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by Sherrill Sellman
Hormonal Health
 ormones are powerful molecules that
guide and direct a woman’s physiology
and psyche as she journeys through all the
stages of her life. From puberty through her fertility
years and on into menopause, the flow of
hormones, especially estrogen and progesterone,
profoundly affect every cell in her body. These
hormones are also extremely potent. Although
they are made in minute amounts of parts per billion
and per trillion, they profoundly affect every
system of the body including the immune, digestive,
circulatory, respiratory, vascular and reproductive
systems. Maintaining hormonal balance is
like conducting a symphony; a healthy body
depends not only on producing the proper
amounts but also orchestrating intricate ratios,
timing and release of various hormones.
These days hormones have attained quite a
celebrity status. There was once a time when the
subject of women and their hormones would
never be spoken in polite company. Now, however,
everywhere we turn, hormones are making
headline news as well as becoming topics for lively
conversation. Hormones are also very big business.
A multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical
industry has emerged peddling hormones to millions
of women of all ages for all sorts of reasons.
The birth control pill has become a preferred therapeutic
drug treating everything from irregular
menstrual cycles to PMS, ovarian cysts,
endometriosis, polycystic ovaries and perimenopause.
Until very recently hormone replacement
therapy (HRT) has been recommended not
only as the solution for common menopausal
symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and
mood swings but also for preventing a variety of
illnesses including heart disease, osteoporosis and
Alzheimer’s disease.
However, major studies have recently
acknowledged that tampering with women’s hormones,
either in the form of the birth control pill
or HRT, can seriously affect women’s health and
overall well-being. The U.S. National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences, a department of the National Institute of Health, has listed all synthetic estrogens as well as synthetic progestins as
carcinogenic. The World Health Organization
also concurs. Studies have now shown that synthetic
estrogen and progestins contribute to or
cause the following cancers: breast, uterine,
ovarian, cervical, lung, brain, gall bladder and
skin. In addition, these two synthetic hormones
contribute to over 120 possible risks and side
effects including heart disease, depression, infertility,
miscarriage, diabetes, auto-immune disease,
liver dysfunction, asthma, thyroid imbalance,
high blood pressure, lack of libido, migraines,
strokes, blood clots, memory loss, arthritis,
fatigue, weight gain, insomnia and fibroids.
Many myths prevail that have justified the use
of hormones. While women have consistently
been told that menopause is an “estrogen deficiency
disease,” at which time her ovaries fail and
cease to make estrogen, necessitating the use of
HRT, nothing could be further from the truth.
Hormone Wreckers Include:
- Stress—exhausts the adrenals, impairs the thyroid, increases allergies, compromises the immune system, creates insulin resistance and destroys good intestinal flora.
- Refined carbohydrates, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, bad fats (hydrogenated oils, margarine), aspartame, spicy foods, commercial non-organic produce and meats.
- Estrogens found in the Pill and HRT deplete B vitamins, folic acid, vitamin C, vitamin E, magnesium, zinc, selenium, the amino acids, tyrosine and increase LDL, cholesterol and triglycerides.
- Sedentary life style.
- Dieting and skipping meals.
- Lack of adequate sleep.
- Dehydration.
- Unresolved emotional issues.
Hormone Harmonizers:
- Increasing progesterone levels with natural progesterone cream (the bio-identical hormone made by the body), 10.20 mg twice daily A.M. and P.M.
- Adrenal health with vitamin C, vitamin B complex (especially B5), licorice root, adrenal glandulars, Maca, sea vegetables, green and yellow vegetables, royal jelly, velvet deer antler, minerals zinc and manganese.
- Thyroid health with tyrosine, coconut oil/milk, Maca, natural progesterone, sea vegetables, vitamins B, A, E and minerals zinc, selenium and iodine, animal protein.
- Digestive health.digestive enzymes and probiotics, warm lemon juice and water first thing in the morning, ginger, miso.
- Liver health.dandelion, milk thistle, artichoke, lecithin, indole-3-carbinole, calcium dglucarate.
- Essential fatty acids.fish oil, olive oil, flaxseed oil, evening primrose oil and borage oil.
- An abundance of fresh organic vegetables, fruits, seeds and nuts, good quality protein i.e. fish, chicken, turkey, lamb, beef, eggs.
- Pure water.
- Regular exercise.cardiovascular and weight bearing.
- Adequate and restful sleep.ideally 7.8 hours each night.
- Relaxation time, contemplation, prayer, meditation.
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Fortunately, nature did not make a design
fault in women. Menopause is, in fact, a time of
transition from a woman’s fertility years to her
non-fertility years. As a result there is an adjustment
of the amount of estrogen made by the
ovaries reducing estrogen production by 40–60
percent but not a cessation. In fact, the ovaries
continue to function and produce hormones the
entire length of a woman’s life. Far from a deficiency
of estrogen, what is now coming to light is
that the modern woman has high levels of
estrogen, known as estrogen dominance, with
accompanying low levels of progesterone.
According to the World Health Organization, an
overweight, post-menopausal woman has more
estrogen circulating through her body than a
skinny premenopausal woman.
Women have also been well-provided for by
nature with a brilliant back-up system for postmenopausal
hormonal production. In the case of
estrogen, the fat cells make estrogen. The adrenal
glands produce post-menopausal progesterone
and testosterone.
In fact, nature has ensured that women are
able to adjust to the many stages of life symptom
free. Menstrual cycles are not meant to be painful
nor is menopause supposed to be a time debilitation.
What nature does require, however, is for a
woman to be healthy. Hormonal health is intimately
connected to one’s overall health. The vast
majority of hormonal imbalances are really due to
compromised health issues caused by such factors
such as physical and emotional stress, dieting, a
junk food diet, lack of exercise and sleep, toxicity,
environmental pollution, nutritional deficiencies
and medications. The hormonal system is a delicate
and finely-tuned feedback system requiring
the functioning of healthy adrenals, thyroid, pituitary,
liver, pancreas, digestive and immune system.
Hormonal imbalances are really symptoms of
compromised health rather than a flawed female
design.
The real challenge facing women at this time
is to first dispel the many myths about their own
female physiology and then dismantle the
unfounded theories that have seduced millions of
women to medicalize and pathologize their natural
cycles with dangerous, carcinogenic drugs.
Regaining our health, naturally, must be the
number one goal. To do this, it is imperative to
first educate oneself with truthful information.
Then it is essential to have the willingness to
make life style and dietary changes, receive the
necessary nutritional support, create the time for
relaxation and meditation and to seek out the
many holistic modalities such as naturopathy,
homeopathy, Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine,
Western and Eastern herbs, chiropractic,
osteopathy and aromatherapy which have been
proven to restore hormonal health effectively,
safely and naturally.
It is indeed time for women to take even
greater responsibility for their hormonal health
and health care options. It is also up to every
woman to learn, to question, to trust her natural
instincts and to honor her intuitive wisdom, so
she can safely and naturally regain and maintain
her hormonal well-being. TH
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