hope that as my body is naturally producing less estrogen and more of my fat cells dissipate I will be able to go back to regular oil usage, however for now my body can't handle it.

Next week I will discuss in detail how you can use your citrus oils to help your liver, which will in turn help your body flush excess estrogen.

If you missed the other articles in this series regarding Estrogen Dominance please visit them by clicking below.

TREATING ESTROGEN DOMINANCE NATURALLY

ESTROGEN DOMINANCE: PHYTOESTROGENS AND XENOESTROGENS

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Estrogen Dominance: Phytoestrogens and Xenoestrogens

Anyone stuggling with estrogen dominance has to reduce the amount of estrogens cycling in their system.  If you take a progesterone supplement and all of the receptors are full of estrogen the progesterone can't do its work. 

I'm sure you have already heard from your Doctor that if you lose weight your symptoms will get better.  I have heard that quite a few times, however as you all know, when you are estrogen dominant the weight comes off very slowly.  So it is difficult to reduce the amount of estrogen by just cutting down on your fat cells.  So just to be clear, yes you need to lose weight but in the mean time you need to work on cutting out estrogen from other sources.

Xenoestrogens are chemically or synthetically derived and, while they differ from estrogens your body produces they can minic the effects, contributing to your overload.  So you need to avoid Xenoestrogens from heated plastic, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, laundry soap, sunblock etc.  The list of products containing estrogens is very large.  To be safe read the ingredients and unless you have verified that each chemical on the back is not a Xenoestrogen DO NOT put it on your body.  On this blog you can view some ideas on getting started such as going NO POO and making your own Lotions.  Making your own laundry soap or using soap nuts is also an option. 

Phytoestrogens are one of the category of Xenoestrogens and they are limited to estrogen mimics that come from plants.  Unfortunately almost all essential oils fit in this category on some level.  Now normally if your body didn't need that estrogen and your liver was functioning properly the estrogen components of the oils would be flushed out of your system, however with those of us that are estrogen dominant that is not the case.  As you use your essential oils you are in essence adding estrogen to your already over loaded system and your liver can't keep up.

Stay tuned for the next article to view a listing of essential oils that do not contain a significant amount of estrogen mimics and those that do. 

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Treating Estrogen Dominance Naturally

Estrogen dominance is a hormonal imbalance effecting many women around the world and is difficult to treat.  Modern medicine offers few solutions and it can be an emotional taxing situation.

Some Common Symptoms of Estrogen Dominance include:
Thyroid Disfunction (Cold Hands and Feet)
Early Onset Menstruation
Decreased Sex Drive
Excess fat gain around abdomen, hips and thighs
Fatigue
Gallbladder Issues
Infertility
Irregular Menstrual Cycles

The list can go on so for a more complete listing and description of how the imbalance happens visit Here.

I have been struggling with this hormonal problem since I was 11 and started my first period.  In the last few years my symptoms have become even worse including gallbladder issues, long periods up to 6 weeks at a time and hair loss just to name a few.

It was only the past couple of months I have come across information that is changing my life. There is so much I have learned, it would be hard to fit it into one blog post so I will do several over the next couple of weeks.  If you are estrogen dominant please make sure to subscribe to my blog so you don't miss any.  

As all of you have probably gathered I am an avid user of Essential Oils.  They have changed the health of my family in so many wonderful ways, however I can now say with confidence they have worsened my hormonal imbalance because I wasn't using them with enough knowledge.  I will expand on this concept in future articles. 

Your body produces estrogen and progesterone naturally during certain times in your cycle.   When you become estrogen dominant that basically means there is too much estrogen in your body and when it is time for the progesterone to be released your body can't produce enough to balance out an already estrogen overloaded system. 

