Did you know our body contains more than one hundred different types of hormones, and they pour into your bloodstream at the rate of thousands of billions of units per day?
Hormones regulate your heartbeat and your breathing. Hormones make men 'men' and women 'women.' Hormones put you to sleep at night and wake you up in the morning.
They control your blood pressure. They build bone, maintain muscle tone, and lubricate joints. Hormones govern growth. They make the body produce energy and heat. Hormones burn fat. Hormones govern the menstrual cycle and allow pregnancy (and birth) to occur.
They fight stress, prevent fatigue, calm anxiety, and relieve depression. Hormones make and keep memories. Hormones maintain the correct level of sugar in the blood and tissues. They resist allergic reactions and infections. They soothe pain. Hormones control your sex drive, virility and fertility. They stimulate your brain and your immune system. In other words, hormones are crucial to every single function in the human body. You literally cannot live without them.
Is disease caused by a lack of hormones?
As we age, we rarely have the optimum level of hormones and therefore we are unable to achieve optimal health. This means arthritis, heart disease, low sex drive, gray hair, wrinkles and/ or out-of-control weight gain.
Nutrition and hormone balance can bring us back to optimal health. If you feel tired all the time, forget things, aren’t sleeping well or feel depressed or anxious. If you are at risk for osteoporosis or cancer among many other things. These are certainly common health issues that many of us face as we age, but they don’t have to be.
When do hormones start to drop?
What many people don’t know is that almost every hormone drops as we age starting at the age of 35 for both men and women. With the proper physiological doses of natural hormones in combination with a hormonally supportive diet and vitamin and mineral supplements, we can retain our health and our youth more fully and for a longer time. This is not the massive pharmaceutical quantities of the standard hormone prescriptions like menopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT). These are the finely tuned individualized substances that are identical in structure and quantity to what healthy young bodies produce.
When our hormones are at optimal levels, our bodies are healthy, efficient, resilient, flexible and strong. Through our twenties, that’s what most of us experience. But even a small drop off or slight imbalance, as happens to most of us by our thirties and forties, can create havoc for both men and women.
Signs of Hormonal Deficiency
What is ACTH?
ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone) is a hormone produced and secreted by the anterior pituitary gland. It is often produced in response to biological stress.
The following are signs of an ACTH deficiency:
Patches of hair loss
Very pale complexion
Sunburn easily
Memory loss
Stressed out / facing many difficulties
Blood pressure has dropped
I’ve been told I look thinner
Cortisol is a primary stress hormone produced in the adrenal glands. The following are signs of a cortisol deficiency:
My face looks thinner
My friends think I’m skinny
I have eczema, psoriasis, rashes, skin allergies
My heart beats quickly
My blood pressure is low
I crave salt or sugar and binge on it
I have digestive problems
I have allergies (hay fever, asthma, etc.)
I’m stressed out
I’m easily confused
DHEA (Dehydroepiandosterone) is a hormone produced by the body’s adrenal glands and is used to make androgens and estrogens, the male and female sex hormones. DHEA levels peak at age 25 and then go steadily down as we age.
Signs of a DHEA deficiency:
My hair is dry
My skin and eyes are dry
My muscles are flabby
My belly is getting fat
I don’t have much armpit hair
I don’t have much pubic hair
I don’t have much fatty tissue in the pubic area
My body doesn’t produce much of a special scent during sexual arousal
I can’t tolerate noise
My libido (sex drive) is low
What is Estrogen?
Estrogens are a group of hormones that play an important role in normal sexual and reproductive development in women.
Signs of estrogen deficiency:
Losing hair on the top of the head.
I’m getting thin, vertical wrinkles above my lips.
My breasts are droopy.
My face is getting hairy/fuzzy.
My eyes are dry and easily irritated.
I have hot flashes.
I feel tired constantly.
I am depressed.
My menstrual flow is light.
Women with periods: my cycles are irregular.
Women without periods: I do not feel like making love anymore.
What is Growth hormone?
Human growth hormone (HGH) fuels childhood growth and helps maintain tissues and organs throughout life. It is produced by the pituitary gland.
Signs of a growth hormone deficiency:
My hair is thinning
My cheeks sag
My gums are receding
My abdomen is flabby / I have a spare tire
My muscles are slack
My skin is thin and/or dry
It’s hard to recover after physical exercise
I feel exhausted
I don’t like the world and isolate myself
I constantly feel anxious and worried
What is Melatonin?
Melatonin is a hormone that plays a role in the sleep-wake cycle. Natural levels of melatonin in the blood are highest at night. Research shows melatonin supplements may be helpful in treating sleep disorders such as trouble falling asleep and jet lag.
Melatonin deficiency symptoms:
I look older than I am
I have trouble falling asleep at night
I wake during the night and cannot get back to sleep
My mind is busy with anxious thoughts while I’m trying to fall asleep
My feet are too hot at night
When I get up in the morning, I don’t feel rested
I feel like I’m living out of sync with the world, going to bed late and waking up late
I can’t tolerate jet lag
I smoke, drink, and/or use a beta-blocker or sleep aid
What is Pregnenolone?
