You're Not Losing Your MIND,
You're Losing Your HORMONES!

My name is Sindi Holmlund and I've been in the alternative health field for 27 years. I'm an herbalist, researcher, writer and a pre-menopausal woman. At thirty years of age I began to have problems with my body. I was experiencing long, heavy periods with spotting all month, rapid weight gain, acne, mood swings, ovarian cysts, extremely tender breasts most of the month, chronic vaginal infections, fatigue, low blood sugar, sugar cravings (especially chocolate) and inability to conceive.

These symptoms continued for about seven years and then seemed to subside for two years. The following three years were a nightmare for both my husband and myself. I either cried or screamed at the drop of a hat, everything my husband did was wrong and I continually threatened to divorce him, my periods became light and I started skipping months, my skin aged practically over night, my eyes started going bad, I grew a fatty tumor on my shoulder the size of my palm, my hair started falling out, I gained 35 pounds, the muscle tissue on my body disintegrated, I couldn't sleep, my memory started taking vacations, I couldn't concentrate, the sugar cravings came back with a vengeance, the hot flushes and night sweats began, and my breasts became so sore that when I got out of bed in the morning the weight of them was so painful it sometimes brought tears to my eyes.

Because the first set of symptoms was different from the second and there were two years between them, I had no idea they were related. I also had zero information about what was causing them. I was, although, familiar with something called a hot flush and after about two months of having them I finally realized what was going on. I began to suspect that I was going through "the change of life" as my mother's generation called it.

I'm knowledgeable about many things but this was a subject I was completely ignorant on, so I hit the books and started studying. And what I found out was that pre-menopause and menopause are subjects that NO woman can afford to be ignorant about. Ignorance on either of them can cost a woman her life!

In studying these subjects, I found out a lot of data that I wished I had known when I was thirty. If someone had told me what I'm going to tell you, I would not have suffered the way I did for so long. So in the hopes that I can spare other women what I went through, I'm writing this booklet. I want to share what I now know with as many women as I can so they can recognize when pre-menopause starts and know what to do about it.

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For Girls Only!

Even though I'm in the health business and I take many preventative measures, up until recently I was not confidant that I was safe from cancer or a heart attack. The reason for this is that over the years I have seen other women who were as health conscious as I am die from either of these two causes, and their deaths were very unsettling to me. Just as I know there's a cause for everything, I knew I would find the cause of these two things sooner or later.

One day I came across a video by a man named Dr. John Lee. Dr. Lee was giving a group of women some very important information. He was explaining the last 20 years of research on estrogens and progesterone and their relationship to cancer and heart attacks.That tape had the answers I was looking for.

Most women who take prescription hormone replacement (Premarin, Provera, etc.) are aware that there are risks involved but don't actually know exactly what can happen. Dr. Lee went over that in great detail. He explained exactly how women develop breast, ovarian, uterine, cervical and vulval cancer; and fibrous cysts and tumors in the breasts, uterus and ovaries. He also showed why there has been such a rise in the female heart attack rate and explains the cause of osteoporosis (Def: osteoporosis - porous bones.) and it's NOT a calcium deficiency.

He explained about the declining hormone levels that occur during pre- menopause and menopause and the symptoms that accompany them. Things such as: hot flushes; night sweats; restless sleep; headaches; anxiety; heart palpitations; depression; mood swings; irritability; foggy thinking; lack of concentration; low or no energy; low thyroid; irregular, heavy or scant periods; clotting; break-through bleeding; lowered sex drive; weight gain; dizziness; water retention; vaginal cysts; vaginal irritation and dryness; endometriosis; Fibrocystic breasts; tender breasts; breast lumps; cold hands and feet; bone loss; thinning skin; dry and aging skin and more; and what action to take to alleviate them.

The tape was very informative but I wanted to know more so I purchased both of his books and read them. Now I feel I have the data I need to live a life free from female reproductive organ cancer and heart attack(s).

