Should a woman over 60 take estrogen?
That decision belongs to you and your own doctor, and nothing here changes it. What Dr. Martin adds is the frame he would want in the room before it gets made, and it is one sentence.
Dr. Martin on estrogen in a woman:
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1407You need estrogen, ladies, you do, but it has to be balanced with progesterone.
He says it right after explaining that a man is the opposite case, needing testosterone high rather than balanced. In a woman, he says, you need balance. It is not just estrogen.
So the question he thinks is worth asking is not whether you should have estrogen. It is estrogen against what.
What happens to estrogen at menopause
He does not argue with the basic biology. Your ovaries wind down, and measured estrogen comes down with them. That part is not in dispute and he says so plainly: your estrogen levels are going down, of course they are.
The reason he will not stop there is a question a listener put to him, and he calls it a beautiful question. If we are surrounded by estrogen-like chemicals, why does the blood test not show our estrogen going up?
The part the blood test does not pick up
His answer to that question is the core of the episode.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1407You are going to see that your estrogen levels are coming down, ladies, yeah, but xenoestrogens are still there and they mimic estrogen.
Xenoestrogen is his word for a chemical your body reads as estrogen even though it is not estrogen. He lists where he says they sit: cosmetics, plastics, perfume, deodorant, hairspray, air freshener, nail polish, and sunscreen. Not all of them, he says, but most. His line on plastic is that on average about a credit card and a half a week finds its way into us.
Because they are not estrogen, they do not register as estrogen.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1407So if you take an estrogen blood test and you're in perimenopause or whatever, you're going to get sort of a false reading.
That is the sentence to sit with before deciding anything off a single panel. He is not saying the number is wrong. He is saying it is answering a narrower question than the one you asked it.
"You need estrogen, ladies, you do, but it has to be balanced with progesterone."
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1407Why estrogen on its own is not the villain
It would be easy to hear all of this as estrogen is bad. He closes that door himself.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1407Look, estrogen's on your side until it's not, because if you have too much xenoestrogens, you're in trouble.
On your side until it is not. That is the whole position in six words. Estrogen is a growth hormone and you need it. The trouble he describes starts with the extra load, the part you never chose and cannot see on a panel.
He points out that this is not only a woman's problem. He says men measured after 50 are carrying more estrogen than he ever expected to see, and that their testosterone has moved the other way.
The questions to take to your doctor
This is a prescription decision and it is not his to make, or ours. These are the things his episode suggests are worth putting on the table, phrased as questions rather than as a plan.
- What is my progesterone doing, not just my estrogen, since he judges the two together
- Which symptoms are we actually treating, and how will we know if it worked
- How much of the decision is resting on one blood panel
- What is the plan for the estrogen load that is not coming from my own body
- What are the risks and the review points for me specifically
None of that is a reason to refuse or to start anything. It is a reason to have a longer conversation than the one a single number usually produces.
Food and habits he pointed women to first
His own instinct runs the other way from adding estrogen. He wants the excess blocked, and the word he uses is dim it out.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1407Flax seeds are the only seed on the planet with high levels of lignans and lignans block estrogen, extra estrogen.
He is unusually careful with the very next sentence, because the obvious worry is that you are blocking something you need.
Dr. Martin, The Doctor Is In, Episode 1407They're not going to take away the estrogen that you need.
It takes away the xenoestrogens you do not need, he says. That is his distinction, and he admits he is not a fan of nuts and seeds generally. You are not a squirrel, is how he puts it. Flax is the exception because of the lignans.
Alongside it he names three more. Get your vitamin D up, and he is specific enough about target levels to send people to his own book for them. Block the load where you can, which for him means looking at what goes on your skin and what your food is stored in. And lower your insulin, because he says insulin is a growth hormone too.
If the fatigue side of this is the part you know best, read why the thyroid never acts on its own next.
Nothing here is a reason to start or stop anything a doctor has prescribed. Talk to your doctor first.
Common questions
Should menopausal women take estrogen?
That is a decision for you and your doctor. Dr. Martin's position is that you need estrogen but it has to be balanced with progesterone, and his own first move is blocking the excess load rather than adding more.
Does estrogen go down after menopause?
Measured estrogen comes down, and he does not dispute that. His point is that the estrogen mimics are still there and the blood test does not show them.
Can a blood test show my real estrogen load?
Not the whole of it, in his view. He says you get a sort of false reading, because the mimics are not estrogen and so they do not register on an estrogen panel.
What blocks extra estrogen naturally?
He names flax seed lignans and DIM, and he is clear that the aim is to block the excess. In his words they are not going to take away the estrogen that you need.
Read next: Can You Still Be In Menopause At 70? and What Menopause Does To A Woman, And Why It Varies.
Where Hormonal Support Formula fits
Martin Clinic's Hormonal Support Formula contains DIM, which is the ingredient he is talking about when he says dim the excess estrogen out rather than add more.
60-day money-back guarantee. The fats he talks about in the same breath are in DHA Upgraded.These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult your healthcare practitioner before starting a new supplement, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.
