When people think about hormones, most immediately think of estrogen and testosterone. If you’ve been around The Wellness Way for any length of time, you know that estrogen isn’t actually a hormone! Besides testosterone and estrogens, there are several other hormones, organs, and systems operating to maintain health and vitality. Many women experience hormone imbalance symptoms. Digestive issues, inflammation, skin reactions, brain fog, joint pain, anxiety, infertility, weight gain, and more are all signs hormone imbalance could be the underlying cause. At The Wellness Way we have a saying, “common doesn’t mean normal!” Just because many women experience life this way doesn’t mean that it’s normal and it certainly shouldn’t be as common as it is.
Medical doctors rely on birth control, hysterectomies, fertility treatments, hormone therapies, and various other hormone-affecting drugs and procedures. These hormone altering practices set women up for not just hormone imbalance, but a whole list of symptoms that affect the delicate balance needed to sustain health.
Men, Women, and Hormone Imbalance
When women experience various symptoms, they often either suffer quietly or go to their medical doctor. The medical doctor looks at the symptoms, maybe runs a few tests, then diagnoses and prescribes a drug to help manage symptoms. They aren’t looking for the underlying cause as to why there is a hormone imbalance causing the symptoms. If they even realized there is a hormone imbalance! These women rarely find true, lasting relief and even more elusive is a healthy, vibrant life.
Women have been so misinformed about hormone imbalance; they start to assume weight gain is normal. This often compounds into other health conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and depression. It doesn’t have to be this way! At The Wellness Way, we look at the body from a vitalistic viewpoint. Each organ and system affect another. For the whole body to function properly, each system, organ, and hormone need to be functioning properly as well. Just like a Swiss watch.
While much of the focus is usually on women, men can struggle with hormone imbalance as well! The symptoms may look different, but the root cause remains the same. Men need to be aware. If they are feeling off, they need to also have their hormones checked out. Of course, it’s typically the women in their life that will recognize it first! Men are more likely to be on statin drugs at a younger age. Guess what can affect hormones. Men also gain weight, guess what, that will affect hormones for them, too.
What are Hormones and How Does an Imbalance Affect the Rest of the Body?
Hormones are chemical messengers. They tell the systems and organs within the body what to do. Think of the childhood game, Telephone. As you sat in a line, first hearing a message whispered in your ear, then passing it down the line, often the message would get quite distorted as you reach the other end. That’s a very good example of what can happen with a hormone imbalance.
The body may have a hard time producing the proper hormones due to lack of the proper building blocks (think nutrition and function of organs). It may be a challenge with converting the hormone into the most usable form at the appropriate time (think nutrition, organs and systems). Or it may be that how the body utilizes the hormones is dysfunctional because of other breakdowns along the pathway. If the messenger is ineffective, the hoped-for result will be dysfunction.
This is why symptoms can range widely and appear to not have a connection with other symptoms. Because medical doctors use a mechanistic approach, they specialize in one specific system and only look for the symptoms and effects of their one specialized system. If you are experiencing a skin rash, you may go to a dermatologist. If you are having heart palpitations, you may go to a cardiologist. For weight gain you may join a dieting group. If you are suffering with anxiety or depression, you may see a counselor or take a prescription. When we look at the body with a vitalistic, Swiss watch approach and do the proper testing, we can find that these symptoms are often related due to an imbalance of hormones. One adjustment could set the devasting cascade back into order and function.
Life and Hormones
Many factors of life can contribute to hormone imbalance and symptoms. Imagine these scenarios:
- You are having trouble sleeping, so you become more stressed, which results in less sleep. This can be a vicious cycle for hormone imbalance!
- You have gained a bit of weight, which motivates you to join a workout program. This may cause fatigue, muscle injury, stress, or sometimes even causes you to gain weight! Exercise must be done properly for hormone support!
- You have been under more stress recently, which leads to just about everything from overeating, to undereating, to oversleeping, to under sleeping, to relying on bad habits, to mood swings…which all lead to more stress!
Life can affect hormones, and hormones affect life! This balance must be viewed in a way not to just manage symptoms, but to restore health.
That is our specialty at The Wellness Way! Our approach to health and wellbeing is beyond anything in the medical world. We use state of the art, cutting edge, thorough diagnostic tests to find the root cause of the challenge. Then, we create a personalized, detailed treatment plan uniquely designed to meet each patient’s needs. You are not alone in this journey! We empower you and guide you as you work toward health restoration and reclaim your vitality!
