At the onset of menopause, typically around the ages of 50 to 55, women are very likely to experience hot flashes. Migraines, asthma, epilepsy, colitis, and high blood pressure can also occur or worsen when menopause starts–but these latter ailments are typically not considered to be related to menopause itself.
Hot flashes in particular have recently been recognized as a risk factor for increased inflammation, heart disease and dementia. Anxiety, insomnia and depression can also occur, even in men. Depression at this age is often treated psychologically rather than by pinpointing a biological cause.
Estrogen is now the typical treatment for menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes, which were thought to be caused by estrogen deficiency. This is not the case, as a woman with hot flashes can still have as much estrogen in her body as a woman without them. There is clear evidence that hot flashes are instead caused by changes in how the brain regulates temperature, but mainstream medicine does not recognize it.
Estrogen is often considered to protect the circulatory system because it relaxes and dilates the veins, preventing high blood pressure. But this same effect is also what causes hot flashes, and doctors frequently fail to make the connection between estrogen’s effects and hot flashes.
Since the 1940s, it has been taught that menopause is the result of having no eggs in the ovaries, and therefore having less estrogen. Since hot flashes are a common symptom of menopause, estrogen replacement therapy was used to treat them. But this approach to treatment both ignores the fact that a woman with hot flashes can have normal levels of estrogen, and it also ignores other factors, such as a lack of progesterone.
Due to this way of thinking, supporters of estrogen got a lot of attention. The belief that estrogen was the best treatment for menopause spread through the media, and its negative effects–including inducing abortion–were ignored. Progesterone was also ignored and considered too expensive to fall into mainstream use.
While this misinformation continues, current medicine remains misguided about the cause of hot flashes. It’s commonly thought that the increased heat is a result of too much thyroid activity, but a woman’s body temperature actually lowers when she has a hot flash. This further implicates the dilating effects of estrogen as a cause of hot flashes.
It’s known that both breast cancer and endometrial cancer can result from getting too much estrogen. Estrogen is balanced out and opposed by progesterone, and women who were not producing enough progesterone in order to counter estrogen are at the greatest risk for endometrial cancer. It has also been shown that too much estrogen makes pregnancy impossible, and it stops ovaries from cycling in animals altogether.
Progesterone lozenges or progesterone cream, by limiting the effects of having too much estrogen, is effective for hot flashes, even after its use is stopped. Progesterone also helps balance blood sugar levels; this also helps with hot flashes, especially if they are severe. While progesterone lozenges deliver more progesterone they are only by prescription while a strong 10% progesterone cream can be purchased without prescription.
Click to see a list of progesterone creams.
Estrogen accumulates throughout various bodily tissues and organs as a person ages, and it is also excreted less efficiently. Too much estrogen can have adverse effects on the brain, circulatory system, kidneys, and liver. Estrogen is associated with increasing cortisol, a stress hormone. Cortisol can have many negative effects on the body, and it works with estrogen to cause various chemical reactions which cause hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms. Progesterone in the form of lozenges or creams is a way you can prevent the harmful effects of estrogen on the body.
Those who have mild symptoms are recommended to use one quarter teaspoon progesterone cream, 20 mg progesterone, a day. More intense symptoms require more frequent usage; however, you should use the above dosage for about 10 days to see how your body reacts. High doses of the cream can help with severe symptoms and ensure that the progesterone is not converted to estrogen. A high dose of progesterone can either come from five quarter teaspoons of regular strength progesterone cream or one quarter teaspoon of 10% progesterone cream. The dosage can be scaled back after this time, and can be continued daily (or from the middle of the menstrual cycle.) It should be noted that not everyone will require daily usage, as progesterone remains in the body’s fat cells. Progesterone cream should be spread over smooth skin that has the least hair. For better absorption the skin should be dry and cool, otherwise perspiration could interfere with the process.
Natural progesterone combats tumors and increases the body’s ability to produce progesterone. It has no harmful side-effects, and overdosing has an anesthetic effect at 10% concentration or higher. If you discontinue usage of the product, stop gradually—abruptly stopping usage can cause hot flashes or other side effects. The progesterone absorption and release by the fat layer below the skin the will cushion the change in progesterone level.
