7 Warning Signs of High Estrogen in Women (Not to Miss)

If you've been dealing with heavy periods, PMS, or breast tenderness that makes you want to avoid hugs for a week straight, you might be dealing with high estrogen.

I want to start with this though: estrogen isn't the enemy. We actually need it for ovulation, bone health, insulin sensitivity, and hair growth. 

But when estrogen gets too high, or when we're not detoxing it properly, or when it's too high compared to our other hormones, this is when high estrogen symptoms show up. So, let's talk about the 7 warning signs of high estrogen in women to help you figure out what's actually going on in your body.

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Understanding Estrogen and Why Balance Matters

Before we get into the signs of too much estrogen women experience, let's talk about what we mean when we say "high estrogen."

Estrogen has an important job. It thickens your uterine lining to prepare for potential pregnancy. It supports your bones, helps with insulin sensitivity, and contributes to healthy hair growth. We love estrogen when it's doing its thing in balance with our other hormones.

But estrogen doesn't work alone. It needs to be in balance with progesterone, testosterone, and other hormones. When estrogen climbs too high, doesn't get detoxed properly through your liver and gut, or becomes too dominant compared to your other hormones, that's when symptoms start showing up.

7 Signs of High Estrogen in Women

Heavy Periods or Clotting

This is one of the most common signs of high estrogen in women. Ideally, you shouldn't be bleeding more than 80 milliliters during your period. To put that in perspective, a regular tampon or pad holds about 5 milliliters, and an overnight one holds about 10 milliliters.

Estrogen's job is to thicken the uterine lining. But when you have excess estrogen or don't have enough progesterone to keep it in check, you get excess buildup. That shows up as heavy bleeding and clotting during your period.

Short Cycles or Frequent Bleeding

If your cycles are consistently under 24 days, this can definitely be a sign that you have high estrogen and aren't detoxing it well.

Here's why: when you ovulate, your body starts producing progesterone. That's progesterone's whole job, to show up in the second half of your cycle after ovulation happens. But if you're bleeding every 23 days or less, it's telling us that there's probably not much progesterone happening. You have basically unopposed estrogen running the show.

Breast Tenderness, Swelling, or Fibrocystic Breasts

This is a really common one that clues a lot of women in. Breast tissue is very estrogen-responsive. So if you get soreness before your period, feel lumpy or ropey breast tissue, or notice your breast size fluctuating throughout your cycle, you might be dealing with too high estrogen or poor estrogen detoxification.

Intense PMS

We're talking about the kind of PMS that makes you feel really, really emotional. The irritability, anxiety, feeling on edge, the weepiness, or the rage before your period.

During the second half of your cycle, progesterone is supposed to be the dominant hormone. Progesterone stimulates GABA, which is very calming in your brain. But if estrogen is too high and progesterone is too low, estrogen increases histamine activity while progesterone normally suppresses it.

That histamine connection can drive the insomnia, anxiety, and nausea you might notice, especially around ovulation when estrogen peaks. So yes, it's driven by histamines, but the histamines are being driven by the estrogen.

Migraines or Headaches Around Your Cycle

If you get pre-period migraines or headaches around ovulation, estrogen fluctuations could be the culprit. Estrogen impacts neural inflammation and blood vessel dilation, which can trigger those terrible headaches that derail your whole day.

Water Retention and Bloating Before Your Period

Again, this goes hand in hand with low progesterone because hormones don't work alone. But if you get a lot of abdominal bloating and weight fluctuations pre-period, estrogen can impact fluid retention and inflammatory swelling.

Your Symptoms Get Worse with Stress, Lack of Sleep, or Alcohol

This one's more subtle but it's a really important clue. If your symptoms get noticeably worse when you're stressed out, sleep-deprived, or after drinking alcohol, this could be a sign of higher estrogen.

The reason is that estrogen needs to be cleared through your liver. Stress, alcohol, and sleep deprivation all impact your liver health. When clearance slows down and estrogen isn't getting out the way it should, and you already have high estrogen to start with, your symptoms get worse.

Notice how almost every symptom involves progesterone…

That’s because hormones don't work by themselves. They're all connected. High estrogen issues almost always involve the liver, since that's what detoxes excess hormones. They also involve progesterone, because these two hormones need to balance each other out.

