TIS THE SEASON TO BALANCE THOSE HORMONES

TIS THE SEASON TO BALANCE THOSE HORMONES

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE COVID CHRISTMAS

As women, our hormones can normally take a beating over the holidays as a result of stress. But with all that’s going on out there, this year, holiday stress can come at you like a steamroller. It’s not visions of sugarplums dancing in your head. It’s visions of normally big and boisterous celebrations being cut down to those only in your household. It’s your kids wanting a dog, but discovering dogs are the new toilet paper.  It’s mistletoe that might be missed due to social distancing. It can all take a big chunk out of comfort and joy.

ALEXA, HOME SCHOOL THE KIDS WHILE I’M DEALING WITH MY HORMONES

Did you know that women are twice as likely to experience stress than men? More than anything else, stress derails our hormones, affecting our mood, mind, weight, and that’s just the start of the list. Actually, our overall health takes a huge hit from stress. The more your emergency stress system is activated, the easier it becomes to trigger and the harder it becomes to shut off. The most dangerous thing about stress is how easily it can creep up on you. Below are five stress-induced hormonal imbalances that can make your holidays feel far from festive.

ALL CAUGHT UP IN THE BLACK FRIDAY BLUES

CORTISOL is the Santa of stress hormones bringing a big bag of health woes. When the pressure is on, your cortisol levels can run high. This “fight or flight” hormone makes you want to get in a sleigh and fly away from it all; the tree-trimming, cookie baking, dreidel spinning, Kwanzaa candle lighting, online shopping, Zoom arranging. Unbalanced cortisol can cause weight gain, muscle weakness, headache, fatigue and difficulty concentrating.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PIES

LEPTIN is the hormone that reduces appetite and makes you feel full. Which is especially helpful when faced with holiday feasts that you’ll tend to want to gorge on since you can’t have a long table of guests to share all those gooey, fatty yummy feasts with. Leptin is our “enough already” button. When leptin levels are low, your stomach gets bigger than your eyes, your metabolism slows, fat accumulates and muscle decreases. It can also increase depression anxiety and cardiovascular disease.

DON’T GET TOO CLOSE TO THE SUGAR PLUM FAIRIES

INSULIN helps “unlock” the body’s cells so that sugar from the foods we eat can be used by the cells for energy. It also regulates carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Too much insulin can end up making you anxious, irritable, trembly, sweaty and confused. It’s enough to make your gingerbread house crumble.

WHAT THE DICKENS…

THYROID hormones, when unbalanced, can weaken or slow your heart, make you feel tired (OK, we’re going to say super tired all things considered) or out of breath. It effects your body temperature making you cold when the season should be making you feel toasty. It can also cause obesity, joint pain, high blood pressure, swelling in your ankles, as well as raise your cholesterol levels, which can increase your risk for heart problems.

OPPS, YOUR BATTERIES ARE WEARING DOWN

ESTROGEN, well you know about that. Painful periods, PMS, menopause misery, mood swings, bloating, weight gain. Estrogen levels have a domino effect on brain chemistry and affect parts of the brain that control our emotions. An estrogen imbalance can make you so crazed, you’ll be rocking around a lot more than the Christmas tree.

AND TO ALL NOT SUCH A GOOD NIGHT

PROGESTERONE is the pre-hormone of cortisol, which as we’ve said is the ultimate stress mess. It’s not a ho-ho-ho happy scenario. Low progesterone can cause low libido, sugar cravings, foggy thinking, anxiety, migraines, irregular menstrual cycles and endless nights of counting reindeer.

GOOD TIDINGS TO ALL, LADIES

Before you get all tangled up in tinsel about your hormones, there is happy news. Holidays don’t have to have your hormones roasting on an open fire. Expect “Stress” to be an unwanted house guest, but there are things you can do to cut his visit short:

  • Get some exercise
  • Get some rays
  • Listen to music
  • Dance up a TikTok storm
  • Pet a dog even if it’s not your own
  • Have a virtual ugliest sweater contest
  • Binge watch Christmas movies
  • Luxuriate in bubbles with a glass of bubbly

STAND UNDER THE MISTLETOE, GIVE YOURSELF A BIG HUG, AND CALL DENVER HORMONE HEALTH

Denver Hormone Health is at the head of the field of hormone replacement therapy. The hormone experts at DHH know hormones like no one else. And they understand just how much hormones can take the jingle out of your bells if they’re out of whack. You may feel frazzled, but the hormone specialists at DHH get it, and take the time to really listen to what’s going on. Simple tests can determine if you do have any hormone deficiencies and what they are. This allows them to create a unique treatment plan for you—one that fits perfectly, not like most gifts you get each year– to get you back to your best.  Quite the gift.  Time to make your hormones as merry, bright and balanced as they can be. Call Denver Hormone Health for an appointment now.