Progesterone counters the harmful effects of estrogen, including both that produced by the body and estrogen occurring environmentally as xenoestrogens or in certain herbs.
Progesterone can cause hyperthyroidism if used in the presence of goiters. Care should be taken to treat the thyroid first before using progesterone to prevent hyperthyroidism.
Cystic ovaries can convert small doses of progesterone to estrogen, resulting in breast pain and spotting. If this happens, increase the dosage to a quarter teaspoon once or twice daily; also consider thyroid supplementation.
Treatment of skin problems, joint pain and other topical ailments can be accomplished by applying the cream directly to the area in question. Some of the progesterone will spread throughout the body, but most will remain in the local area.
Ona’s Natural Progesterone Cream is one of the strongest available natural progesterone creams on the market. Most creams contain such a small amount of progesterone that only a fraction of it is absorbed by the body—not nearly enough to treat anything but the mildest of symptoms. Ona’s Natural Progesterone Cream does not contain any toxic oils or synthetics, which can be found in many creams.
Wild Yam is not the same as progesterone. Wild yam cannot naturally be converted to progesterone, and any cream claiming to contain wild yam is selling a lab-converted substance that is NOT natural progesterone. If the product claims to contain unaltered wild yam, then it can be toxic. Ona’s Natural Progesterone Cream does not contain any wild yam.
Estrogen is not just one hormone, but a class of substances; many things have the same effects on the body as the estrogen the body produces, which is called estradiol. Estrogen has many negative health effects, but it is being promoted by health and pharmaceutical companies as a fertility aid.
It has been theorized that the aging process is tied to poor hormone balance, because symptoms of various hormone deficiencies closely resemble the symptoms of the aging process. Estrogen dominance also causes effects on the body that are associated with aging, so a greater understanding of how to reduce estrogen’s negative impacts can also inhibit the aging process.
Estrogen impairs the functions of cells by making it difficult for them to get the oxygen they need. It disrupts the growth of cells or kills them outright, causing tissues to atrophy as they do during the aging process.
Estrogen is implicated in several stress-related processes, such as hibernation and depression. Healthy organ systems are meant to be affected by estrogen for a very short time, because estrogen deprives cells of oxygen and promotes mitosis. This kind of harmful stimulation, whether from the body’s naturally produced estradiol, or environmental sources like soot or radiation, causes inflammation and eventually cancer.
There are similarities between identified carcinogens and estrogen, but despite the evidence, estrogen itself has not been recognized officially as carcinogenic.
Estrogen is proven to cause bone loss in dogs, as well as diseases of various organs. In order to cover up the evidence, researchers stopped using dogs and began using rats in an effort to support the estrogen industry. Rats do not have long lifespans, so researchers considered themselves unable to reproduce estrogen’s harmful effects as seen in dogs.
Estrogen can be used to induce miscarriages or abortions by limiting the oxygen supplied to the fetus. This harmful effect also can occur in other bodily tissues exposed to estrogen, including vital organs like the kidneys and liver. This is just one example of the generalized “aging” effect high estrogen levels have on bodily systems.
Despite this, the estrogen industry promotes estrogen as protecting all of the organs it can eventually destroy. These viewpoints are being promoted in the name of profit by those who sell estrogen and pay laboratories to conduct research and publish results which favor estrogen. Medical journals lie about information which has been proven, such as how the ovaries function during different phases.
Estrogen’s effect on the blood vessels, which is considered erroneously to be a benefit, produces a toxic byproduct called nitric oxide that is known to cause several circulatory system diseases. Although estrogen increases blood flow and velocity if measured a certain way, the increased oxygen demand that it promotes means that this blood flow does not help the organs, so estrogen’s net effect on the circulatory system is harmful. Lack of oxygen causes tissue death, and this combined with estrogen’s overstimulating effects on organs can lead to organ failure. Progesterone allows oxygen to be used more efficiently, and prevents estrogen from raising oxygen demands, protecting tissue.
Estrogen’s effects are similar to those of shock because of the effect both conditions have on blood flow. Tissues do not receive enough blood, and collagen is produced, which makes them stiff. This stiffness impairs function, especially in the heart, which is responsible for delivering blood to the rest of the body. Understanding this, it is easy to see the wide destructive impact too much estrogen can have on tissues.