In this article I'm going to give you enough data from Dr. Lee's books so you'll be able to start on safe, natural progesterone and estrogens while you read his books at your leisure. I recommend that you read both books: "What Your Dr. May Not Tell You About Pre-Menopause" and "What Your Dr. May Not Tell You About Menopause". They both have life saving information in them.

Okay, Here We Go

First let me define two key terms that I'm going to use throughout this article..."Pre-Menopause" and "Menopause". Menopause (Def: menopause - meno = menses [menstruation] + pause = to stop or cease) is that time in a woman's life when she has not had a menstrual cycle for 12 months. At that time, if she has no more periods, she is considered menopausal. Pre-menopause ("pre" meaning before) is the 10 - 15 (and in some cases 20) years leading up to menopause. During those 10 - 20 years, reproductive hormone levels are declining and it's that decline that causes the adverse effects of pre-menopause and menopause.

The majority of the women over 30 that I talk to tell me of a variety of symptoms (Def: symptom - something which shows that something else exists; indication; sign. Any condition accompanying a disease and helping in its diagnosis.) they're experiencing. Almost one-for-one they're describing one or more of the symptoms associated with pre-menopause and menopause. About 85% of these women have no idea what is causing their problems and most of them don't realize that they're having hot flushes or that their heart palpitations are due to hormonal changes. Hot flushes are the most familiar symptom (but the least understood) so let me explain what they are and why women have them.

In the Beginning...

Every woman is born with about 400,000 egg follicles in her ovaries. These follicles, or sacs, contain microscopic, immature eggs. (Def: follicle - any small sac or cavity.) (Def: ovaries - either of a pair of female glands producing eggs and sex hormones.)

Day one of the menstrual cycle is the day a woman starts her period. The menstrual cycle is supposed to be 28 days long but due to hormonal changes it will lengthen. But I am talking about a 28 day cycle at this time. On day ONE of a woman's cycle, the pituitary gland in her head begins to send increasing amounts of a hormone called "follicle stimulating hormone" (FSH for short) down to her ovaries.

Pituitary gland sending FSH to ovaries

Pituitary gland also known as The Master Gland This gland tells the ovaries what to do each month

This hormone (FSH) stimulates the ovaries to start maturing a few hundred of their egg follicles. For the first two weeks, as the eggs mature, they release increasing amounts of estrogens and minute amounts of progesterone. (Def: estrogen - estro = estrus = frenzy + gen = something produced. The period of sexual excitement, or "heat", of female mammals. Estrogen is something that produces a sexual frenzy in mammals compelling them to have sexual intercourse to fertilize an egg and achieve pregnancy.) (Def: progesterone - pro = for + gesterone = gestation, pregnancy.)

There are three main estrogens, Estradiol, Estrone and Estriol. The estrogens are responsible for building-up the bloody lining of the uterus, retaining water, swelling the breasts and, in general, getting a woman's body ready to receive and implant a fertilized egg within the uterus.

As the pituitary secretes increasing amounts of FSH, it causes the ovaries to release increasing amounts of estrogens and progesterone. Those hormones are sent to the pituitary as a progress report. This is how the pituitary keeps track of how the cycle is progressing. The correct amounts of hormones tells the pituitary that egg production is on schedule for the next phase of the cycle.

About day 12, estrogen levels peak and the pituitary stops sending FSH to the ovaries. A few hours later the pituitary sends down a surge of a second hormone which triggers the release of ONE of the ripened eggs. That release takes about two days to occur and is called OVULATION. (Def: ovulation - to produce and discharge an egg from the ovaries.)

After ovulation, the sac that the egg was released from turns yellow and begins to release increasing amounts of progesterone for the third week of the cycle.

The rest of the maturing eggs die off and start to shrink. As they shrink, they release less and less estrogens, and levels start to decrease. If the egg is not fertilized when it reaches the womb, on the 27th day both estrogen and progesterone plummet and the bloody lining is shed in a process known as menstruation. (Def: menstruation - to have a normal flow of blood from the uterus, about every four weeks.)

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Later in Life...

