Menu

Anxiety, panic, PMS: estrogen dominance I believe is the evil little culprit!

by Lis
(Florida)

Where do I begin! A little over two years ago, I was newly 24 and I experienced my first panic attack out of the blue while not even feeling anxious or nervous sitting at the hairdressers. I didn't even know what it was, I thought I was getting (flu) sick! The following month I had an even worse panic attack on one of my usual very heavy, very painful periods. I went home and googled the symptoms, and surmised that I was suffering from panic attacks.

I then started down a long road of GI issues (paralyzing all day, all night nausea), anxiety, UTI's, painful periods, fibrocystic breasts, (I was suppose to have a mammogram earlier this year when I was just 25!) and heart palpitations. I would awake in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, and my moods would shift terribly to the point where I could barely stomach to even be around people I liked because I was so irritable. I thought this was a normal part of aging and didn't think I could do anything about it. I was so sick of crying all the time and having bad periods that I went and saw a gynecologist for the first time last year (2014). I told her that I am specifically more anxious around my period and ovulation. She said I probably had endometriosis (I had a cyst burst a few years ago). She shrugged it off and put me on birth control which I thankfully only took for a month do to bad side effects.

Through all this I went on a spiritual journey, a soul searching journey because others asked and I, myself thought, did I suffer some kind of awful emotional trauma? Did I do something to provoke this? Am I burying something deep in my soul that would cause these panic attacks and anxiety? The answer is no. I always knew it was something else, something physiological, a medical issue not a mental issue. But I couldn't prove it.

Fast forward to now, I had a debilitating panic attack in the beginning of October (2015) while on the last day of my period. Ever since then I have not been able to be left alone or go out by myself without experiencing severe panic (basically agoraphobic). I finally reached my breaking point and went to see a natural doctor in November (2015) who tested all of my levels. She told me I'm estrogen dominant with very low progesterone, low vitamin D (she said as if I'm living in the Arctic!) low magnesium, low iodine, and low zinc. I've used the progesterone cream for roughly 24 days altogether since this has happened now, but only was on 80 mg a day for ten days before I went off of it for 8 days for my period. I started right back up after it was finished but have experienced serious estrogen dominance symptoms! I suddenly developed OCD and am crying all the time, feeling on edge and out of control, and so fatigued. I have upped my dose to about 500 mg a day in hopes that this will help alleviate some of these issues (after reading many of Dr. Katherina Daltons interviews/words).

Any advice or if anyone has gone through this and has hope to offer since I'm just beginning down this difficult road, I welcome it and greatly appreciate it! Thank you!

Comments for Anxiety, panic, PMS: estrogen dominance I believe is the evil little culprit!

Click here to add your own comments

Dec 17, 2015
 Estrogen Dominance
by: Anonymous

Hi Lis.
I am hearing everything you are saying. 12 Months ago (Sept 2014). I too started feeling quite anxious and fearful of impending doom. I went to the doctor thinking i was dying, feeling quite breathless and lethargic, I was sent for a blood test which revealed that I was dangerously anaemic which required a blood transfusion (which I later discovered was due to uterine polyp, which had been caused by very heavy periods). I later had a massive GI Issue for a week where I couldn't eat anything due to severe nausea,and had lost my appetite which then caused massive anxiety issue as I was convinced that I WAS dying. I got onto Bio Identical hormones through a OBGYN here in Australia. He ordered hormone blood tests which revealed I was very low in Progesterone and Oestrogen Dominance. I take 225mg of Progesterone at night from day 12 then morning and night from Day 21 to 28 and a DIMS tablet via the same routine and I feel fabulous. I occasionally suffer from bloating but that is only when I am not taking my meds. I hope you feel better soon and it will get better, you may need to up your meds. I am 49 from Australia.
Stay Well
Jo
Dec 20, 2015
 :)
by: Lis

Hi Jo! Thanks for your comment! You certainly have had quite a trying time as well, I'm glad you are feeling better now and hope that this continues for you! The week of nausea and not eating that you speak of sounds precisely like a week I had last year too! These things are so fickle and recovering from mental setbacks like severe anxiety is so difficult! I've been upping my dosage of progesterone now to 400-600 mg a day, but my symptoms have actually gotten even worse! So much crying and feeling hopeless/panicked. So I've backed off of it again and am now trying a supplement route to try and turn off the estrogen production before I pump my body with progesterone which turns on estrogen as well. Resveratrol has shown to reduce production of estrogen, plus an NADH supplement and some other things have shown to give me much better, cry free days! Anyway, I hope you continue with much success in your treatment! Happy holidays. :)
Jan 01, 2016
 Keep going
by: Traci

If you read many of Wray's comments, you will see that you will have increased symptoms when first starting the progesterone. This is because progesterone aggravates the estrogen receptor sites and makes symptoms worse. I also suffer from anxiety and just started the cream 3 weeks ago. I am currently taking 500-800 mg per day. This is to overcome the estrogen dominance and then I will slowly go back down. I get my cream from Ona's natural because it is 10% cream and I don't have to use as much. I have read several comments that after about 2 months, the progesterone becomes dominant and ladies feel great. I think we just have to fight through the symptoms and hang in for a couple of months. Please don't blame the progesterone when the estrogen is truly to blame. Be patient and maybe in 2 months we can both come back on here and have raving reviews of how awesome we feel! : )
Oct 11, 2017
 balance your hormones naturally
by: Anonymous

Lower your estrogen naturally by avoiding hormone disrupters in fragrances, shampoos, air fresheners etc. and eat foods that reduce estrogen like cuciferous vegetables.
Oct 23, 2017
 Massive change
by: Nathalie

At 47 I recently have made the life changing discovery about estrogen and how it has affected my life in the worst way: irritability beyond imagining, weight gain, insomnia, acne, horribly painful periods and more fun things!

My 'expert' doctor here in the UK said this was due to progesterone so I kept this at a very low dose in my HRT. I've since tried natural supplements. She has mysteriously 'quit' the practice.

On a recent vacation with my partner I accidentaly took too much sage leaf (estrogen) thinking it was milk thistle and became unbearable even to myself and had severe anxiety. I then realised it was estrogen all along that was the culprit. I started on progesterone cream and now feel amazing like my true self. Sleep is easy and life is easy again.

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Progesterone faq.

Share this page:
Find this page helpful? Please tell others. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.

Search over 8,400 pages on this site...