Monday, September 28, 2009

Hormones...What your doctor probably won't tell you.

I am constantly amazed at how many people, men and women, who come to see me that have been diagnosed with some exotic disease only to find out that their hormones are out of balance.

Our entire lives are controlled by hormones yet, more often than not, if you go to an endocrinologist (a doctor specializing in hormones) they simply check the symptom and throw a pill at you. OK, I am probably playing the same broken record here, but do you really want this as a national health care plan? More of them same and get fined if you don't want it?

So let's talk a bit about hormones and what the imbalance(s) can affect.

Your body is an incredible creation. It gives warnings and alarm "bells" all the time. Some of those alarms are such things as low libido, increased weight gain (especially around the tummy and butt), hot flashes (I prefer to call them "power surges"), breast tenderness, mood swings, decreased stamina, decreased muscle size, rapid aging, osteoporosis, hearling loss and about 40 other symptoms not usually associated with a "simple" hormone imbalance.

I recommend that every man and woman over 35 get a saliva test every year. My lab of choice is ZRT labs in Beaverton, Oregon. (If you live in California or New York, you will have to have a practitioner, RN, PA, chiropractor, acupuncturist, etc.) order the kit for you.

Please check your Estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, cortisol and DHEA. These tests will usually run about $150.00 and it's the best $150.00 you'll ever spend on your health. SInce your doctor probably won;t do it, you'll have to.

Your practitioner will interpret the rather simple results for you and most likely recommend a natural course to take. (We'll talk more about so-called Bio-identical hormone treatments in another entry.)

Why saliva and not a blood test?

I have several very good friends who are medical doctors and we go round and round about this one. Remember! I'm a blood guy, but I think that saliva is much more accurate and here's why.

Sex hormones such as progesterone, estrogen and testosterone are fat-soluble steroids similar to cholesterol that attach to lipids in the blood and get stored in fat tissue.

Only 2 to 5 percent of serum progesterone, estrogen and testosterone is "free" or non-protein-bound. This is the hormone available to target tissues and to saliva. Thus, these hormones measured by serum levels is mostly a measure of hormones that are not going to be used by the body and is therefore an erroneous calculation for our purposes.

Hormones transported by red blood cell membranes are readily available to all target tissues and to saliva. This progesterone is completely bioavailable and readily measured by saliva testing. Only a small fraction of it is carried by the watery serum. Obviously, serum testing is not a good way to measure transdermal progesterone absorption.

What I am saying about hormone transdermals also applies to other creams, as well.

I suggest you read What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause available through Amazon. This will explain in great detail what I trying to say here in a short blog.

You will be amazed at how many so called diseases (like Hashimoto's) is not a disease at all but a hormone imbalance.

Now, I know I only covered the basics, but unless you do the research, your doctor probably will not diagnose or treat the proper symptom. How many young women and teenage girls are thrown birth control pills when indeed that simply increases the risk of breast and lung cancer.

I am not saying your doctor is ignorant or stupid. I am only saying that they are overwhelmed by the system and really haven't the time to practice medicine anymore. If you want more of this medicine, then by all means let Congress run ahead with a system that isn't working.

But, please, please read and do your due diligence. It's your body.

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