We had a big week of meetings last week, so I didn’t get a chance to send my weekly email.
I thought to make it up to you today and provide a bit extra to make up for last week!
Today, we’re explaining why reproductive hormones have such a big impact on women and why they are such a big part of gaining control of our health and our body.
Ultimately why reproductive hormones are one of the four parts of our Body Control Quadrant.
(Image on the right for reference.)
First, I know we’ve talked quite extensively about oestrogen and progesterone in terms of the impact of too little or too much of either…
So rather than go through that again, we’re focusing on how oestrogen and progesterone are communicate chemical and metabolic imbalances in the body – that play a bigger part of your overall vitality.
Why are reproductive hormones so important to pay attention to?
To me, reproductive hormones are our tracking mechanisms to know if something is not right in the body. They are most commonly the FIRST CLUES.
This is why I’m so passionate about educating around period problems, peri-menopause, and menopause. It is the great window of health vulnerability where the body sheds light on where we need to support and help our bodies.
Oestrogen gets a bad reputation. It’s the hormone that really affects our moods, our bowel movements, and our body sensitivity.
We feel when our oestrogen is not right the fastest. Think of it as the body’s loud speaker.
But, progesterone is a special hormone that the body grows to love and depend on. It’s a stress reducer and calming hormone.
For every 1 oestrodiol (produced during menstruating years) there is 100 progesterone.
I like to equate progesterone to be like ice to fire (oestrogen being the fire).
This is one of the reasons peri-menopause and menopause are such a big deal, even if a woman doesn’t have a prior history of poor mensies.
Because progesterone reduces by 50% between the ages of 40 and 50.
It’s also why the synthetic progesterone-type of hormone, progestin, found in birth control pills, the mirena, or the copper IUDs are popular choices during peri-menopause and with women struggling with period problems.
What are your Reproductive Hormones telling you?
But let’s look deeper now at what your reproductive hormones may be communicating when issues pop up.
Few things to consider:
- If you are 54 or under, and not taking any hormones, these signs typically from 2 weeks to the first two days of your period.
- If you are taking some kind of birth control or contraceptive device, these symptoms can appear on and off – more cyclically if you are between 40 and 49 years of age.
- If you are in menopause or finished with menopause, low oestrogen and lowering progesterone often expose these problems.
1. Not clearing hormones properly.
A few weeks ago, I explained gut dysbiosis in-depth.
If you are constipated or have excessive diarrhoea, there can be a problem with eliminating excess oestrogen through the bowel. (Which can be connected to the liver or the gut – as seen in the quadrant image above.)
It’s very common for women that don’t clear hormones to develop excess oestrogen and suffer from things like:
- fatigue
- constipation
- tender or lumpy breasts
- changes in bowel movements just before or within the first two days of period starting
- migraines
- period pain
- anxiety, moodiness, irritability (especially before the period starts)
This is commonly seen early on in the menstrual cycle or as women get past 35 (as oestrogen starts going up naturally with age), and is a way for us to know that there’s something not working properly.
Clearing hormones is an important part of our body systems.
If not addressed, women that aren’t clearing oestrogen through the bowel or the liver, can start to have a combination of…
- oestrogen excess,
- lumps or bumps (lumpy breasts, cysts, etc),
- PCOS,
- subclinical under-active thyroid ,
- hypothyroidism,
- weight gain,
- fatigue, or even
- fibromyalgia.
just to name the most common ones we see.
2. Metabolic Hormone Dysfunction
There are seven metabolic hormones. The two most common metabolic hormones that are affected by the destabilisation of oestrogen or progesterone are thyroid hormones and insulin.
Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance manifests as a result of causing increased visceral fat and weight gain that doesn’t shift easily, in many times despite a good diet and exercise.
Weight feels very heavy. Periods can be very heavy. And androgens can increase. At first, it may not fall within diabetic reference ranges, which is one of the reasons we look deeper at insulin levels.
Thyroid Hormone Challenges
Thyroid hormones are very sensitive and are often the second impact when hormones don’t clear.
First, it pops up subtle declines in thyroid function, like fatigue, weight gain, puffiness, or poor circulation (in addition to many others listed in point one)
Then, if pushed aside, it can goes one of the three ways, leading to a diagnosis of:
Hypothyroidism,
Graves, or
Hashimoto’s
Many women just pacify weight gain, constipation, difficulty with fitness, or fatigue as just getting old, but this is one of the key signs that the thyroid hormones are being effected by poor clearance of reproductive hormones.