Pregnenolone is a hormone produced by the adrenal glands and is the starting material in the production of testosterone, progesterone, cortisol, estrogen, and other hormones.
Signs of a pregnenolone deficiency:
I have memory loss.
My joints hurt (fingers, wrists, elbows, feet, ankles, knees).
I’m feeling drained and have a hard time handling stress.
I don’t see colours as brightly.
I have lost interest in art and don’t appreciate it as much.
I have little armpit and pubic hair.
My muscles are flabby.
I have abundant light-coloured urine during the day.
I have low blood pressure.
I crave salty foods.
What is Progesterone?
Progesterone is a hormone that plays an important role in your reproductive system. Progesterone supports menstruation and helps maintain the early stages of pregnancy.
Signs of a progesterone deficiency:
My breasts are large
My close friends complain I’m nervous and agitated
I feel anxious
I sleep lightly and restlessly
For women who have not yet reached menopause and for menopausal women who are taking HRT (hormone replacement therapy).
Progesterone deficiency symptoms:
My breasts are swollen and tender or painful before my period
· and my lower belly is swollen…
· and I’m irritable and aggressive…
· and I lose my self-control.
I have heavy periods…
· and they are continuously painful
What is Testosterone?
Testosterone is a steroid hormone that is important for both men and women. It is important for normal male sexual development and function and helps boys develop male features like body and facial hair, deeper voice, and muscle strength.
Testosterone deficiency symptoms for men and women:
My face has gotten slack and more wrinkled
I’ve lost muscle tone
My belly tends to get fat
I’m constantly tired
I feel like making love less often than I used to
Testosterone deficiency for men only:
My breasts are getting fatty
I feel less confident and more hesitant
My sexual performance is poorer than it used to be
I have hot flashes and sweats
I tire easily with physical activity
What is Thyroid hormone?
Thyroid hormone is the hormone that controls your body’s metabolism, the process in which your body transforms the food you eat into energy.
Thyroid hormone is deficient when:
I’m sensitive to cold
My hands and feet are always cold
In the morning my face is puffy, and my eyelids swollen
I put on weight easily
I have dry skin
I have trouble getting up in the morning
I feel more tired at rest than when I’m active
I am constipated
My joints are stiff in the morning
I feel like I’m living in slow motion
What is Vasopressin?
Vasopressin is an antidiuretic hormone synthesized in the hypothalamus. It plays an essential role in controlling the body’s osmotic balance, blood pressure regulation, sodium homeostasis and kidney functioning.
Signs of a vasopressin deficiency:
I’m thirsty at night
I get up at night to urinate
I bleed a lot when I get injured
I’m losing my memory
I have a hard time thinking straight
What is Insulin?
Insulin is a hormone created by your pancreas that controls the amount of glucose in your bloodstream at any given moment. It also helps store glucose in your liver, fat and muscles. It regulates your body’s metabolism of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins.
Signs of an Insulin deficiency:
I crave sugar and sweets and eat a lot of them
I’m always thirsty
I urinate often during the day and night
I have difficulty healing
My stomach and buttocks are skinny
What is EPO (Erythropoetin)?
EPO is secreted by the kidneys in response to cellular hypoxia (lack of oxygen); it stimulates red blood cell production in the bone marrow.
Signs of an EPO deficiency:
I have an especially pale complexion
Prolonged physical effort leaves me breathless
I am anemic (diagnosed by a blood test)
I do not have a sense of well-being
My blood test shows an increased BUN (blood, uric, nitrogen) level
What is Calcitonin?
Calcitonin is a hormone your thyroid gland makes and releases to help regulate calcium levels in your blood by decreasing it (in opposition to the parathyroid gland which increases blood calcium levels.
Signs of a calcitonin deficiency:
I have vertebral fractures (crushes)-compression fractures in my spine
I’ve lost height
My back hurts
I’m very sensitive to pain
I have thyroid problems (goiter, thyroid insufficiency, radiation to this area)
What is Aldosterone?
Aldosterone is a hormone that helps regulate your blood pressure by managing the levels of sodium (salt) and potassium in your blood and impacting blood volume.
Signs of an aldosterone deficiency:
I urinate too many times per day.
I crave salty food
My blood pressure is low
I feel dizzy when I stand up
I feel much better lying down than standing up
If you have symptoms of any hormonal deficiency, it is important to seek medical help to get it regulated quickly. If you are entering menopause/andropause, you will likely have multiple hormone deficiencies that if addressed through biological amounts of bio-identical hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA and pregnenolone), will allow you to sail through this phase of life symptom-free and help keep your body from aging so quickly.
By slowing the aging process, we can optimize our health and prevent the common diseases so prevalent in the aging population.
Click here to Book an Appointment with Dr Terrie Van Alstyne!