As I Suspected, It is Probably my Hormones...

Some links are affiliate links, see my disclaimer.

So if you read this post, you probably know about my battle with losing weight and as I suspected, it is probably my hormones and it probably has been my hormones all along as in my whole life... since I was a teenager. 

Did you know that we are actually supposed to have glowing skin, not oily hair, easy periods, no acne, no hair growing on our faces and necks and other places where it's not supposed to be.  (Thank Sara Gottfried for that info).  

My husband recently had some lab work done and we were looking into a few things when I remembered that I had done an Everlywell Test on mine (um...last year). While I ended up taking a few supplements I didn't think to much about it.

But now that I've gained even more weight and when I have been trying, I'm not really seeing the needle move at all either on the scale or just how my body feels so I need to dig into this a little bit more.  There's so much info so I'm going to just share it as I find it and then report back.  Hopefully it will help you ask questions and dig a little deeper into yours too.

By the way, I think that long gone are the days where we should just blindly trust what we are told and we need to dig in and advocate for ourselves.  Two examples from this week in particular are where my husband's doctor told him a liver cleanse is not a thing and my daughter sending me the insert for Zyrtec, which most of my family took most of their lives, and its pretty scary actually.

So for me in particular, my progesterone is high, testosterone is low, FSH is way high, LH is way high, and DHEAs is low.  Estrogen is normal, Cortisol is normal, T3 and T4 is normal. 

According to what I found in Sara's book, it seems a little odd for my progesterone to be high and not low and most people have excess estrogen as they age.  If you think at any age you are having hormonal imbalances, and I suspect that unless you have clear skin, normal periods that arent't painful, no trouble keeping the weight off when eating a healthy diet, I highly recommend reading her book and challenging what you may have been told my a doctor or by society in general.  You'll need to dig in for you what your levels are and you can do that with your doctor or with one of Everywell's women's health tests. 

Her main protocol though regardless of symptoms or levels seem to come down to what we all know but don't really wan to do:

• Avoid gluten, dairy, cheese, eggs, caffeine, alcohol, and sugar
• Move your body but in a non-strenuous way like yoga, walking, pilates
• Get rid of the environmental toxins that are endocrine disruptors - these are found in our body care products, makeup and skincare, household products, and food containers.  It is actually gross and frightening that this is still allowed but swap things up for clean products.  This is the switch we all need to be very conscious to make.
• Eat a whole food diet as much as possible.  Eat like your great-grandparents ate.  We are not made to consume the junk that is sold in packages. 
• I'm adding this one because it helped me in the past. Keep a food journal and write down what and how much you eat and drink and then pay attention and write down how you feel.  Are you tired and sluggish, bloated, have trouble sleeping, or do you feel great. 
• Sara also recommends that women get 35-45mg of Fiber per day either through food or a supplement and
• to make sure that you are getting enough Omega 3's usually by taking a fish oil supplement 

Ok, now for the more complicated part.  I'm going to continue to sort through this over time, but here's a list of herbs that MAY be helpful when balancing hormones. These are linked below if you are interested in looking into them too.

Low DHEA - Tribulus, Ashwagandha, Ginseng, Maca, Rhodiola

High FSH - Vitex (Chasteberry), Black Current, Fennel

High LH - Black Cohosh

High Progesterone - Vitex (Chasteberry)

Low Testosterone - Tribulus Terrestris, Horney Goat Weed, Ashwagandha, Maca, Neddle Ginseng

Others that may be helpful and are worth looking into are Dong Quai, Wild Yam, and Evening Primrose OIl, and St. Johns Wort.

Keep in mind that while there may be studies, research, and articles about these, Herb and Supplement companies cannot come and and say or put on the bottle that Supplement x is used for or can do y since these products are not regulated by the FDA.  It doesn't mean that they don't work or they don't help, they just cannot explicitly state it.  But as we all know, even things that are FDA approved aren't necessarily a cure all and don't have side effects so always take that for what it is worth. 

I've put most of these on list that can be accessed here. 

In summary,

1. get your hormone levels checked either by your doctor or using one of these Everywell tests (save 15% here)
2. ditch the toxins even if you just do it one at a time and replace it with something better (Thrive is a great place to start since you can sort by ingredients you don't want in your products - you can use this link and get 40% off)
3. make an effort to eat whole food as much as possible and start to reduce your caffeine, alcohol, and sugar intake,
4. read Sara's book, and
5. research some supplements that can help you

I'm going to keep sharing my journey so be sure to subscribe to the blog so you won't miss a post. 

Disclaimer

The information in this post is designed for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for informed medical advice or care. This information should not be used to diagnose or treat any health problems or illnesses without consulting a doctor. Consult with a health care practitioner before relying on any information in my blog post or on my website.