Environmental Estrogens

I gathered these links about environmental estrogens (xenestrogens) some time ago. I saw an online discussion about precocious puberty but realized that I didn't have anything up to share. Hope these are helpful for you. They are pertinent for fibroid treatment, infertility and cancer/precancerous diet clean-up as well.

Are Plastic Bowls and Plastic Wraps Microwave Safe?

The perils of plastic: your cling wrap could be leaching chemicals

Is It Unhealthy To Reuse A Plastic Water Bottle? [this is from way before the recent concerns raised about BPA]

That plastic water bottle's taste

Our Stolen Future -- companion website to the book that raises concerns about environmental contaminants and our health

Pew Charitable Trusts - Environmental Health
The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act: Protecting the Most Vulnerable

Xenoestrogens the cause of Cervical Dysplasia

Interesting facts about estrogens

Estrogen, that is too much estrogen without enough progesterone to counterbalance it, is theorized to cause disease such as fibroids and endometriosis. Here's a complilation of information about estrogens.

"over 30 different forms of estrogen have been described; the most common forms tested are estrone [E1], estradiol [estradiol-17 beta,E2], and estriol [E3]"
http://www.labtestsonline.org/understanding/analytes/estrogen/glance.html

"The majority (over 90 percent) of the estrogen present in a pre-menopausal woman's body is made in the ovaries. A smaller additional quantity of estrogen is produced by the adrenal glands and peripheral tissues such as fat, liver, and kidneys by converting androgens to estrogens. Estrogen hormones are also formed in the placenta during pregnancy."
http://www.dhyansanjivani.org/Estrogen.asp

"Increasing FSH levels during the late luteal phase leads to an increase in the number of FSH receptors and ultimately to an increase in estradiol secretion by granulosa cells."
http://www.endotext.org/female/female3/female3.htm

"Estradiol-17b (E2), a steroid hormone, is the most active estrogen in the body. In circulation, E2 is primarily bound to sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG)."
http://www.dpcweb.com/medical/reproductive_endocrinology/estradiol.html

"Estriol is produced predominantly in the liver as a metabolite of estrone and estradiol."
Is Estriol Safer Than Estradiol?

"For the first 4-6 weeks of pregnancy, estrone originates primarily from maternal sources such as the ovaries, adrenals, or peripheral conversion (57). Later, the placenta secretes increasing quantities of estrone from the conversion of circulating maternal and fetal DHEAS. The placenta continues to be the major source of circulating estrone for the remainder of the pregnancy (53). Estrone concentrations are less than 0.1 ng/mL during the follicular phase and may reach a maximum of 0.3 ng/mL during the luteal phase of a normal menstrual cycle. Following conception, estrone concentrations remain within the luteal phase range through weeks 6-10 of gestation(54). Subsequently there is a gradual increase to a wide range of 2-30 ng/ml at term (53,54,57) (Figures 6 and 8)."
http://www.endotext.org/female/female13/female13.htm

Estrogen Dominance Syndrome
by Ronald Hoffman, M.D.
Conscious Choice, September 1999

A message to another woman with fibroids

I have low progesterone as well, I haven't had my DHEA tested though.

Low progesterone is linked to several things which can happen in any combination (and I'm sure there are more than I'm listing here):

* poor ovulation -- the follicle doesn't develop as well as it should and the remaining corpus luteum doesn't produce enough progesterone. also, progesterone is produced by the ovary prior to ovulation which helps to mature the follicle granulosa cells and helps set the stage for ovulation to occur. If you are low progesterone I suppose that this process can be somewhat compromised.

* annovulation -- your aren't ovulating and therefore aren't having the corpus luteum available to produce progesterone. The more cycles without ovulating the higher your estrogen to progesterone ratio rises furthering the imbalance. Polycystic ovaries can also cause annovulation I think.

* stress -- when you are under prolonged stress your adrenal glands go from producing adrenaline to producing cortisol. Cortisol is made in the body from progesterone and I've heard mention that this reduces the availabilty of progesterone in the body. Also, cortisol will bind to progesterone receptors in the body so that they aren't able to do their progesterone related actions.

Working too much, not eating regular meals, consuming too many simple carbohydrates and sugars -- basic the equivalent of running your body on empty (and we all know that feeling) -- creates additional stress in your body and stresses the adrenals and further promotes adrenal exhaustion and cortisol production. If you get tired easily then this might be a contributing factor.

