Hormones
Hormone complaints are common, but not normal. Proper testing looks at ratios and metabolism, not just totals.
Proper testing, diet, and supplementation can restore optimal hormone balance, help prevent disease, and enhance your quality of life.
For women of all ages, hormone imbalance symptoms are common — perhaps even considered normal. Though symptoms may be common, they are certainly not healthy. Hormone imbalances lead to symptoms, and symptoms always progress, leading to health complications.
Be careful — many hormone tests provide insufficient information
Too often people live with the symptoms of hormone imbalance without having the appropriate tests done, and not all tests are of equal value. Many physicians use general hormone tests that simply identify primary levels and markers, but these often lack key details. Common tests do not measure the various types of estrogens, their ratios, or offer necessary information about your metabolism and methylation. They test total hormone values, not the critical ratios between them. Most rarely test for toxicity, or address the relationship between hormones and toxins.
Each hormone serves a specific purpose, and when one is too prevalent in relation to the others, its effects on the body can be problematic and even dangerous. The relationship between the estrogens — estrone, estradiol, and estriol — is especially important.
Too much or too little can cause a multitude of symptoms
PMS, bloating, cramps, tender breasts, fibrocystic breasts, low libido — these are all signals that your hormones are out of balance. These symptoms are common among people with hormonal imbalance, but it is not necessary to live with them.
Symptoms of estrogen dominance or deficiency may develop when hormones are not produced in the correct ratios, when they are not taken up by their receptors, or when they are blocked at the receptor site by toxins — xenoestrogens, chemicals which mimic estrogen.
Why we look at ratios rather than totals
Too often women hear only about the total quantity of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone in their system. Few know about tests that reveal more critical information: estrogen ratios, estrogen metabolism, and estrogen methylation. Without knowing where your three estrogens stand in relation to each other, supplementing hormones can drive those ratios further out of balance.
If you take an estrogen supplement you may initially experience an improvement in symptoms. However, if your estrogen metabolism and methylation are poor, you may also be increasing your risk of a hormone-related cancer. Proper estrogen metabolism and methylation are essential to your health, which is why appropriate testing matters.
In menopause, estrogen fluctuates widely, which can cause hot flashes and breast tenderness. As hormones settle and decline after menopause, signs of estrogen deficiency may appear.
Signs of low estrogen
- Hot flashes
- Night sweats
- Difficulty sleeping
- Mood swings
- Decrease in bone density
- Diminished sex drive
- Vaginal walls thin out
- Vaginal dryness, resulting in painful intercourse
- Orgasms less intense and more difficult to reach
- Skin changes: wrinkling, thinning, dryness
- Premature aging
- Memory loss
Signs of estrogen dominance
- Endometriosis
- Infertility
- Hormone-related cancers
- Weight gain, especially hips, thighs and abdomen
- Water retention and bloating
- Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)
- Breast tenderness and fibrocystic breasts
- Uterine fibroids
- Accelerated aging process
- Cervical dysplasia
- Decreased sex drive
- Depression with anxiety or moodiness
- Fatigue
- Osteoporosis
- Hair loss
- Brain fog
- Irregular menstrual cycle
- Irritability and mood swings
- Insomnia
- Headaches
- Allergies
- Thyroid dysfunction and its symptoms
- Prostate cancer (men)
Conditions that can be helped naturally
Many hormone imbalance conditions respond to natural, herbal therapies and natural hormone sources, supported by nutrition:
- PMS
- Dysmenorrhea — menstrual cramps or painful periods
- Irregular periods
- Ovulatory failure
- Menopause
- Androgen excess
- Adult acne
- Memory and cognitive impairment
- Hyperprolactinemia
- Hormone-related migraines and headaches
- Leg cramps
- Delayed or early onset puberty
Hormone therapy or supplementation without proper testing can be dangerous. Get the right test.
What this can help with
- Testing that measures estrogen ratios, not just totals
- Attention to metabolism and methylation
- Natural, herbal and nutritional support