To manage high estrogen or estrogen dominance, your doctor might prescribe medications, recommend surgery, or encourage you to adjust your diet.
Medication
If you develop high estrogen while undergoing hormone therapy, your doctor might change your hormone therapy plan. This might help your body achieve a healthier hormone balance.
If you have a type of cancer that’s sensitive to estrogen, high estrogen levels can make the cancer worse. Your doctor might prescribe medications to block cancer cells from binding to estrogen. For example, they might prescribe tamoxifen.
Alternatively, they might prescribe an aromatase inhibitor. This type of medication stops the enzyme aromatase from converting androgens into estrogen. This class of drug includes:
- anastrozole (Arimidex)
- exemestane (Aromasin)
- letrozole (Femara)
In other cases, they might prescribe a medication that stops your ovaries from producing estrogen. For example, they might prescribe:
- goserelin (Zoladex)
- leuprolide (Lupron)
Surgery
If you have a type of cancer that’s sensitive to estrogen, your doctor might also recommend an oophorectomy. This is a type of surgery used to remove ovaries. Since ovaries produce most of the estrogen in women’s bodies, removing them lowers estrogen levels. This causes what is known as surgical menopause.
Your doctor might also recommend oophorectomy if you’re at very high risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer. You may be at very high risk if one or more of the following are true:
- You have a strong family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer.
- You test positive for a specific mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene.
- You test positive for a specific mutation in other genes associated with cancer risk.
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), removing both ovaries appears to reduce the risk of breast cancer in very-high-risk patients by about 50 percent.
Your doctor can also use radiation therapy to make your ovaries inactive.
Diet
To help lower your estrogen levels, your doctor might recommend changes to your eating habits. For example, they might encourage you to eat a low-fat and high-fiber diet. They might also encourage you to lose excess weight.
High levels of estrogen can put you at a higher risk of some other conditions. For example, elevated estrogen levels are a risk factor for breast cancer and ovarian cancer. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), estrogen dominance can also increase your risk of endometrial cancer.
High levels of estrogen may put you at higher risk of blood clots and stroke.
Estrogen dominance may also increase your chances of thyroid dysfunction. This can cause symptoms such as fatigue and weight changes.
Talk with your doctor
If you’re experiencing unusual symptoms, make an appointment to see your doctor. They can help you learn if these symptoms are caused by high estrogen. It’s important to treat high estrogen and any underlying cause. Treatment can help reduce your symptoms and your risk of complications.