This cycle goes on month after month, year after year and causes the supply of immature eggs in the ovaries to dwindle. That leads to less and less eggs maturing each month which, in turn, means less and less estrogens being released into the blood stream. At some point there will not be enough eggs to release enough estrogen to cause the levels to reach their day 12 peak which signals the pituitary gland to release one egg. At that point, ovulation will not occur and there will be NO progesterone production the second two weeks.

Even though you haven't enough estrogen to cause ovulation, there is still considerably more estrogen than progesterone being produced causing a condition called "estrogen dominance" or "unopposed estrogen". That means that estrogens are the dominant hormones and there is no progesterone to oppose them. It's the absence of progesterone which causes the dominance of estrogens which causes the unpleasant side effects of pre-menopause and menopause.

Now That's a Hot Flush!

Throughout the month, the pituitary gland is closely monitoring estrogen and progesterone levels. If, on any day of the first half of the month, the ovaries are not releasing the correct amount of hormones, the pituitary opens the blood vessels and sends additional FSH down in an attempt to raise production levels. The problem is that the reason the pituitary has to do this in the first place is because there aren't enough egg follicles to release the right amount of hormones. Therefore the pituitary will have to keep repeating the command which means it will keep opening the blood vessels and surging hormones down to the ovaries.

For many years these hormonal exchanges happened without the woman being aware of them. But the pituitary is sort of like a taskmaster whose job it is to make sure that his workers are at maximum output. As the hormone-producing workers begin to slow down, the taskmaster starts to crack his whip. This does no good because there just aren't enough workers to make enough hormones. Production levels keep falling and the pituitary cracks the whip harder and harder and eventually the woman will be able to physically feel this hormonal exchange.

Let me explain... As the blood vessels open, blood is driven closer to the surface of the skin causing the characteristic "flushing" known as a HOT FLUSH. If you were to look in a mirror during a hot flush you could actually see the blood vessels standing out in the upper body and watch your face and chest turn red. This process causes more than just that warm or hot feeling. As the blood vessels open, the central nervous system has to speed-up and this can cause slight nervousness to an outright anxiety attack. Breathing also quickens and the woman may just feel the need to take a deep breath, but some women have reported feeling as though they couldn't catch their breath.

At the same, time the heart sharply contracts to speed-up the flow of blood to fill the widened blood vessels. This causes anything from slight heart palpitations to sharp pains in the chest. If a woman is not familiar with this process, she may think she's having a heart attack or become concerned that she may have a heart condition.

As the heart rushes additional blood to the brain, the head can start to pound and the woman can become light headed, dizzy or in extreme cases, she can black out. A hot flush raises the body's temperature and makes the woman feel too hot. Sweating is the body's way of cooling itself down, so after a hot flush many women begin to sweat...some just a little and some to the point where they need to change their clothing.

Hot flushes that occur while a woman is sleeping are called night sweats. (I've never understood why they need a different name.) Night sweats can be so severe that some women have told me they have awakened unable to breath and thought they were having a heart attack. Night sweats can cause a woman to wake up and throw off her covers because she is too warm. She may fall back asleep only to be awakened again shortly because her body is now too cold and she must now wake up and replace her covers.

Night sweats can occur several times throughout the night, night after night, and cause the woman to become deprived of restful sleep; and that can lead to headaches, irritability, mood swings and tiredness.

The lack of sleep is not the only reason for changes in temperament. The sharp decline in hormone levels can cause severe mood swings, so much so that the woman may become violent. This can take a toll not only on the woman herself but her family, friends and associates. One day she's fine, the next day if anyone even talks to her she flies into a rage and the next day she just wants to cry. Hormonal changes can leave a woman feeling like Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde. Many women have told me that they "don't feel like themselves," or that they "don't understand why they have changed so much," or that they "just aren't the same person they used to be."

Low magnesium (women who are low on magnesium will crave chocolate), B complex and other vitamins and minerals may also contribute to the rage that can accompany this time of a woman's life. Many a marriage has fallen prey to pre-menopause. But it's not always just the woman who is going through hormonal changes; men go through a decline in testosterone and experience many of the same symptoms as women do. This can cause both partners to experience personality changes.

