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This issue's topics:

Estrogen Dominance: How it might be affecting you without you realizing it

Two great new features at DrMarcantel.com:

Women's Health Central and a video site tour

A quick-and-cool summertime Jello recipe

Help others, help us, and help yourself
with our new Patient Referral Program

We want to know how we're doing:
Please send us your feedback on our services

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Estrogen Dominance:

Losing the Healthy Hormonal Balance

by Dr. Tina Marcantel

Insomnia, mood swings, irregular bleeding, irritability, anxiety, water retention, low thyroid symptoms, depression, fat gain (especially around hips, thighs, and abdomen), fibrocystic breasts, uterine fibroids, and low sex drive. If you’re a woman approaching middle age, there’s a good chance that you are experiencing one or more of these symptoms. Often my patients ask me, “Am I going crazy? Why does it seem like my body is rebelling against me?” The answer may be as simple as having too much estrogen in your system—a condition known as estrogen dominance.

Most women are aware that as they enter perimenopause their bodies begin to produce less estrogen. So how is it possible that along with that decrease the body may actually have too much estrogen?

The answer to that question is that estrogen dominance is relative to a progesterone deficiency. A decade or so before actual menopause the woman may stop ovulating, which causes a lack of production of progesterone from the ovaries. Menstrual cycles will continue even without the progesterone so there is no awareness that the lack of progesterone is causing symptoms of hormonal imbalance. In perimenopause and the menopausal and post-menopausal years estrogen levels drop 40-60%, but without ovulation, progesterone output drops to nearly zero.

In Dr. John Lee’s book What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause, he writes: “Estrogen dominance is a condition in which a woman can have deficient, normal, or excess estrogen, but in the absence of ovulation, little or no progesterone to balance its effects upon the body. When estrogen is dominant and progesterone deficient, estrogen becomes toxic to the body.” * It’s this hormonal imbalance that can result in many of the frustrating symptoms that women associate with menopause.

However, it’s not just middle-aged women who can suffer from estrogen dominance. Younger women can experience it, too, in the form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS). The hormonal imbalance in this case may be linked to toxins, contraceptive use, stress, extremes in diet and exercise, or xenoestrogens found in foods.

Saliva hormone testing combined with a thorough history of symptoms can accurately determine an imbalance of hormones. The results of specific hormone testing coupled with a patient’s symptoms history will provide a basis for an individualized treatment program for the patient. (I’m a real patient advocate when it comes to choosing a testing laboratory—the prices and quality of tests can vary greatly and I spend a good deal of time “comparison shopping” before ordering labs for my patients.)

Once a patient’s individual needs have been assessed and a treatment protocol has been started, I’ll closely monitor a patient’s hormone levels with follow-up testing. The goal then is to achieve the proper balance of estrogen and progesterone by supplementing with bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (if needed) and other treatments. The success of the treatment, or course, is measured not only by the hormone levels in the body but also by a reduction of the symptoms that caused the patient to seek help in the first place!

* Lee, John R., MD, and Hopkins, Virginia. What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause: The breakthrough book on natural progesterone. New York: Warner Books; 1996.

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We're excited about two new features that we've added to our website! Women's Health Central is a new "hub" page that contains links to articles and information that's of specific interest to women, such as bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and the article on estrogen dominance from this newsletter.

We've also added a video site tour on our home page. The tour is designed to quickly point out some of the useful features of the site that both first-time and repeat visitors should find interesting and that they may overlook without the tour. If you're a frequent visitor to DrMarcantel.com, be sure to refresh the page in your browser when you get there; you should see the video player just a little way down the home page. (If you have any difficulties playing the video, please let us know through our "Contact Us" page. Since this is a new feature, we want to be sure we get all the bugs worked out.)

By the way, this is just the first of many planned video additions to our site. We'll soon introduce a welcome video from Dr. Marcantel, and we have a whole video teaching series in the works. Stay tuned!

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Here's a nice, cool recipe for summertime snacking...

This one is quick, easy, and cool and contains apples for vitamins and fiber along with a protein (cottage cheese) and a healthy fat (walnuts) to help prevent a spike in blood sugars. Remember that eating a protein along with fruit helps keep the blood sugars balanced. When blood sugars spike and then drop it signals the body that it's hungry, so we want to avoid those high sugar levels!

1 large box sugar-free lime Jello

1 cup hot water

1 large container low fat cottage cheese (I like Shamrock Farms)

1/2 cup chopped apple

1/2 cup walnut pieces

Dissolve Jello in hot water. Blend Jello and cottage cheese in blender (you may have to add some low fat milk to blend it properly). Remove from blender and add chopped apples and walnuts. Let set in refrigerator until congealed.

Need more ideas for healthy snacks? Find them on our recipes pages at DrMarcantel.com.

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If you're a patient of Dr. Marcantel, be sure to visit the Patient Reception Room and take advantage of our Patient Referral Program. This is a great way to help a friend AND save some money on your next visit to Dr. Marcantel. We love referrals and we count on our patients to help spread the word about Dr. Marcantel's practice. As a "thank you" for telling your friends and relatives about us, we offer discounts both to you and the people you refer! Just print the Patient Referral Certificate that you'll find in the Patient Reception Room (or click on the link to get it now), fill in your name in the appropriate space, and give it to a friend who can benefit from our services. The more people you refer, the more money you'll save on your next visit. Be sure to read how you can also qualify for a $200.00 gift certificate to a Valley day spa!

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We want to hear from you about your experiences with Dr. Marcantel's services. Patient feedback is extremely important to us because it tells us how we're doing in providing you with the quality care we strive for. We would really appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to print the Patient Feedback Form, fill it out, and drop it in the mail to us. You can print it directly from the pdf file link above or, if you prefer, you can download the text file and copy it into Word and fill it out on your computer.

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Have you tried IV therapy yet? A growing number of Dr. Marcantel's patients are reporting great results from their IV therapy treatments. Read Dr. Marcantel's article on How IV Therapy Can Benefit YOU and give her a call to see if this program might be right for you to give you more energy, supply your body with much-needed vitamins and nutrients, and boost your immune system.

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Is it time for a health maintenance visit with Dr. Marcantel? Remember that it's easier to stay healthy than it is to get healthy. Call today for an appointment with Dr. Marcantel to evaluate your current progress with your personal health regimen: 480-985-0000. Need directions to our office or other contact information? Just click here for details.

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Dr. Tina Marcantel

5416 East Southern Avenue #110

Mesa, AZ 85206

480-985-0000

Newsletter written by Peter Marcantel, webmaster for DrMarcantel.com.