A Natural Alternative Women can Trust
All around the world in industrial countries there is a growing problem with regard to hormone imbalance. Unfortunately it is our polluted environment, a result of over industrialisation and chemical toxicity. Both wild animals and humans alike are being adversely affected in their hormonal and reproductive systems.
Research into the mating of wild birds, fish, crocodiles and other wildlife has shown that these animals are reproducing less and less and in many cases have such serious sexual deformities that they are unable to reproduce at all. It is senseless for we humans to think that we are not also being affected.
Unprecedented degrees of mental stress, exacerbated by exposure to toxins, pollutants, preservatives, chemicals, drugs and a lack of nutrients in our diets impair our hormone production and balance. In the air we breathe, and the food we eat there are substances called xeno-estrogens (foreign estrogens). These molecules are one source of interruption to our natural hormonal balance. Petrochemicals, pesticides and plastics which are so much part of our lives are off gassing these potentially harmful toxins.
Our bodies are affected because these foreign substances trick the receptors, taking the place of our natural hormones and blocking their ability to function.
The widespread prescribing of the Pill and HRT increase the problems further and produce significant and sometimes life threatening side affects. The balance of hormones in the body is a very delicate relationship.
PMS has never been such a common problem and it has never been considered a normal part of a woman's cycle until recent years.
Dr. John Lee from the United States has been researching the hormone issue since the seventies, when he began to question the way Western medicine treats the symptoms with HRT, and found that essentially they were only making the problem worse. Dr. Lee warns the medical profession in saying "we will soon regard making estrogen the key ingredient in HRT, as a major medical mistake".
It became apparent that many women who suffer from confusing and aggravating symptoms can be the unsuspecting victims of oestrogen dominance and progesterone deficiency. It is crucial to remember that when ostrogen is unopposed by adequate levels of progesterone, a hormone imbalance occurs.
Too Much Estrogen
Estrogen dominance can result in breast enlargement and tenderness, heavy menstrual flow or irregular periods, carbohydrate cravings, weight gains, fibrocystic breasts, uterine fibrosis, menstrual cramps, loss of libido, PMS, mood swings depression and acne. These symptoms can indicate the development of other conditions such as osteoporosis, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, ovarian cysts and uterine fibroid tumours. This estrogen dominance can also result in interference with proper thyroid function, infertility, excessive blood clotting and increased risk of feminine cancers says Dr. Lee in the book.
In the past hormonal imbalance was most often considered to be a problem associated with menopause. However, a large portion of women in their thirties or even younger, are showing alarming signs of hormonal dysfunction. The incidence of needless hysterectomies for even young women has grown alarmingly.
It has become apparent that many women are having anovulatory cycles. This means that even though they are still menstruating they are not producing an egg. Without ovulation, progesterone the vital hormone for balance, is unable to be produced in the quantities of women needs.
In a healthy menstrual cycle, hundreds of times more progesterone than estrogen is produced after ovulation and if there is no ovulation and estrogen is dominant throughout the cycle serious problems can result. Stress, nutritional deficiencies and chemical pollutants, can all contribute to anovulatory cycles.
The medical solution to these hormonal imbalances has been the recommendation of synthetic progestins (chemically altered progesterone) and estrogen. This is the HRT package.
The Natural Alternative
A far better solution to HRT would be to supply the body with the proper natural nutritional biochemical building blocks to stimulate production of natural hormones. Dr. Lee suggests that good nutrition is vital to women's hormonal balance.
Also in 1939 it was discovered that an ingredient called diosgenin in the Mexican Wild Yam (Dioscorea villosa) could be converted inexpensively into a molecule that is identical to the body's hormone, progesterone.
Independent research has been conducted into the many applications of this natural progesterone. Dr. Lee's own extensive research has presented a much broader understanding of women's hormonal options. In his textbook to doctors "Natural Progesterone" and his book that every woman should read "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You about the Menopause" he offers a totally save effective alternative.
Despite the fact that in many countries women have been able to access natural progesterone products, in most Australian states for example the sale of natural progesterone is still illegal without prescription. Herein lines a problem. According to Dr. Lee most medical practitioners are unaware of the vast differences between synthetic progestins and natural progesterone.
How can women source the natural relief they desire?
Some women have tried many of the wild yam creams now available on the market with little relief. However recent research has found that the extracts of Wild Yam and Chaste Tree whilst not containing Natural Progesterone seem to give benefits for women in creating hormonal balance.
Wild Yam and Chaste Tree in a cream form that is designed to be readily absorbed through the skin, seems to give women relief from estrogen dominance and progesterone deficiency symptoms. These symptoms include such as breast tenderness, irregular and painful period, loss of libido, PMS, mood swings, depression, osteoporosis, endometrial and breast cancer, ovarian cysts, and uterine fibroid tumours and therefore eliminate the need for many unnecessary hysterectomies.
Wild Yam and Chaste Tree cream appear to have helped prostrate problems in men which can also be caused by hormonal imbalance. Other reported challenges benefited by both men and women are joint and spinal pain and arthritis relief.