Just a day ago I did a post about estrogens being a cause of dementia, while anti-estrogens being therapeutic. Now, the study below found that estrogen causes anxiety – the most common mental health condition worldwide. Considering estrogen, in the form of ethinyl estradiol, is in virtually all birth control pills, devices, patches, etc prescribed worldwide one would be forgiven for thinking that the most widespread mental health issue (anxiety) is nothing but a symptom of the mass-usage of estrogen, willingly and willingly. Why unwillingly? Well, even people who do not use hormonal birth control are exposed to a myriad of endocrine disruptors that are used in everything from food packaging, to store receipts, to household item production, to cosmetics, to drugs, etc. The vast majority of these endocrine disruptors are potent (xeno)estrogens, and many of them are much more potent than the endogenous estrogen estradiol. The good news is that simply increasing the metabolic rate seems to be sufficient to be able to get rid of those endocrine disruptors, though cessation of estrogen usage (as in birth control) is also something everybody knowingly using estrogen should probably seriously consider. The study opined that the reason for the anxiety was the decline in testosterone levels that estrogen administration caused. However, I suspect that the decline of progesterone levels (which estrogen also caused) is the more likely explanation since progesterone is the primary steroidal GABA agonist and reducing the levels if pro-GABA substances in the body is known to reliably cause anxiety. Testosterone is a weak-to-ineffective GABA agonist compared to progesterone.
“…A study shows that synthetic estrogen, the primary ingredient in oral contraceptives, can increase anxiety. The results of a murine study on the relationship between ethinylestradiol, a synthetic estrogen, and anxiety behavior were presented at the annual endocrinology conference ENDO 2024. ”
“…The study revealed that mice given ethinylestradiol struggled with the spatial memory task during the maze test, unlike other mice. This indicates a heightened level of anxiety in the mice. Furthermore, serum sample analysis showed a decrease in the levels of male hormone testosterone and progesterone. The researchers explained that a decrease in testosterone, which typically reduces anxiety behavior and improves spatial memory, may have been due to ethinylestradiol, leading to increased anxiety behavior. Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that synthetic estrogen ingredients can increase anxiety behavior in mice.”