Hormone Facts: Stranger than Fiction

Hormones Are Pretty Amazing Things

Hormone Facts: Hormones are special chemical messengers in the body that are created in the endocrine glands. These critical messengers control most major bodily functions, from simple basic needs like hunger to systems like reproduction, and even emotions and mood. There is not a single person on Earth who is not completely dependent on their endocrine system. Without hormones, you would simply not be able to exist. It can get pretty complex, medical and factual if you really dig into them.

But There Are Many Facts and Theories About Hormones That Are Surprisingly Eye-Opening.

Even unbelievable. The only way to demonstrate these are to list some of them. Don’t be surprised if the thoughts “you’re kidding” and “no way” come to mind…

The Use of Electronics Can Really Mess Up Our Minds.

One week of camping, without electronics, can help the body synchronize melatonin hormones with sunrise and sunset, and get a normal sleep pattern back on track.

Heil Whaaat?

During World War ll, the Allies considered injecting estrogen into Hitler’s food to make him less aggressive and cause his moustache to fall off.

Your Hangover Is the Result of Drunk Hormones

When we drink alcohol, it messes with the job of the antidiuretic hormone. What follows is the incessant peeing that happens when you drink, which is a major contributor in being hungover. So think of it this way: every time you drink, you’re kind of getting your hormones drunk too, because they quit behaving appropriately — like you.

SPF For Your Eyeballs?

If you don’t want a sunburn, don’t wear sunglasses. Because sunlight triggers the optic nerve, it immediately puts the pituitary gland on the defense. In response, melanocyte is released to prevent you from getting a sunburn. However, when you put on sunglasses, nothing is triggered, so nothing is released. 

Testosterone Road Trip

Testosterone can cross the blood-brain barrier and be converted to estrogen, but estrogen alone, cannot cross. As a result, men have more “estrogen on the brain” than women.

No Bones About It

Responsible for producing hormones that control, well, pretty much everything, the pituitary gland is also known as the master gland. You can also have 95 percent of this master gland removed and your body will still function properly. That’s because every part of the body is able to make hormones — including bones.

Take This Seriously

There are some 50 different hormones swimming through your bloodstream that play a really big role in your body’s health and well-being. When they are out of balance, it can seriously affect how your body functions. In many cases, when you aren’t feeling well, it could well be hormones. The best way to find out is to find your way to Denver Hormone Health. If it has anything to do with hormones, the doctors at Denver Hormone Health know what to do about it. With simple tests they can tell what’s out of whack, and create a tailored treatment plan to get you back on track. And feeling better than ever. Call Denver Hormone Health for an appointment now. There’s nothing funny about not feeling well.

HORMONES AND HEALTH: FEELING AWFUL ALL OVER

Hormones and Health

HYPER-HYPOCHONDRIAC?

“So, hey, how’re you doing?” you might hear.

So, how do you answer?

Uh, let’s see…queasy, jacked up, run-down, rotten, defective, debilitated, blah, bleh, broken, not so hot, woozy, wobbly, stricken, sick, ick, uck, yukky, ucky, a total mess, at a total loss, down and out, out of it, in the dumps…oh heck, get out the thesaurus. Point is, that at different times in our lives, we all go through feeling like dreck (there’s another apt word). Well, the good news is that it just might be that your hormones are unbalanced. Hormones? Oh groan, something else to worry about. (Hold on, hold on…keep reading…)

WHO KNOWS WHAT A HORMONE IS, ANYWAY? (HONESTY, HERE…NO WIKI WANDERING)

in the simplest of terms, hormones are powerful chemical messengers in your body that are constantly traveling around your bloodstream telling your tissues and organs what to do. (And their word is golden.) They control most bodily functions and are essential for every activity of life. The bummer is that you can’t control them on your own. They choose to play “mayhem and misery”, with every inch of your body, and it’s a game you can’t win.

GOLDILOCKS AND THE 50 OR SO HORMONES

There are about 50 different hormones in the body which effect trillions of our cells. Each hormone has a different effect on our body, and each and every one of those hormones can be out of balance at some point or another during our lives. Here’s how the story goes:

“This hormone is too much”, Goldie would say.

“This hormone is too little”, she might claim.

In both cases, with too much or too little of any hormone, even tiny changes can have serious effects throughout your body. From head to toe. To get to “this is just right”, takes fine tuning to get your hormones in a balance that gets you feeling your best. It can be a bear of a problem.

