Can Too Much Estrogen Affect The Brain?

When hormones are out of balance many woman experience depression and estrogen replacement drugs are often prescribed which seem to help with their moods. However, reports indicate that long-term use of estrogen drugs or estrogen dominance can have a negative effect on ones mood. This has to do with two important brain enzymes factors, cooper and zinc. Estrogen increases a blood protein, ceruloplasmin that binds to copper and prevents dietary copper from finding its way into brain cells. Too much blood protein (ceruloplasmin), leaves too much copper in the blood, causing zinc levels to drop in the blood and the brain resulting in an imbalance that leads to magnified stress reactions, mood swings and depression.

Estrogen has several other effects that can adversely affect the brain. One is that estrogen is inclined to make blood more likely to clot thereby presenting the risk of ischemic stroke, which is blockage of blood vessels, by clots.

Estrogen also promotes blood vessel dilation. Combine this along with estrogen's water retention propriety and it makes clear why estrogen can induce migraine headaches for women. Migraine headaches just preceding menstruation are characteristic of estrogen dominant symptoms. Fortunately for us progesterone promotes normal vascular tone and thereby can prevent migraines.

Another adverse effect of estrogen is that it tends to suppress thyroid function and quite often estrogen dominant women are misdiagnosed with hypothyroidism.

Progesterone on the other hand is a fat-soluble compound and is found in brain cells. What seems to be surprising to researchers is that its concentration in brain cells is 20 times higher than that of blood serum levels. The same is true of testosterone and DHEA.

It appears that progesterone plays a critical role in fetal brain development. Also, progesterone is able to reduce the severity of brain injuries and often time's women who have started progesterone therapy remark on how they can think again with clearer mental clarity and improved concentration.

An alternative to using a hormone drug or synthetic natural progesterone is Resolve Wild Yam Cream. Resolve does not contain any hormones whatsoever. It is a safe and effective alternative to drugs. Resolve is the most complete nutritional source of wild yam available and provides the body with the necessary building blocks it requires to manufacture its own hormone chemistry.