Low Estrogen = Bad Digestion?

Pharma / TRT
1

Hey all,

Here’s the deal: I am not on AAS or anything, but a recent blood test showed TT of 750 ng/dL and E2 of 7 pg/mL. I saw an endo primarily because I have been having shitty sleep and almost nothing for libido. He says that my low E2 is almost certainly the cause of it.

One other thing that’s been going on along with the bad sleep and no libido is terrible digestion. I get bloated and full really easily. A GI doctor has said I have IBS, but I am not really constipated and I don’t have diarrhea. I just get bloated after meals really easily. (I won’t get into it here, but BELIEVE ME I have tried tons of dietary modifications, stomach acid, enzymes, you name it.)

From a little Internet research, I see that low estrogen often causes digestive problems in women, especially menopausal women. Since I know that most AAS users have, at one time, probably driven their E2 too low with AIs, I was wondering if any of you experienced bad digestion during those times. A long shot, I know, but it would really help me focus on whether my low E2 may be a factor in my digestive issues.

Thanks, fellas.

2

menopausal women have low e2
menopause is when their body starts to shut down the natural production of hormones,same with andropause
same thing different hormones and different sexes.
so that goes hand in hand.

Im not real sure about the digestion problems but I do know dropping estrogen levels too low can cause problems just as if you had too high.

your sleep problems,libido a general crappy feeling that can all be connected with having low levels

how are your joints?
knees and hips in particular.
thats one way I know when my estrogen is getting too low my joints start to hurt before I get the other more serious issues.

push the endo to find out whats causing this,hopefully its nothing serious.
sometimes they wont do anything about low estrogen levels in men,push them though because aqs you know it can and will affect the way you feel if you are not somewhat balanced out.

3

tried to edit this but I cant see my post
looks like the forums are acting stupid again
SOMEBODY NEEDS THEIR ASSES FIRED…if you ask me

anyways, bloating and such can be an estrogen related side effect.
typically its when you have too much estrogen your body likes to retain water.

in all honesty your symptoms just kind of make sense and they all can be connected I would think.

4

[quote]MaddyD wrote:
tried to edit this but I cant see my post
looks like the forums are acting stupid again
SOMEBODY NEEDS THEIR ASSES FIRED…if you ask me

anyways, bloating and such can be an estrogen related side effect.
typically its when you have too much estrogen your body likes to retain water.

in all honesty your symptoms just kind of make sense and they all can be connected I would think.
[/quote]

Thanks for the response, MaddyD. Funny you mention joints because they have been hurting a lot over the past year. My knees in particular are always sore and I’m not pounding pavement or anything like that. Just stiff and inflammed for no reason. Hips too, but not as much as my knees. The joints just feel dry, if that makes sense.

The stuff I’ve been finding on the net suggests that estrogen primes the pancreas to release digestive enzymes and improves intestinal motility. So if intestinal transit time is slower and you’re not producing as many enzymes, it stands to reason that you’d get some bloating and such. I mentioned this to my gastroenterologist and he (typically) had no idea.

Fortunately, my endo is very concerned about it. He wants to do follow-up labs and if my E2 is still really low (it was less than 13 pg/mL a year ago as well) he thinks I may need some HCG. His hope is that it will raise estrogen a little because HCG stimulates aromatase production, not to mention that their would be additional T floating around to aromatize.

He doesn’t know what the cause is. He says that being lean is one factor since fat tissue makes aromatase enzyme and I am fairly lean naturally (probably 9%). But he says some men just don’t produce as much aromatase. I am of Iranian descent and am one hairy bastard. I can grow a full beard in like a week, it’s nuts. I know that DHT directly anatagonizes estrogen in males, so I wonder if having super high DHT levels (of which I have all the symptoms: hair loss, tons of body hair, deep voice, full beard) could be the cause?

Regardless, the more I think about it, it makes some sense that low libido, poor sleep, painful joints, and bad digestion could all have a common cause in low estrogen.

Thanks again for the feedback.

5

I’m finding this interesting as hell. Keep us posted!

6

[quote]OTS1 wrote:
I’m finding this interesting as hell. Keep us posted![/quote]

Yeah, will do. I have a follow-up with my endo in a couple weeks. I am getting repeat bloodwork this week, and if E2 is still low, I think it will be time for HCG. In fact, since I was taking meds that blocked the enzyme that clears estrogen in the liver during my last blood tests, I have a feeling I might even have less E2 this time.