Low Estrogen Symptoms, Causes and Medication Options
Estrogen is a hormone which is commonly called the female sex hormone. Both men and women actually produce estrogen, but it is produced in far higher amounts in women, and women will generally experience more notable symptoms of low levels of it. Varying estrogen levels, and particularly low estrogen, can have a notable effect on your health. Low estrogen symptoms can be troublesome for many women, particularly before, during and following the menopause. Estrogen pills can be used to replace the hormone and alleviate symptoms.
What does estrogen do?
Estrogen plays a number of different roles in women’s health. Firstly, it is critical for the process of puberty. It develops the reproductive system. From then on it is responsible for maintaining the system, controlling the growth of the womb lining during the menstrual cycle. It has additional jobs to do during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Whilst most associated with women, both men and women produce and need estrogen. It is also responsible for bone and cholesterol health. Additionally, it affects satiety, body weight, insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.
Low estrogen symptoms
Lower estrogen is most commonly associated with the menopause. However, low estrogen symptoms can happen at any age. Common low estrogen symptoms include:
- Vaginal dryness
- Mood swings (or persistent low mood/depression)
- Fatigue
- Painful sex
- Irregular periods, or no periods altogether
- Recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs)
- Headaches
- Hot flushes
- Concentration difficulties
- Breast tenderness
Significantly, low estrogen levels over a long period of time can make your bones more prone to breaking as it affects bone density. If left untreated for a long time, low estrogen can cause infertility.
Causes of low estrogen
A woman’s ovaries are the primary producers of estrogen. Therefore, if the ovaries are affected by something, there may well be changes to estrogen production. There are many reasons why this might be.
When women approach the menopause it is natural for their estrogen production to significantly reduce. This transition time, called the perimenopause, typically occurs after the age of 40. The transition to the menopause, and therefore declining estrogen levels, can happen quite rapidly over the course of a few months, or may fluctuate over many years. You can find out more about the symptoms of menopause, largely caused by low estrogen, in our recent article ‘What are the 34 Symptoms of Menopause?’
Low estrogen symptoms can also appear in younger women. This can happen for a number of reasons including:
- Eating disorders (specifically those resulting in excessively low weight e.g. anorexia)
- Excessive exercise
- Chronic kidney disease
- Low-functioning pituitary gland
- Turner syndrome (a female-only genetic disorder)
- Premature ovarian failure (which may be caused by multiple factors)
Low estrogen also occurs if a woman has had an oophorectomy (removal of one or both ovaries) or a total hysterectomy (removal of the uterus, and also the ovaries).
How is low estrogen diagnosed?
If you are experiencing any of the low estrogen symptoms above then it is worth a visit to your GP. They will usually do blood tests to measure your hormone levels and they may carry out a physical examination.
Low estrogen treatments
There are very simple ways to treat low estrogen symptoms, most specifically estrogen pills or HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy).
There are a number of different ways that estrogen or HRT (which may contain two hormones: estrogen and progesterone) can be administered. You can take pills, orally. Alternatively the medication can be delivered topically, through an adhesive patch on the skin. Injections and vaginal pessaries are also other administration methods.
However, as the recent UK documentary Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause revealed, it is unfortunately not uncommon to receive misleading information, feel embarrassed, or struggle to receive testing and treatment.
It is absolutely vital that women feel in control of their own health and wellbeing. They should be able to get a good understanding of their hormone levels and how they are causing low estrogen symptoms. They should also feel confident getting treatment, such as estrogen pills, if this is what they would like to do.
How to choose estrogen pills
Estrogen pills are one of the most common treatment options for low estrogen symptoms. Well known examples include Premarin. These are available in a wide range of doses so that you can get the right replacement for you. Typically estrogen pills are taken once daily, usually without food.
Estrogen pills are often favored because they can reduce or entirely eliminate the symptoms of low estrogen. This may be due to the menopause or the other causes outlined above. By taking estrogen pills you can lower the risk of getting osteoporosis.
There are some risks and side effects, as with all medications. You should evaluate the risks versus the benefits in your individual case.
At International Pharmacy we are determined that women should be able to take charge of their own health and wellbeing. As such, you can order estrogen tablets from us with assurance of quality and reliability. We ship internationally but please check our list to see if any restrictions apply to your country.