Estrogen also negatively impacts sleep and the metabolism by aggravating many chemical reactions and disrupting body temperature. Cortisol and estrogen levels are highest at night, and older people tend to have an excess of cortisol. Conversely, progesterone levels are low at night.
Changes occur during sleep that can also resemble shock, but studies in rats have shown that these changes are more closely associated with a lack of light. Light is beneficial to cells, and helps prevent them from swelling, improving health.
Progesterone promotes better body temperature and higher metabolism during sleep, improving sleep quality and reducing the shock-like reactions in the body that can occur at night,
Estrogen’s effects extend much farther than just the female reproductive cycle. Estrogen is produced in many animals other than humans, and affects all kinds of cells. Estrogen is heavily associated with stress reactions. Understanding stress will help us explain the nature of the aging process and the roles hormones play in it.
The removal of the pituitary has been shown to positively impact lifespan, because the hormones produced under stress can damage organs, shortening life. But the production of these harmful hormones can be influenced by estrogen. Progesterone protects tissues by preventing estrogen from overstimulating and damaging them. By protecting against the effects of estrogen, progesterone can slow the aging process and prolong health.
Dr. Ray Peat
Dr. John R. Lee, MD believed that many types of breast pain and abnormalities could be traced back to excess levels of estrogen, and that applying natural progesterone over several cycles could reduce the symptoms. He cautioned against the use of synthetic progestins, which worsen the pain. This hypothesis has been reinforced by a 20-year study that correlated proper progesterone levels with decreased incidence of both breast cancer and other cancers.
Researchers, including the noted John R. Lee, MD, have found that estrogens and substances like them contribute to many modern health ailments. This state of excess estrogen is called “estrogen dominance” and negatively affects both sexes. Dr. Lee hypothesizes that estrogen dominance leads to both enlargement and cancer of the prostate. Xenoestrogens, which mimic the effects of estrogen, are found in commercial meats, contraceptives, plastics, and processed or preserved foods.
Men’s bodies produce both estrogen and progesterone through their adrenal glands and testes, although in much lesser amounts than women. Progesterone is important to both women and men’s health because it helps with the production and balance of other hormones: testosterone is produced from progesterone, and progesterone opposes estrogen.
Men produce a continuous supply of testosterone well into old age, and although testosterone was once suspected of causing prostate cancer, this is not the case. Young males with high concentrations of testosterone are healthy, but older males with lower testosterone and higher levels of estrogen are at the highest risk for prostate problems.
If prostate cells are subjected to estrogen, they can rapidly multiply and become cancerous. Progesterone or testosterone can kill these cancer cells.
A man’s progesterone levels begin declining after age 60; progesterone is responsible for blocking the production of DHT, a substance known to cause cancer. Without enough progesterone to counteract the effects of estrogen, rising estrogen levels can cause cancer as well.
Prostate enlargement is common, slow to develop, and a chief cause of cancer in males. There are many reports of progesterone therapy reducing or reversing prostate cancer and enlargement.
In order to avoid estrogen dominance, it is recommended to use glass or ceramic dinnerware when working with or storing food. Any plastics used should not be exposed to heat. Household products such as detergents and soaps should have as many natural ingredients as possible; meat and produce should be organic and hormone free. Condoms with spermicides should be avoided.
Use of a natural progesterone cream should also be considered by men over 40, especially those with a family history or other risk factors for enlarged prostate or prostate cancer. The recommended dosage of progesterone for men is 8-12 mg a day, applied twice a day to the scrotum.
Progesterone has been reported to have many benefits for men, including the reduction of prostate symptoms such as frequent or urgent urination. Natural progesterone can help improve sex drive, prevent osteoporosis, and male pattern baldness, as well as arthritis.
Progesterone has minimal side effects in men when the recommended dosage is used. Progesterone may prevent the maturation of sperm, thereby providing a contraceptive effect. Progesterone does not have a feminizing effect on men.
Throughout the last hundred years, a lot of effort has gone into the research of cancer. But cancer death rates are on the rise, suggesting that the way we’ve been looking at cancer is ineffective.