Brain-Thyroid-Adrenal Destabilisation
When not addressed over time, this can then affect the HPA Axis. (Hypothalamus, Pituitary Gland, Adrenal System)
This is really common during peri-menopause and I’ll write more about it in the coming weeks because its coming up more and more with many of our patients.
Women feel when this is happening because all the sudden they get foggy, overwhelmed easily, overly emotional, and unfortunately start to experience sleep challenges. (It’s often in additional to irregular menses and weight gain that have been going on for some time.)
It’s like all the balls in the air that we hold as the mum, business women, partner, and daughter that we seem to have held together for so long come crashing down all over the floor.
We often hear “I feel like this other person has climbed into my body and I’ve lost myself.” The other day a patient said, “I have a beautiful husband and I really want to stay married, but if I stay like this I’m headed for a divorce!”
3. Inflammation
Oestrogen can be quite inflammatory – which is why it’s so good at letting us know when something isn’t right.
It’s a good reason that menstrual cycles are being named “The Fifth Vital Sign”.In younger woman with period challenges, many symptoms are inflammation related, whether it’s pain, growth of polyps or cysts, bloating or headaches.
Oestrodiol rising or oestrogen dominance (in the case of something like PCOS) expose the inflammation. (This is why providing birth control or progesterone is more of a symptomatic solution, not necessarily a corrective one – because the oestradiol is augmenting the problem underneath, it’s not often the actual root cause.)
As women approach 35 up until their early 50s, it’s really common for the raising oestradiol to manifest inflammatory responses like…
- eczema,
- migraines,
- headaches,
- hay-fever or catching colds easy,
- nausea,
- rosacea,
- joint pain, or,
- muscle aches.
4. Digestive Issues
I separated this one here, however it really has so much to do with inflammation. Inflammation is often the driving factor of digestive discomfort.
Oestrogen being inflammatory can drive digestive issues.
With excess oestrogen up to 37 years of age, diagnosed conditions like endometriosis or PCOS or PMDD often come with digestive discomfort like bloating, IBS, constipation, or diarrhoea, or, rotating between the two.
It’s very common to suffer from digestive issues – as the source of much of the problem isn’t necessarily the reproductive system, but rather underlying inflammation that has created the symptomatic response felt during the menstrual cycle.
With the oestrogen roller coaster that happens from 37 onwards, it’s really common for women to hit 40 and have gastrointestinal issues, seeking out gastrointestinal support for things like diverticulitis, acid reflux, IBS, bloating, or flatulence.
As progesterone falls, underlying inflammatory bacteria become exposed because oestrogen goes to its highest level just before the periods start, and women start to experience menstrual cycles without ovulation. And ovulation is what produces progesterone.
This is like leaving the inflammatory fire of oestrogen being left on to light up any underlying issues.Hence why it can feel like bloating is worse, nausea is worse, or any of the other digestive symptoms listed above are more intense when suffering from anovulatory cycles.
Solutions
Conventional Medicine
Now, currently the way modern medicine is set up is to bring in hormone alternatives to symptomatically support women, bringing in things like progesterone to offset oestrogen challenges.
But at some point, women are encouraged to come off birth control. Or, they get to a point where hormones are not working like they once did. (very common with women who have been on bio-identical hormones for years)
So, many women, if they did use some form of pharmaceutical support, can not only experience side effects of coming off birth control, but often feel intense symptoms left almost masked until then.
Last week, we had a post-menopause patient experience eczema from head to toe and a diabetes diagnosis within months of coming off the pill.
Stubborn weight gain, rashes, or many of the other symptoms listed in the points above can be throttled until one comes of the pill – and can leave women feeling very stuck.
The other option is
Hysterectomy or Sterilisation
Pharmaceutical hormone solutions and surgery are both effective options at the time, but if there is an underlying metabolic hormone imbalance, or, an inflammatory issue below the surface, dealing with just the hormones, can be like taking away the signal, but not correcting the reason for the problem.
Naturopathic & Functional Medicine
Our approach is a combination of symptomatic and corrective treatment.
Our entire team has chosen to be in this industry because of the incredible relief and quality of life naturopathic medicine has provided us.
We’ve all had similar challenges to you and have found the best relief in our approach. Dealing with the root cause of the problem, and addressing the underlying drivers signalling hormone or gut imbalances, creates that long term restoration and relief.
We have so many beautiful success stories of patients who have been able to get their life back, had their doctor cancel surgeries, lost 10-30 kilos when nothing else worked, lower or come off medication.
It’s incredible when we get to the bottom of the issue, correct the cause, and restore essential nutrients.
If you or someone you know would like help, we’d love to help you. You can organise a Free Introductory Consultation with us here:
Looking forward to connecting with you again next week.
Warmly,
Tiaan
