I’ve been “working” on my hormones for the past six years… Perimenopause is not stagnant. You think you’ve arrived at the perfect combination of sleep, stress management, healthy eating, exercise, and supplements and then all of a sudden something shifts the delicate balance and the symptoms are back. My hormone saga began six years ago when I was running 4 miles per day, 5 days per week and doing strength training at least 3 times per week. I started noticing belly fat and extreme fatigue. I would come home from a run and sit on the couch, too exhausted to move. Then it got worse. I started noticing the exhaustion as soon as I started my workout. I had to quit running and switch to gentler exercise like yoga, pilates and walking. I was jolted – it was really the first time in many years that I had felt out of control of my body. There were other symptoms too – heavy bleeding, cramping, etc... What a miserable state of being!
So, I did the research (as per usual) and took some action. I discovered that I was estrogen dominant High Estrogen: Causes, Symptoms, Dominance & Treatment (clevelandclinic.org) and had high cortisol (specifically related to perceived stress). I found out that chemicals in products that I was using every day could be impacting my estrogen levels – called xenoestrogens, they mimic real estrogen so the cell receptors allow them to enter but end up blocking the real estrogen from entering the cells; thus, the natural estrogen floats around in the body, not being metabolized quickly enough to keep up with the input of toxic xenoestrogens from the toxic products. This creates estrogen dominance, which starts a fire storm of other hormone imbalances – any time estrogen is elevated, progesterone is comparatively too low. Unfortunately, the excess estrogen is then stored in fat cells… YIKES! I quickly eliminated my toxic hair products, body soaps and lotions, face products, toothpaste, laundry detergent, fabric softener, and fabric sheets. (I replaced all of these with products from doTERRA for two reasons: 1) I trust this company implicitly - doTERRA honors my value in clean products by ensuring layers upon layers of testing and constantly seeking out new ingredients that are cleaner and more sustainable; 2) I earn TONS of reward points - at this point, I'm earning 30% of the points I spend each month AND I earn free shipping!) I also switched to organic makeup – Aisling Organics Aisling Organic Cosmetics (aislingorganics.com), and Crunchi Safe, High Performance Color Cosmetics & Skincare | Crunchi.com.
Once I switched my products, started prioritizing stress management, and stopped the high intensity workouts, I felt a dramatic difference in my hormonal symptoms. I was, for a while, living in bless, for about 4.5 years.
Then the hot flashes started! But I was doing everything right! How could I do more? It was so frustrating. At 500 Pm every day, they would start and continue through the night. I was unsuccessful in figuring out what to do. I read that caffeine (I only drank 2 cups per day very early in the morning), stress (ok... how could I fix that one more than I already had), alcohol (No WAY! and besides, I had them on days I wasn't drinking my precious red wine lol) made hot flashes more intense, but I was not convinced that any of those was impacting me. One day, as I was conducting a training, I drank my usual amount of afternoon decaf. When I got home, not only did the hot flashes start, but I felt wired and weird. I slept maybe 2 hours total that night. I realized that I had accidentally drank regular coffee instead of decaf! This accident prompted me to determine that I have a very strong reaction to coffee. So... I decided to cut back on it. After three days of reducing my coffee to 1 cup instead of 2 early in the morning, the hot flashes were gone. AMAZING! What a relief! Just that one step of eliminating the extra cup made all the difference.
Again, I was living in Bliss...
Until I wasn’t. Because my favorite shampoo/conditioner from doTERRA were being discontinued, I had this bright idea to switch to a new shampoo/conditioner from a company that claimed to be “clean”. I was immediately bothered by the strong fragrance, but I loved how full my hair looked. I checked the EWG rating and it was a 5. Not great, but not horrible, so I kept using it. Then the hot flashes came back – engulfing me in flames in the middle of the night, waking me up and keeping me up. In the morning I felt unrested and miserable. I started noticing them in the evening too. Racking my brain, thinking it just didn't make sense to have such a quick change in hormones, I asked myself "What have I done differently? What did I change?"
Oh, the shampoo/conditioner…
I immediately switched back to doTERRA's new line of clean shampoo/conditioner and lo and behold, the very next evening (NOT KIDDING), I did not have hot flashes. In the next few days they subsided enough that they didn’t wake me up any longer! A month later, if I am having them in the middle of the night, I don't notice. When I wake up, I feel refreshed and well rested. THANK GOODNESS!
Are you kidding me!!?? One small change like that made that big of a difference? YES! One small change DOES make a difference. You see, fragrance in products means toxins (because manufacturers are not required to reveal their “secret” fragrance on the ingredient list so they can include ANYTHING as fragrance), xenoestrogens and hormone disruption. Eliminating fragrance, parabens, and phthalates in your products is a great first step to take. I use the Think Dirty App and the EWG Healthy Living App to check the toxicity level of the products I use – very easy systems to use with color coding and number ratings.
Essential oils are one of the best ways to get the fragrance and therapeutic changes you desire without adding toxins. For hair, peppermint and tea tree oil are cleansing, can remove oil from hair follicles, and even help with skin sensitivities or rashy patches. Ylang ylang helps to strengthen and shine the hair while Lavendar helps to soften. Rosemary essential oil helps to jumpstart the growth cycle. If you have essential oils, you can add them to your hair products to improve whatever area you like at any given time or create special sprays and masks to use intermittently. There is no need to buy products with strong fragrance if you have essential oils. And if you don't, get some! Or just find a truly green company to purchase ready made products from like I did :-)
And please, for the love of all that is pure and green, do not buy essential oils that are not pure just to save a buck!! It defeats the whole purpose! It is so easy for companies (because essential oil land is not well regulated) to claim they have an organic product, but still add other ingredients to the essential oil. There should be NOTHING in your bottle of oil except essential oil of X. You can often check the purity of your essential oil by putting a drop on a piece of paper. If there is residue (or a ring) 45 minutes later, it's not pure (this goes for most essential oils except the thicker ones like myrrh). Or just check the label. Research the company. Talk to friends who use essential oils and pick a company you know you can trust. You can reach out to me as well - as a Wellness Advocate with doTERRA, I can help you pick the right products and share samples.
Do it! You will feel better and look better.
Much Love,
Aimée
Resources:
Doterra US Site | dōTERRA Essential Oils - my Essential Oils and Products Website for browsing
https://doterra.me/tYP835 - a shopping cart filled with my favorite "just getting started" hair products - you can delete what you don't want and keep what you do!
Environmental exposure to xenoestrogens and oestrogen related cancers: reproductive system, breast, lung, kidney, pancreas, and brain | Environmental Health | Full Text (biomedcentral.com) - a review of studies linking xenoestrogens to cancers
High Estrogen: Causes, Symptoms, Dominance & Treatment (clevelandclinic.org) - a very common hormone imbalance in women in the U.S.
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