When cancer is studied, cancerous cells are typically dissolved, and what remains is examined. But use of this method means that the cells are no longer alive, and as a result, critical information regarding how they actually impact the living body is lost. This means that the medical community does not have a good knowledge of how cancerous cells actually work, or of the true structure of cells in general.
Cancer is commonly attributed to mutations in genes, but recently projects such as stem cell research and cloning have pointed to other ways cancer may happen. Some people hypothesize that cells put out energy fields that can affect the functions of other cells, turning stem cells into other cell types, or healing damaged tissues. It has also been shown that cancer can develop when cells’ regenerative ability is weakened or disturbed.
The body is capable of reversing this damage, but only if the fields from its healthy cells can overpower that of the cancer. If this cannot happen, the cancer continues to spread, converting some healthy cells and even outright destroying others. Cells exposed to radiation can also cause this “domino effect”.
Mainstream explanations of cancer, as with other health problems, continue to ignore environmental implications when studying it. By passing cancer off as a product of genetic mutation, they ignore other factors in cell structure and function that can further explain cancer.
Cancer in chimney sweeps was found to occur due to overexposure to soot, which has similar chemical properties (and biological effects) to estrogen. Studies have further proved that too much exposure to estrogen can cause cancer, and that progesterone, as an antagonist of estrogen, can stop it.
When estrogen is in the body, enzymes break it down into other substances that still can have a harmful effect on tissues. They cause cells to divide rapidly, which can lead to the creation of tumors and cancer. Progesterone works against estrogen by stopping enzymes from breaking it down, preventing too much division of cells. It balances many enzymes and substances in the body, such as histamines, which promote inflammation and the effects of estrogen. In the brain, these effects can include epilepsy and hypomania that mimics the effects of cocaine use. All of this means that progesterone can prevent the over-division and production of cancer cells by promoting a healthy environment for cells in the body, reducing cell stress, and preventing early death of healthy cells.
The genetic differences that are currently theorized to cause cancer have a deeper cause: disrupted metabolism and damaged cell division, which eventually can impact genes. An unhealthy, imbalanced bodily environment, such as one with an overabundance of estrogen, creates more abnormal cells, and the body loses its ability to repair these cells. As a result, cancer will continue to spread throughout the body.
Today’s cancer treatments focus on killing cancerous cells, rather than treating the underlying conditions that cause the appearance of these cells. Studies attempting to incorporate progesterone into cancer treatment have been carried out improperly, causing doctors to draw incorrect conclusions about its functions and effects. By reducing the amount of estrogen in the body, reducing inflammation, and removing dietary substances which promote it, such as polyunsaturated fats, people can improve the cellular environment of their body and reduce cancer risk–and progesterone helps in doing all of these things.
Estrogen dominance is known to cause all of the health problems that occur as we age. It can disrupt the metabolism, promote the aging of the skin, and increase the levels of various harmful substances in the body. Estrogen increases the risk for cancer, edema, and blood clots, and can damage cells in the brain and other organs.
Estrogen is widely known as “the female hormone”, a name which diminishes its negative effects. The idea that estrogen is harmless and necessary in large amounts is spread by the estrogen industry; the promotion of this misunderstanding generates billions of dollars of profit for those involved. Even as studies have shown that estrogen causes cancer, miscarriages, and promotes aging, those benefiting from its sale argue that it can be used to prevent those things.
Estrogen has similar effects on the body as histamines, which means antihistamines can be useful in reducing the symptoms it causes. Estrogen’s effects also mimic those of shock—such as causing reduced blood flow in veins. This is commonly seen as a benefit of estrogen, but any “improvement” of circulation is offset by increased clotting and decreased oxygen levels.
Estrogen both causes stress and increases it. Athletes have greatly increased estrogen after events, and those who are hospitalized due to illness also have high estrogen levels. These heightened stress levels further contribute to many symptoms observed in the dying, such as organ failure and collapse, and internal bleeding. Estrogen’s role in contributing to these conditions is almost always ignored, even in publicized cases.
