Hormone Imbalances

W R I T T E N B Y J E S S I E J O Y O U N G - P A - C

If you have ever gone to your doctor for a possible hormone imbalance one of few things are likely to occur. Nothing. Literally nothing may be done because maybe your symptoms do not raise enough concern for your practitioner. Maybe you get prescribed an antidepressant. In some special cases hormone replacement therapy may be offered to you through birth control pills, estrogen, progesterone, or even testosterone. Let us not forget our friend thyroid hormone too where in most cases your doctor will check a TSH and maybe a T4 level and go ahead and prescribe levothyroxine.

Our hormones are affected by so many different things including our stress levels, inflammation levels, gut health, nutritional status, and current medications to name just a few. It is KEY to address the root cause of your hormonal disruption in order to bring true hormonal balance. Cleaning up our nutrition is where I start first.

Addressing environmental toxins is next followed by advanced testing to fully assess your hormone status.

Do you feel you are a stress case? Is life without caffeine not worth living? You might have high and/or low levels of cortisol. If you are experiencing fatigue, wired but tired feelings, exhaustion that is made worse with activity, decreased sex drive, low blood pressure, dizziness when you stand up from sitting or lying, or a greater susceptibility to contagious illness you more than likely have a cortisol problem that has led or is leading to a Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis dysfunction. An HPA axis dysfunction can then lead to other hormonal imbalances including low progesterone, excess estrogen, low estrogen, excess testosterone, and low thyroid.

If low progesterone or progesterone resistance is your issue you may experience frequent or irregular menstrual cycles, headaches that are worse around your cycle, heavy and painful periods, fluid retention, ovarian cysts, infertility and miscarriage, restless leg and poor sleep.

Symptoms such as heavy bleeding, rapid weight gain, fibroids, endometriosis or painful periods, depression and irritability, anxiety attacks, weepiness, migraines, brain fog, or a diagnosis of rosacea or gallbladder disease can suggest excess estrogen.

Low estrogen symptoms include poor memory, emotional fragility, wrinkles, hot flashes or night sweats, leaky or overactive bladder, sun damage, dryness, and low libido.

Women with excess androgens or testosterone will typically struggle with excess hair on face, chest, or arms, acne, greasy skin, thinning hair, darkened  armpits, skin tags, aggressiveness or rage, cycles that occur greater than 30 days a part, ovarian cysts, and infertility.

Low thyroid symptoms can include hair loss, dryness, thin/brittle nails, constipation, cold intolerance, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, low sex drive, moodiness, other menstrual problems, infertility or miscarriage, and a family history of thyroid problems.

There are so many overlapping symptoms of hormonal imbalance. Hormones all work together and they all depend on each other. If there is one off there is a big likelihood another is off.

Some overlooked underlying causes to hormone dysfunction include gut health, systemic inflammation, chronic ongoing infection, mineral and nutritional deficiencies, stress, blood sugar imbalance, and liver/gallbladder dysfunction. If you’re experiencing several above mentioned symptoms I would encourage you to reach out so we can work on uncovering the root cause of your hormonal imbalance.