This page/site is rather interesting in how it talks about symptoms of low progesterone/estrogen dominance, and other endocrinological imbalances:

http://www.digitalnaturopath.com/cond/C8769.html

Things to do:

* Eat regular meals
* Make sure you are getting enough nutrients from your diet and supplement when needed
* Cut back on caffeine (bad for adrenals) and simple sugars (don't give in to the sweets in the late afternoon -- eat something healthy like nuts if your energy starts to lag)
* get enough rest -- sleep deprivation is stressful on your body
* drink 6 glasses of water a day
* consider consulting with an herbalist, naturopath or chinese medicine practitioner for assistance with a customize herbal regime

Also, I used natural progesterone cream for a few cycles with some good results (even mood, less sore breasts among other things). This may be beneficial although treatment with progesterone has had mixed results in randomized medical trials and might for some women be linked to increased fibroid growth.

This actually goes back to my cake metaphor for hormones (I think I posted a couple months ago about it on the uterinefibroids list), a cake takes all of its ingredients in their proper measure, adding more salt won't make up for too little sugar -- it only makes it worse. Our hormones are a complicated, individual "symphony" (I think that is what Dr John Lee referred to it as). The more stories we hear from the list members and from the studies we read, etc. that while pregnancy can make fibroids grow, that for some other pregnant women they shrink. Fibroids are thought to be a condition of peri-menopausal women and yet we've seen young women of 19 and 20 show up with fibroids in our groups. Obviously there is a lot at play and the more we each learn the more we start to realize that our behavior and lifestyles have contributed to our hormonal imbalances which in turn has helped activate our genes to start developing fibroids.

What I've learned so far

I thought I would share some of what I've learned over the past year from various doctors including a naturopath. This may differ from what you've been told and I'm just a regular old person so you should definately talk to your doctor about any treatments options you might like to pursue.

Fibroids are spongy tissue that change size with the levels of your hormones in your cycle. They respond particularly much to estrogen, they aren't as sure about progesterone. Un-opposed estrogen in your body, that is estrogen that is not matched with a comparable level of progesterone, is believed to be a factor. Pain is caused partially by prostaglandins which fluctuate during the month as well; ibuprofen may be taken preventatively to help manage prostaglandin production but it isn't good for your liver.

Your liver is a key organ in balancing your hormones. This organ filters out excess hormones from your system and packs them up for excretion through the bowels. Constipation and sluggish bowel movements mean that your body isn't able to efficiently expel waste from the system; you should be having a bowel movement at least once a day otherwise this is you. What is worse is that in your intestines the body will reabsorb the excess hormones back into the system causing a build-up and making your liver work double-time. Many women have problems with constipation and progesterone during the second half of our cycle (post ovulation) is partially to blame.

Small dietary changes can really help your liver out; I tried these things suggested by my naturopathic doctor and my fibroid did not grow at all during the next 8 months.

* Drink at least 6 glasses of water each day
* Increase your consumption of foods that help detoxify your liver:
green leafy vegetable (chard, collard greens, spinach, etc.), garlic,
onions, artichokes, lemons
* Decrease your consumption of refined sugars (this can increase your body's production of stress hormones which might be linked)
* Eat organic foods only
* Decrease your consumption of meat
* Increase your consumption of fish to 2-3 times a week

I was taking vitamins and herbal supplements and used castor oil packs for about a month (they are a pain but they sure help you slow down and take a break before bed. I also greatly reduced the amount of stress in my life and increased the amount of exercise I was doing. I read about progesterone supplementation but my naturopath said that doing that would actually compromise my body's ability to produce progesterone on its own; instead she wanted to help coax my body back into balance. After about 6 months of treatment my cycle had changed. I no longer have PMS for 2 weeks out of every month and even my allergies have subsided. I'm amazed.

I have a 6cm intramural fibroid and the doctors have told me that you can't have a fibroid as large as I do without a major distortion of the uterus (an x-ray in June revealed that my uterus is wrapped around the fibroid to the right). Women who have one large fibroid tend to not get addition fibroids, women with multiple fibroids tend to get re-growth. I'm scheduled for an abdominal myomectomy at the beginning of October.

My younger sister just had an abdominal myomectomy this past March for multiple fibroids, she even had one pressing on a major artery at the back to the abdomen that doctors shrugged off for year as pain "in her head" without doing any diagnostics on her. She was on birth control pills (BCP) for the past 10 years at least, on "continuous cycling". I was never on BCP and I only have one fibroid. We've learned that our mother had a fibroid when she was in her 40s but was able to wait it out until menopause and our great grandmother had one the size of a "cantaloupe" and needed emergency surgery.

I hope this is helpful for you.