The marketing of estrogen focuses on osteoporosis and improvement of one’s physical appearance, once again ignoring the detrimental effects it can have on bone health and skin elasticity. The estrogen industry never mentions that progesterone can be used to improve these conditions.
Estrogen’s damaging effects have been known for over 50 years, and pregnant women treated with it have been shown to have children with lower intelligence. There is a positive link between high blood sugar levels during pregnancy and a child’s intelligence, and estrogen lowers blood sugar, resulting in lower intelligence levels.
Because estrogen is so profitable, pharmaceutical companies often pay medical journals and other sources to omit proof of estrogen’s harmful effects. This keeps the truth away from both the general public, and the doctors who treat them. Until a better way is found to inform people about the dangers of estrogen and the benefits of progesterone, our understanding of hormone balance and its impact on bodily systems will not be as good as it should be.
Reference
A great deal of people, both in the general public and in medical fields, believe that menopause strictly occurs when the ovaries no longer contain egg cells—even when this notion has already been disproved. Treatments of ovaries with radiation, which disrupts their ability to ovulate, has been shown to make them produce more estrogen. However, ovulation can’t be noted merely by measuring a woman’s hormone levels.
One common hypothesis of aging’s causes has concerned brain cell death. Although this theory is incorrect, cell death itself does contribute to the aging process, by affecting all kinds of cells in the body. This includes the brain and the skin, which both produce steroid hormones. People have believed for a very long time that cells can only divide a certain number of times, and then die. However, the body’s conditions and the way its systems interact with each cell has a greater impact on cell health than merely “using up” divisions.
Organisms that become sexually mature at an earlier age are more likely to die earlier. High estrogen levels are known to make puberty happen earlier, and estrogen also contributes to many health problems later in life, including cancer, heart disease, and strokes. Because estrogen can destroy various parts of the nerve system that are responsible for regulating the body, it can be said to age the nervous system, thereby causing problems in other organ systems.
When menopause begins, its symptoms typically coincide with the body no longer being able to make progesterone, while still being able to make estrogen. Because this estrogen is no longer being balanced by progesterone, there comes to be too much of it in the body. When there is no progesterone in the body, cortisol can also cause bone loss almost immediately. This bone loss is also accelerated by estrogen’s negative effects on the pituitary and thyroid, but it can be stopped by supplementing the thyroid.
When nerves in the brain are exposed to too much estrogen, the pituitary gland produces LH and FSH, hormones associated with menopause. These hormones are known to cause infertility; young animals’ ovaries unexposed to large amounts of estrogen remain fertile even when put into older animals.
Cortisol, estrogen, and the neurotransmitters they produce all overstimulate cells and cause organ failure and infertility. Progesterone inhibits the actions of estrogen and cortisol, preventing these effects.
Estrogen’s effects are similar to those observed in people who are in shock, and shock itself causes the production of more estrogen. Estrogen also can overstimulate the adrenal glands, causing hirsutism. The cell death caused by estrogen has led to memory loss in animals; it has been known to cause miscarriages, induce abortions, and age the skin as well. Estrogen also increases the likelihood of seizures.
Estrogen is often believed to help with the lethargy typically associated with aging, but the brain stimulation it induces is very similar to cocaine; that there are safer alternatives to combat fatigue.
Progesterone deficiency has many causes and sources. Free radicals, adrenal hormones, estrogen, cortisol, and bad cholesterol can all disrupt the production of progesterone, as well as contributing to higher estrogen levels. The production of these substances can be traced back to stress, and when the body is stressed, progesterone stops being made. In this way, things that cause a progesterone deficit can lead to cell death.
Estrogen levels can be lowered by changing one’s diet: raw carrots can be eaten to minimize toxin absorption. Penicillin lowers estrogen levels and raises progesterone levels. The body also produces more progesterone when it is exposed to light, including natural sunlight or red light.
The onset of menopause can be delayed by preventing over stimulation of nerves in the hypothalamus by estrogen. Progesterone’s effects in controlling estrogen suggest that countering estrogen’s dominance may also be able to prevent more general aging—by avoiding iron and unsaturated fats, and with a high progesterone intake, it is easy to prevent estrogen dominance.
See Dr. Ray Peat for more
