Let’s face it, being mum is a crazy journey! It’s exhilarating and exhausting all at once, we have days where we feel like superwoman and we have days where we feel like Superman when he’s on kryptonite. What we don’t need as women is an unhealthy hormone balance to screw with our mood, emotions and our weight, which screws with our self-esteem, our digestion, our sleep and other key areas of our life as well!

Essential oils can be be very powerful in rebalancing our hormones. Unlike drugs you may be prescribed by a doctor, the oils do not contain hormones, but have properties that stimulate hormone production and balance. First of all, how do we recognize our hormones are out of sync?

There are a variety of symptoms that we can look out for:

• irritability, anxiousness
• PMS
• menopausal symptoms that interfere with day to day life
• heavy periods, irregular cycles
• inability to lose weight
• breast tenderness
• hair loss
• fatigue, insomnia
• hypothyroidism
• lack of sex drive
• dryness “down below”
• Sore joints and tendonitis
• increase in belly fat.

This is just a few indications that your hormones could be out of balance.  And it can be different hormones “out of whack.”

The following oils can balance estrogen levels:

• Clary Sage and fennel (both phytoestrogenic oils)
• Lavender (naturally lowers cortisol levels)
• Frankincense (balances hormone levels, which reduces symptoms associated with menstruation and menopause)
• Basil (great for period pain and increases the body’s natural response to both physical and emotional stress, while conditioning you to cope better)
• Geranium (an adaptogen oil ).

I use Geranium every day for its overall balancing effect on female hormones.  As I am breastfeeding I have suspected low estrogen, but I also suffer from adrenal fatigue, so this is a great oil for me. I rub it over my kidneys mixed in fractionated coconut oil and frankincense daily. Of course, stress can also cause low estrogen in all its different guises (dietary, emotional, too much work and not enough sleep, environmental toxins, or pain and inflammation) and it definitely causes adrenal fatigue over an extended period of time. So it’s really important to work on this also to avoid a state of chronic stress that causes your cortisol levels to rise, which in turn causes drops in estrogen and progesterone that can cause menstrual irregularities, weight gain, estrogen dominance, and infertility.

Out of all the essential oils listed above Clary sage is the most commonly related to hormone balance and has been used since Medieval times for balancing hormones and relieving pain.  You can dilute a few drops in fractionated coconut oil and rub into your ankles daily. Or, if menstrual cramps are painful, rub the mixture directly onto your stomach and ovary area for pain relief. Add geranium to the blend to enhance pain relief.

You can also add a few drops of clary sage and geranium to a warm bath and enjoy a soak.  Or buy my Balancing Bath Melts that use this blend.

There is a great article on the doTERRA blog about hormonal balance, which also talks about the importance of diet in hormonal balance and introduces some of the doTERRA products available for hormone health. For example, the doTERRA^® Phytoestrogen Lifetime Complex contains plant-based phytoestrogens, flax seed extract, and pomegranate extract. The ClaryCalm^® Monthly Blend is a specially formulated blend of 12 essential oils that can be applied to the skin for a soothing effect.

There are other things you can do to support your hormonal balance.  Dietary stress (eating the wrong foods for your body, or too many processed foods), emotional stress, too much work and not enough sleep and environmental toxins have a hugely negative effect on your hormone balance.  I refer a lot in this blog to reducing your toxic load by following a more natural way of life.  I have decided to elaborate on this and other ways to get and stay healthy in a free 30-page e-book available when you subscribe to my newsletter.  Look out for the launch of this on my Facebook page in the next few weeks!

The final thing I recommend to keep hormonal imbalances from wreaking havoc is a Liver Detox with Lemon Essential Oil.  The liver regulates the sex hormones, primarily estrogen.

A Dutch study has found that the compounds in lemon peels, a large component of doTERRA’s lemon essential oil, improve liver functions like hormone regulation by lowering liver cholesterol.  You can add 1-5 drops of lemon essential oil to a glass of 250ml water each morning and drink before you eat or drink anything else. I do this for blocks of 6-12 weeks when I feel my body needs it.

You can also buy my beautifully delicate blend of Evening Primrose Oil and doTERRA Balance, Frankincense, Geranium, Clary Sage and Lavender in a rollerball for $10.

I add Balance to the oils I recommend above because it contains Blue Chamomile, Ho Wood and Frankincense to support with stress, quiet the mind and uplift mood, but also Spruce that has a hormone mimicking action that helps reestablish balance, especially in the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal and reproductive glands. You can apply to the t-zone on your face and rub in like a moisturiser nightly, apply directly to hormonal breakouts or use on the soles of your feet/ankles daily to support hormonal balance. Contact me to order yours now.

Oils can also be ordered in these handy packs of 4 mini bottles in a beautiful purple or black carry case that you can take out and about with you for use when you need to.  $60 with your choice of 4 oils.

Please note, what works for one person may not work for another and my experience/products should not replace advice from a doctor.

Much love x x