There are also some conditions that are very estrogen-driven, like endometriosis, adenomyosis, certain ovarian cysts, and fibroids. These also have a strong mineral component, particularly with copper, but they're definitely driven by estrogen as well.

Where to Start if You're Seeing Signs of High Estrogen

If you're nodding along to several of these signs of too much estrogen, start by supporting your liver. Here’s how:

Blood sugar balance. When your blood sugar is all over the place, your liver has to work harder. Eating protein with every meal and avoiding long stretches without food helps tremendously.

Remove endocrine disruptors. These are chemicals in plastics, conventional beauty products, and household cleaners that mimic estrogen in your body. Swap them out where you can.

Bring in liver-supporting foods and supplements. Things like milk thistle, dandelion, and bitter herbs like arugula help stimulate and support the liver. Vitamin C also supports liver function, which is where the whole lemon water trend came from.

Support your relaxation minerals. Magnesium and potassium-rich foods help calm your nervous system, which supports both liver function and progesterone production. Think dark leafy greens, avocados, sweet potatoes, and bananas.

Common Questions About High Estrogen

How do I know if I actually have high estrogen or if it's just low progesterone?

Great question. Unfortunately, you need to test to know which camp you're in because a lot of the symptoms of low progesterone also go hand in hand with high estrogen. They don't run by themselves.

The good news is that a lot of the things you're going to be doing for high estrogen will also positively impact progesterone. I'm not talking about supplementing to lower estrogen specifically, but things like supporting your blood sugar, getting enough magnesium and potassium-rich foods, and supporting your liver. Those are going to impact your estrogen and progesterone positively.

Can my estrogen be high even if my labs are normal?

Yes, absolutely. Remember, estrogen doesn't work by itself. Even if your labs are in the "normal" range, is your estrogen too high in relation to your other hormones?

If you go get labs done and your doctor says your estrogen is normal, but you have all of these symptoms, don't just look at estrogen by itself. Look at the other labs too.

The other thing to consider is that minerals play a really big role here. We'll see a lot of women with normal estrogen levels who have all the symptoms of high estrogen because they actually have copper toxicity on board. Copper essentially makes estrogen stronger.

We need strong adrenals to transport copper because adrenals produce something called ceruloplasmin, which is what transports copper. A lot of us are living in this constant stress state, so it kind of makes sense how easily copper toxicity can come on board. That can definitely be something to look into if labs don’t indicate high estrogen, but you have a lot of these symptoms.

What's the difference between estrogen dominance and high estrogen?

I get this question a lot. High estrogen means your levels are literally high. Estrogen dominance means that your estrogen is overlapping all the other hormones. It's outranking them when it shouldn't be. They need to be in balance with each other.

So if estrogen is too high in relation to your testosterone or in relation to your progesterone, that's the category where you would hear, "I have estrogen dominance." Yes, they can totally overlap, but they're not necessarily the same thing.

You Don't Have to Live Like This

If you're dealing with high estrogen symptoms and you want to dive deeper into what's actually going on in your body, you don't have to keep guessing or managing symptoms month after month.

Start by supporting your liver today. Maybe it's balancing your blood sugar with protein at every meal, swapping out one endocrine disruptor in your home, or adding in some magnesium-rich foods to calm your nervous system.

As a Functional Diagnostic Nutritional® Practitioner, I've seen hundreds of women spend months trying different supplements or quick fixes for high estrogen symptoms, but never getting to the root of why their estrogen is high or not detoxing properly in the first place. That's why inside the Hormone Reset Program®, I start with comprehensive hormone testing to see exactly what's happening with your estrogen, progesterone, and minerals like copper.

Once we know your specific numbers, we create a personalized protocol to address your unique imbalances. No more guessing if your estrogen is actually high or if it's estrogen dominance from low progesterone. No more wondering if copper toxicity is making your estrogen stronger. We'll know for sure and make a plan to fix it.

High estrogen symptoms are absolutely fixable when you know what's causing them. The women I work with are amazed when their heavy periods lighten up, their PMS completely disappears, and their breast tenderness goes away once we balance their hormones properly!

Let's figure out exactly what your body needs to feel better.

Stop living with heavy periods, intense PMS, and planning your month around when the symptoms will take over your life. Get the testing and personalized protocol you need inside the Hormone Reset Program® to finally balance your hormones and feel like yourself again!