Let's face it.  The ignorance of youth doesn't last forever.  Sooner or later you have to grow up, put away your Legos, and face the real world.  The world of bills and bosses, traffic and and the failing economy.  Long lost is that joyful bliss of everything just happening around you; you're a grownup now living a grownup life.

Well guess what. Grownup life can suck, and your body thinks so too.

So much, in fact, that your overworked, overstressed, under-slept, and undernourished grownup life is sucking the life out of you.  Literally.

Our busy lifestyles wreak havoc on nearly every once body's systems causing you to feel tired, depressed, sluggish, and OLD.  I believe that the damage being done inside the body is a primary cause for what's happening to the outside of the body.

 

Which brings us to our topic for the day: hormone balance.

 

Maintaining hormonal homeostasis is crucial for weight management and overall adrenal health and function.  Unfortunately, factors such as menopause, poor diet, birth control, hysterectomy, and excess bodyfat can all contribute to estrogen dominance, the most common hormonal imbalance.

 

Estrogen dominance.

Estrogen dominance refers to an imbalance between estrogen and progesterone, the hormone responsible for keeping estrogen levels in check.  Women who are overweight or obese, beginning to go through menopause, or have had a hysterectomy, have progesterone levels that begin to decrease rapidly, and the body is no longer able to regulate estrogen.  This condition is further exaggerated by aging, stress, and hormonal contraceptives, which disrupt regular ovulation cycles and the resulting production of progesterone–your body doesn't produce progesterone when it is not ovulating.  Therefore, the body enters a state where the levels of estrogen are left excessively high which can affect women of all ages.

 

Symptoms of estrogen dominance include: weight gain in the waist/hips/buttocks, fluid retention, migraines, heavy bleeding, painful periods, fibrocystic/tender breasts, mood swings, irritability, anxiety, nervousness, depression and low thyroid symptoms.

This also leads to a synergistic effect, decreasing thyroid function and, ultimately, lowering metabolism.  These symptoms include: weight gain and/or difficulty losing weight, fibromyalgia, puffy eyes, constipation, low stamina and fatigue, cold hands and feet (or feeling cold all the time), low libido, thinning, dry hair and skin, brittle nails and depression.  

To top it off, many products that we come into contact with each day can also contribute to estrogen dominance.  Synthetic estrogens called xenoestrogens are present in everything from suntan lotion to some food preservatives, all of which can be absorbed or ingested by the body and contribute to further imbalance.

 

Men, thank you for hanging in there past all the ovulation talk because this affects you too!

Andropause, the male counterpart to menopause means that men need be just as concerned about their hormone balance.  As recent as 100 years ago, andropause didn't begin until a man's 50s.  Now, due largely in part to the industrialization of our society, the presence of new chemicals and compounds have made the symptoms of andropause caused by the sharp decrease in testosterone production (fatigue, muscle weakness, decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, mood swings) a concern for an ever-younger group of men.  The xenoestrogens mentioned earlier exaggerate this imbalance and open men up to much of the plethora of hormonal irregularities experienced by women.

 

But wait, there's more.

 

It's true.  I'm not quite done.  Kind of a lot of bad news so far, huh? Tell me about it.  There is hope, so keep reading. 

So, the next thing we need to look at is Cortisol.  

Now, cortisol has been in the press in recent history, although it's prevalence has seemed to die off a little but.  Products such as A CortiSlim  were largely responsible for this cortisol awareness.  Since the problem is far from solved, it must still be addressed.  

Cortisol, much like adrenaline, is a fight or flight chemical.  The body secretes them during periods of stress in order to supercharge the nervous system and the body for instantaneous energy to either confront or flee from a predator.

Unfortunately, your body cannot tell the difference between stress caused by an actual physical threat and the mental/emotional stress you experience at your desk job.

So, this all sounds ok, right? Get the body a little high and call it a day.  Unfortunately, your cortisol and adrenaline can only be dispelled through physical activity and, if you are anything like the majority of our country, this part rarely happens.  

Cortisol levels spike, and stay high until they can spike again the next time your boss asks to bump up the next deadline.  What we end up with consistently high levels of cortisol, which contributes to unwanted weight gain by triggering blood sugar imbalances, food cravings and storage of body fat, and if you eat a lot of carbs you're especially screwed.

Symptoms of high cortisol resulting from prolonged stress include: food cravings, difficulty sleeping, feeling "tired but wired," and anxiety. Excessive cortisol also deplete progesterone and testosterone, exacerbating estrogen dominance and loss of lean muscle mass.

 

Is there any hope?

 

In short, yes.  Because I strive to offer all of my clients the opportunity to pursue health from the inside out, I have partnered with MRC of Beaverton and ZRT labs to offer a full panel of hormone testing.  If you are interested in finally understanding exactly what's going on in your body from the inside out, CONTACT ME to find out how you, too, can experience true adrenal relief once and for all.

Tests are non-invasive and reflect the entire hormone spectrum: Estrogen, Progesterone, DHEA, Testosterone, and Cortisol.   

Once you have received your test results, we can discuss how to use safe, natural, bioidentical replacements to return your body to the natural balance it was designed to have.

Contact Today to get started on your path to hormone wellness!

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