High Estrogen Symptoms in Women: How It Affects Fertility

Estrogen plays a vital role in the functioning of the female reproductive system. Our body naturally maintains a balance between the estrogen and other reproductive hormones for its proper functioning. However, sometimes due to the biological and environmental factors, this balance gets disrupted. As an impact of these factors, the body produces too much estrogen, creating an imbalance, which causes a lot of health issues. This metabolic state where the body produces high amounts of estrogen is known as estrogen dominance.

Symptoms of High Estrogen in Women

The signs and symptoms of high estrogen levels vary from person to person. Given below are some of the common high estrogen symptoms females usually experience:
Weight gain: High estrogen levels in the body can lead to weight gain. One can experience fat build up in their hip, midsection and thigh area. Due to estrogen dominance, it also becomes difficult to get rid of all the fat in the body.

Swollen or tender breasts: High levels of estrogen in the body can make ones breast more tender and swollen especially around the nipples and front area. This happens because our breasts are sensitive to hormone changes.

Fibrocystic breasts: The high estrogen level makes the quality of the connective tissues in the breast to change from soft to bumpy and rope-like tissues known as the fibrocystic breast lumps.

Irregular menstrual periods: Since estrogen plays a crucial role in regulating the menstrual cycle along with other hormones, a slight variation can lead to irregular periods, causing it to be late or early.
Heavy periods: Estrogen is responsible for the thickening of the uterine lining. With the rising levels of estrogen hormone, the uterus lining thickens, which leads to painful and heavy menstrual bleeding.

Mood swings: Estrogen dominance can cause a range of mood swings, anxiety, panic attacks, and depression.

Decreased sex drive: As the levels of estrogen hormone rises, one may notice a dip in their sexual drive.

Severe headaches or migraines: Headaches during the menstrual cycles are normal and everyone experiences it. This happens due to the fluctuation of estrogen levels during menstrual cycles. In the same way, one may experience severe headaches and even migraines due to high levels of estrogen hormones.

Hair loss: One may experience hair loss or hair thinning as a side-effect of low progesterone or high estrogen levels.

Cold hands or feet: Due to poor blood circulation caused by high estrogen levels, one may have cold hands and feet always. The exact reason behind this poor circulation is yet to be known.

Memory loss: Researchers have found a link between the high estrogen levels and memory loss. Estrogen dominance can cause difficulty in remembering things.

Insomnia: Experts say that the progesterone and estrogen levels should be balanced for a person to sleep peacefully. Progesterone helps one to calm their mind while estrogen keeps our body on the tip. As the estrogen rises, the progesterone level dips down, which in turn can keep one up all night.

Sleepiness or fatigue: Feeling tired, restless and exhausted more than often could be one of the symptoms of estrogen dominance.