The excess of estrogen can come from many sources and is in a large part due to the environment we live in with chemicals, plastics and meat and dairy hormones.  However generally the reason you struggle with estrogen and your friend or neighbor doesn't can be attributed to your liver and your fat deposits.  God designed your liver to be a wonderful filter for your body.  The liver can take excess estrogen from the body and process it right out which is why so many women can live in the same environment we do and not have any fertility problems.  However, when your liver gets overloaded or fatty then it can't keep up with all of the estrogen and it gets stored in your fat deposits.  So now you have estrogen from the environment coming in, plus the estrogen your body is producing, plus estrogen from your fat deposits which creates a vicious cycle of never ending estrogen your liver can't possibly filter properly.

Sounds hopeless doesn't it.  Well as I will show you in the next couple of articles it isn't.  We will just have to take some extra steps that others don't, in order limit estrogen exposure and boost our liver function.

In the next article we will discuss environment estrogens including phytoestrogens and Xenoestrogens and how to avoid them.  Some essential oils are phytoestrogens so it will be important to learn which ones are and to find alternative oils to use.  

I have now written several other articles in this series.  Click below to read more about Estrogen Dominance.

Estrogen Dominance: Phytoestrogens and Xenoestrogens

Estrogen Dominance and Using Essential Oils

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Frankincense for Your Eyes

I'm sure many of you are in the same aging boat that I am sailing in.  As I have gotten older my eyesight has declined.  Now I have great vision with no need for glasses, however I have noticed that some things just aren't as sharp as they used to be.  My husband on the other hand struggles with vision mostly due to his computer cubicle job.  That many hours staring at a computer
screen has caused him to need glasses and I can see the years tick by as he get thicker lenses.

To restore his vision he has tried several things:

1. Pinhole Glasses:  You may have seen these advertised on various health websites and we don't have enough data yet to determine if they are helping.  I will say he looks ridiculous when he wears them, like a giant fly really.  So the amount of time he is willing to subject himself to that level of humiliation isn't enough so far to see results (plus I won't let him leave the house with them on).

2.  See Clearly Method:  We received a set of DVDs from a friend that is a method for correcting eyesight based on the concept your eyes are muscles and if you "work them out" they will become stronger and you will see better.  Again this method was very entertaining.  Try looking as far right and left as you can without moving your lips as you do it.  Not easy, is it?  So again this method is very labor intensive.  You have to do these exercises often with the DVD and he had a hard time making the time commitment.

3.  Frankincense Essential Oil:   After I read about the benefits of Frankincense on eyesight he decided to give it a try.  He puts 1-2 drops of Frankincense in his hand with no carrier oil and then he rubs his index finger in the oil and rubs it onto each of his temples.  He says that the frankincense provides greater clarity to his vision and brings everything into greater focus.  He is able to read without his glasses and will set them down and not notice they are off.  The effects last about a day so he applies it every morning.


Now vision problems vary in type and severity.  My husband's mostly deal with blurriness when reading or working on the computer.  However Frankincense has so many different uses and it is beneficial to the brain so it won't hurt to give it a try for your vision and see what it can do for you.

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Incurable People: In God's Timing

According to Laree Westover in her book Butterfly Miracles with Herbal Remedies there are no incurable diseases only incurable people.

The fourth type of incurable person is:

Someone whose "time has come."  We are not supposed to live forever in this world, nor are we meant to  be completely free of trials and troubles.

As natural healers we often get so caught up in what remedy to use, rather it is herbal or essential oil, that we may neglect to consider the spiritual side of healing.  We are tri-partate beings after God's own image.  Just as He is Father, Son and Holy Ghost so are we Spirit (mind) Soul (emotions) and Physical body.  How the three parts of our being play into our overall health is not easy to understand.  I do not claim to have complete answers but I do know that to neglect the spiritual side of our life when we are dealing with disease would be a grave mistake.

Is your illness a trial from God? Is He trying to teach you something or work on a sin or character trait in you?  Is your heart filled with un-forgiveness?  Are you bitter or angry? Are you feeling guilt from unrepented sin? 

Your emotions and sin can and do cause illness.  However only you can search out the answers with God.

Another consideration is the curse of death.  It entered into the world due to Adam's sin and everyone is appointed a time to die. This concept is very deep and personal.  I by no means have any clear answers or guidance on determining if this is a factor in your illness, however I hope I gave you some things to think about.

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