Hormonal Imbalances

Hormonal imbalances can cause a host of serious health problems, including inflammation, metabolic syndrome, adrenal fatigue, sexual dysfunction, obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, heart disease, hypertension, dementia, and more. While many things can cause an imbalance in our hormones, the good news is that we can often fix these imbalances without medications. It is not a result of bad luck; it’s due to bad habits that many of us fall into as we rush through our busy days. We know the schedules we keep don’t allow for much time to take care of ourselves. But, without a conscious decision to make some changes to what we eat and drink, how much movement and activity we get daily, and to ensure we have adequate time to rest and sleep, we will continue to be frustrated by our lack of energy and increasing struggle to keep up with the pace of our lives, while staying positive and productive.

The path to real healing starts when you decide you need to know “Why?”

Why do you feel lousy or out of balance?

What is causing the symptoms?

When you figure out what creates the imbalances and treat the underlying problem you find a true solution. Functional Medicine facilitates the diagnosis and treatment process, in that it identifies and treats the underlying cause(s) which creates balance and improves symptoms.

Most of us are living life completely out of balance. Unfortunately, after a time, we come to accept the symptoms of imbalance as “normal”.

Since various hormones allow communication from one organ or region of the body to another, they enable an appropriate response to stress and keep the body in a homeostatic balance. For instance, a hormone in the brain (ACTH) triggers cortisol production in the adrenal gland in response to stress. The cortisol then feeds back to the brain to slow down the production when there is enough or the stress has subsided. It sounds simple when we focus on one hormone. However, our bodies produce many hormones and each hormone interacts with the others, creating shifts that can be challenging to balance. When talking about hormones, think of a symphony with many players, all working together to create a cohesive sound.

When things are in tune, the result is beautiful harmony. But, if any one part is out of synch, the result is disjointed and the result sounds chaotic. Hormones work in a similar fashion and can be influenced by physiological stress, disrupting the entire network.

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