My rule: Estrogen causes growth.
- Estrogen comes from 3 main areas: ovaries, adrenal cortex, and placenta.
- You should associate FSH with estrogen and LH with progesterone. So a really high FSH usually means that estrogen is low and the FSH is trying to "wake up" the ovaries to release more estrogen. A high FSH is an indicator of menopause when the ovaries have dropped thier production of estrogen.
- Estrogen stimulates the growth of breasts, This means too much estrogen in women is associated with breast cancer. In men with cirrhosis, the liver cannot break down the estrogen so this leads to gynecomastia in men.
- Estrogen stimulates the growth of the endometrium. This means that too much estrogen can lead to endometrial carcinoma.
- Increases albumin production in liver: during pregnancy, this increased albumin binds more thyroid hormone, increasing the total T4. However, the free thyroid hormone remains the same.
- Estrogens also increase coagulation factors in the liver, this can lead to increased clotting.
- Estrogen is why women are shorter than men. It causes closure of the growth plates. This is the reason why you should correct early pueberty in girls, to prevent them from being too short.