Depression is another side effect of estrogen dominance (in women and men), and women report anything from just crying too easily over a movie to depression so bad they cannot function and won't even get out of bed.

Unfortunately many women experiencing pre-menopausal emotional changes go to a psychiatrist (thinking it's mental) before a gynecologist (and find out it's physical) and end-up on anti-depressants which DO NOT remedy the hormonal imbalance they're really suffering from. Anti-depressants actually make matters WORSE because their purpose is to prevent the brain cells from obtaining the hormone they need to work properly. Ant-depressants will only create an additional hormonal imbalance, but this time it's in the brain and that's VERY DANGEROUS!

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The Main Symptoms of Estrogen Dominance Are:

So What's a Girl to Do?

Before I tell you what you can do, let me tell you what NOT to do. DO NOT go to a gynecologist or medical doctor and get a prescription for hormone replacement. Prescription hormones contain over 58% of something called "equilins". These are estrogens obtained by dehydrating the urine of pregnant horses. The most commonly prescribed estrogen (made of equilins) product in America is called "Premarine" and its name was put together from these words: "pre" - pregnant + "mar" - mare + "in" - urine. I have been told that if you put Premarin in water it smells like urine.

Equilins are dangerous for the following reasons: 1. Their chemical structure is compatible with a female horse - NOT a female human - and so they will bind with other cells in the body and cause unwanted chemical reactions; 2. Equilins are powerful blood vessel constrictors and if a woman has even a 30% blockage in her coronary artery she can have a fatal heart attack; and 3. The amount of estrogens in the product is ten times greater than the amount of estrogens that the female body naturally produces. This is the biggest danger because 99% of the women that are prescribed these horse estrogens are already suffering from estrogen dominance, so the last thing they need is MORE ESTROGEN! And since unopposed estrogens promote uncontrolled cell growth (cancer), the chances of it developing are very high with the use of equilins.

In 1992 Premarin sales were up to 700 MILLION dollars per year and had risen 12% during 1993, and that figure is considerably higher today. It's no wonder that the incident of female cancers and heart attacks is rising at an alarming rate. If you're wondering why your doctor hasn't warned you about the dangers of conventional hormone replacement, it's because the pharmaceutical companies that make Premarin, Provera, Tamoxifen and the other hormone replacement and birth control pills have played down the harmful side effects in their advertisements to doctors as well as the public.

These products are basically ingrained in the medical profession, and the only way to get rid of them is to educate women to "JUST SAY NO" to their doctor if they try to prescribe these hormones. But saying NO doesn't mean that you have to put up with the side effects of estrogen dominance. There IS a SAFE and effective solution to the problem which I'll tell you about soon, but first a little more about conventional hormones...

Remember I said that one of the jobs of the estrogens is to build-up the bloody lining in the uterus? In other words, estrogens cause the proliferation (Def: proliferate - to reproduce or grow rapidly.) of tissue. Estrogens cause tissue cells to multiply, and the more estrogens you have the FASTER they multiply. If you have too much estrogens or estrogen without progesterone, the tissue multiples too fast and that's what causes fibroid tumors of the breasts, uterus and ovaries; and cervical, vulval, breast, uterine and ovarian cancer plus several other diseases (see Dr. Lee's books) to develop.

Medical studies have found that unopposed (by progesterone) estrogens cause the cells of the female reproductive organs to reproduce at an accelerated rate which is a process we have come to call CANCER. Progesterone's job is to STOP that tissue growth. Which is why should you NEVER USE ESTROGENS WITHOUT PROGESTERONE! The studies also found that when the estrogens were balanced with progesterone, cancer of the breast, ovaries, uterus, cervix, vagina and vulva were prevented, stopped and in some cases reversed......

For the REST of the story,
order the entire booklet in pdf format.

Click here and It will be instantly e-mailed to you

To order the entire booklet,
click here and It will be instantly e-mailed to you