HORMONE HEALTH
The adrenal glands are responsible for the secretion of stress hormones, such as cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine. The adrenals are also responsible for secreting DHEA, an important precursor to sex hormones and potent “anti-aging” hormone.
HORMONE HEALTH
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Adrenal dysfunction
Adrenal dysfunction (also know as “adrenal fatigue”) occurs when the adrenal glands over- or under-function. This syndrome can often manifest as weight gain, burn out and poor energy, stress intolerance, brain fog, poor immunity, anxiety and depression, poor blood sugar management, food cravings and low libido. Adrenal dysfunction can also affect the balance of other hormone systems in your body, such as reproductive and thyroid hormones.
TESTING
There are several ways to test your adrenal hormones. One of the best ways to test your stress hormone production throughout the day is to do a four-point salivary cortisol test. While a blood cortisol test will only test cortisol levels at one point in time, this test gives you a picture of your cortisol secretion throughout the day so that you can see if it follows a normal curve or not.
TREATMENT
Naturopathic treatment for adrenal dysfunction can involve diet and lifestyle modification, stress management strategies, supplementation, IV therapy and/or botanical medicine.
THYROID
HYPOTHYROID
If the thyroid is unable to secrete enough thyroid hormones, hypothyroidism occurs. This means that the body’s set metabolic rate will decrease and symptoms such as weight gain, hair loss, fatigue, constipation, dry skin, depression, cold intolerance, irregular or heavy menses, low libido, elevated cholesterol and poor memory may occur.
An imbalance of other hormones, such as Estrogen or stress hormones may negatively affect thyroid function.
An autoimmune condition called Hashimoto’s disease is a very common cause of hypothyroidism that is often overlooked in the conventional medical system. Hashimoto’s may be related to inflammation from food allergies and dysbiosis, or environmental toxins.
Many patients also present with subclinical hypothyroidism, where they experience the signs and symptoms hypothyroidism, but their blood thyroid hormone levels are normal.
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HYPERTHRYOID
TESTING
TREATMENT
Naturopathic treatment for thyroid disorders depends on the severity of the symptoms and can include dietary and lifestyle modifications, nutritional supplementation, botanical medicine or thyroid hormone replacement.
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SEX HORMONES
Sex hormone imbalance can manifest in women as:
- PMS, irregular, heavy, or painful menses
- Fibroids
- Breast pain or swelling
- Low libido
- Loss of muscle mass
- Vaginal dryness
- Trouble sleeping and fatigue
- Headaches and migraines
- Weight gain and fatigue
- Fertility concerns
- Acne
- Difficult menopause
- Postpartum depression
- Endometriosis, PCOS
- Abnormal hair growth
- Mood changes, insomnia and anxiety
- Depression
- Loss of muscle mass
- Low libido
- Insomnia
- Fatigue
- Weight gain
- Erectile dysfunction
Blood testing measures the total amount of hormone available. Most of the hormones in the blood will be tightly bound to carrier proteins and so serum testing does not always give an accurate depiction of the ‘free’ hormone available to be used by your tissues.
Salivary testing is a better measure of unbound or ‘free’ hormone levels and can give a better indication of what is available for use by the tissues.
Urinary hormone testing is beneficial because it allows the measurement of hormone production over a 24-hour period, rather than at one point in time. Urine testing also makes it easy to measure the break-down products of sex hormones to see how they are being metabolized in the body.
