BALANCING WOMAN’S HORMONES FOR WOMAN’S HEALTH

An orchestra out of symphony is unpleasant right!

Similarly a hormone out of balance can very much affect the overall health and quality of life in women.

For example, psychological stress affects estrogen function.  Psychological stress is what people feel when they are under mental, emotional or physical pressure. On going stress can lead to a decrease in production of estrogen and progesterone. This has been shown in research to lead to malfunction in the immune system pathways, eventually leading to an autoimmune reactions.

Estrogen production is also affected by the thyroid function.  There is also a fine balance between estrogen production and progesterone production. Estrogen also affects the function of testosterone.

The beginning of women’s hormonal issues

When a female is born, her ovary remains inactive during childhood. She does have a single layer of cells that will later be stimulated to release her ovum (eggs) as part of her reproductive cycle.

During childhood, the anterior pituitary hormones in her brain does not produce the two hormones called LH and FSH (Lutenising hormone or Follicular Stimulating Hormone). Around the onset of puberty around 11 years to 15 years old, the anterior pituitary hormone starts to produce increasing levels of LH and FSH.  The increasing LH and FSH stimulate the secretion of progesterone which also affects the secretion of estrogen. Thus, this leads to a handful of those single layer of cells growing (called follicles). Eventually, one of these cells will grow larger than the others and produce more estrogen. The rest of the follicles will degenerate). Thus one ovum will mature to be released into the womb.

The release of the ovum again is regulated by how much estrogen is produced. There has to be a threshold reached before the egg is released. Infertility can occur where the egg is not released. But since the womb was prepared to receive the egg, the womb walls will break down and still lead to menstruation (though there may not be an egg present).

Some effects of Imbalance in a woman's hormones

Much of the issues around women’s reproductive health issues has do with the imbalance of the hormones. Some of the women’s gynecological hormonal issues are:

-          PCOS

-          Endometriosis

-          Pre-Menstrual Syndrome

-          Pre-Menopause Issues

-          Menopause Issues

-          Fertility

There may also be issues around skin (acne, dry skin, scaly skin, oily skin etc). Hormonal imbalance can also contribute to poor bowel health: issues around bloating, IBS, inflammatory bowel disease.

If a woman’s hormones are out, this can also impact mental health: depression, anxiety, post-natal depression etc.  It may also affect the ability to lose weight or maintain a healthy body weight.

For some teenage girls, past traumatic history in their childhood can also lead to both either early menstruation or delayed menstruation or other gynecological issues.

Role of diet in achieving hormonal symphony

Since your hormones are produced by your body, using the nutrients available to it through what you eat, definitely feeding your body the right food is crucial to achieving that hormonal symphony.

We know that we need sufficient amount of energy and protein in food and also specific nutrients such as iodine and zinc at particular levels in diet.

But each woman is an individual, thus hormonal balance must also be individualized. There has to be taken into consideration the specific symptoms that the woman may have. While there are progesterone creams etc that a GP can prescribe, the nutritional approach aims to provide your body will the nutrients it needs to regulate its own hormonal system.

At Maximised Nutrition, either through your GP or  through your Gynaecologist or by self funded blood test for hormones, a holistic and thorough assessment will be made of your current status related to your gynecological hormonal system. Then an individual meal plan will be developed for you.

 What you need for an assessment at your first consultation

-          A chart of your menstrual cycle (just write down your patterns etc, even if you are not regular).

-          You will be sent a pre-clinic assessment form.

-          If you already have blood test results for thyroid test, your reproductive health test, bring in a copy. You may already have the results from your fertility expert. Otherwise, the following blood test is recommended, where day 1 is the day when you have free flow of your menstrual blood (not spotting):

o   Day 3: FSH, LH, Estradiol

o   Day 21: Progesterone, DHEA, free testosterone, SHBG

o   Full thyroid test: TSH, T4, T3

Once you have these results, you can book an appointment for a Maximised Nutrition Clinic here