IT’S EVERYWHERE, IT’S EVERYWHERE

So, what causes all these hormone imbalances? To name a few (ok, more than a few) …maybe you should be sitting:

  • Chronic or extreme stress
  • Type 1 and type 2 diabetes
  • Hyperglycemia (overproduction of glucagon (more insulin produced than there is glucose in the blood)
  • Underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism)
  • Overactive thyroid (hyperthyroidism)
  • Poor diet and nutrition
  • Being overweight
  • Hormonal replacement or birth controlmedications
  • Abuse of anabolic steroids
  • Benign tumors and cysts(fluid-filled sacks) that affect the endocrine glands
  • Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (low levels of cortisol)
  • Endocrine gland injury
  • Severe allergic reactions or infections
  • Cancers that involve endocrine glands
  • Chemotherapy and radiation therapy
  • Iodine deficiency (goiters)
  • Hereditary pancreatitis
  • Turner syndrome (females with only one functioning x chromosome)
  • Prader-Willi syndrome- (what in the…?)
  • Anorexia
  • Exposure to toxins, pollutants, and endocrine disrupting chemicals, including pesticides and herbicides
  • Pituitary cancers

ENOUGH TO MAKE YOU SICK

So, what are some symptoms and signs you might be suffering from a hormone imbalance? Don’t leave now, and don’t fly into an apoplectic fit that you have not just one of the following symptoms, but all of them:

  • Tired all the time/no energy
  • Difficulty getting up in the morning
  • Poor sleep
  • Craving for salty or sugary foods
  • Taking more effort to perform everyday tasks and duties
  • Decreased sex drive
  • Decreased ability to handle stress
  • Increased time to recover from illness or injury
  • Light headed when standing up quickly
  • Depression
  • Lack of enjoyment or happiness
  • Weight gain/loss
  • Food intolerance
  • Sinus problems
  • Alcohol intolerance
  • Excessive allergies
  • Anxiety
  • Digestive disorders
  • Dry and thin skin
  • Excessive hunger
  • No hunger
  • Hair loss
  • Unexplained headaches
  • Immune deficiencies
  • Inability to concentrate
  • Infections
  • Liver disorders
  • Chronic pain
  • Inflammation
  • Blood pressure problems
  • Low body temperature
  • Hot flashes
  • Night sweats
  • Mood swings
  • Poor memory
  • PMS
  • Sleep disorders
  • Tender breasts
  • Weakness
  • Difficulty building muscle
  • Cramping
  • Fluid retention
  • Slow metabolism
  • Irritability
  • Chronic illness
  • Unexplained or excessive sweating
  • Changes in sensitivity to cold and heat
  • Very dry skin or skin rashes
  • Changes in blood pressure
  • Changes in heart rate
  • Brittle or weak bones
  • A bunch of different cancers and hard-to-even pronounce maladies

A DIAGNOSIS FOR FAILURE

Certainly, at this point, the biggest thing you’re suffering from is panic. The point is, there are times you don’t feel well, and well, can’t figure it out. So, you might ignore what’s gnawing at your health and try to go your merry way. No way that’s going to work. Finally, it gets to the point it starts to interfere with your life, so you start on a medical merry-go-round of supposed experts subjecting you to tests you couldn’t even attempt to pronounce. Which are followed by enough different diagnoses to puzzle Einstein. Maybe it’s this. Probably it’s that. Could be both. “Clueless” is the overwhelming diagnosis of all their efforts. Google any of it and you’ll be sure you’re going to die. Slowly. Painfully.

GET THOSE HORMONES HUMMING

Something else you probably don’t know, is that there are two types of hormones that can be used in hormone replacement therapy. There are natural bioidentical hormones that have the exact same chemical structure your body produces, so when used, the body doesn’t know the difference. Then there are synthetic hormones patented by Big Pharma. (Big nightmare.) It’s a little too close to one size fits all. And we know how productive that is. Additionally, because synthetic hormones are not created structurally the same as natural hormones, they often lead to uncomfortable side effects. That’s where Denver Hormone Health comes in. All their doctors are skilled and experienced in the ups and downs of hormone imbalances. They use bioidentical hormones, not what could be dangerous synthetic hormones. Instead of using the “hunt-and-peck” method for discovering what imbalances you might have, the doctors at Denver Hormone Health look at your body as a whole. With simple tests they are able to determine where the problems are, and based on the results, create a unique, tailored treatment plan to get you feeling like you’re ready to take on the world. Which is why going to Denver Hormone Health makes all the difference in the world. Make an appointment at Denver Hormone Health now. And get ready to discover balanced hormone heaven.