Have you ever gotten cramps during your period?  Mood swings?  Weight gain?  Did you know that these aren’t just normal things that go along with your monthly period?  And did you know that despite the recent new drug commercials, medication isn’t required to solve the problem?

About 100 years ago, the average woman got her first menstrual period at age 16. She would go on to have between 100-200 periods in her lifetime.

Today, the average “woman” gets her first period before age 12, and this average age is dropping; 9 years old is now quite common, and there are documented cases where girls as young as 3 are getting their first real menstrual period. The average woman today will have between 350-400 periods in her lifetime.
Women in North America also continue to menstruate for a full 10 years longer than the rest of the world! Believe it or not, ladies in our society used to menstruate only until they were about 45 or so before reaching menopause, and it still works this way for women everywhere but here. In our society, it is not uncommon to hear about a woman over age 55 (sometimes 58 or older) still stuck in perimenopause (the period of transition from monthly cycles to menopause), having a menstrual period.

The Real Culprit: The Immune System

The immune system is usually an expert at telling the difference between what is part of you and what isn’t. This ability to recognize “self” from “non-self” is crucial – without it, your immune system would attack its own cells. Well, in the conditions listed above, that is EXACTLY what’s happening. This is known as autoimmunity, or “self”-immunity, immunity against oneself.

The immune system can decide to attack any type of tissue, whether it’s muscle, organ, or gland.Here’s a brief list of the most common autoimmune disorders, and the specific part of the body under attack in each disorder:

“All of these factors come together to create
a perfect storm of hormone upheaval”

–Dr. Lara Sweeney

Not only that, but this chaotic hormonal imbalance carries a whole set of risks of its own:

• Infertility
• Miscarriage
• Unpleasant cycles
• Fibroids
• Cancer
• Anemia
• Other mineral deficiencies
• Abdominal pain
• Fluid retention
• Endometriosis

Do any of these hormone imbalance symptoms apply to you?

• Abdominal cramps during menstrual periods
• Abdominal weight gain
• Breast tenderness
• Cysts in breasts or ovaries
• Large clots seen during menstrual periods
• Mood swings – impatient, “bossy”
• General swelling/puffiness (shoes and/or rings feel too tight)
• Endometriosis or fibroids
• Frequently feel tired
• Water weight gain
• Depression, anxiety

If so, you may have unopposed estrogen (either estrogen itself is too high or progesterone is too low compared to estrogen), or you might have problems regulating multiple hormones.

Conventional medicine wisdom says that the symptoms of menopause (or any other hormone fluctuation) are caused by a drop in estrogen levels. Following that logic, their solution is to introduce hormones into the body from the outside.

More current research, however, shows us that those hot flashes, mood swings, and extra pounds aren’t the result of too LITTLE estrogen, but too MUCH. Following this logic has led to a mushrooming of the progesterone industry, as everybody rushed out to buy estrogen-balancing progesterone creams.

Both of these approaches miss the point.

It’s not that simple, and it’s not a quick fix. We must consider more than just a see-saw relationship between estrogen and progesterone. Instead of a see-saw, think of all the body’s hormones (estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, DHEA, cortisol, pregnenolone, and so many more) as part of a symphony.

Everyone produces ALL the hormones, just in different amounts and ratios. All hormones have the same building blocks (cholesterol and others), and multiple lifestyle factors (such as stress, diet, exercise, malabsorption, liver problems, medications, and more) affect the amounts of building blocks available to make hormones, which hormones get made, and which hormones don’t.

When our diets are decent, our stress is manageable, we’re absorbing our nutrients, and our organs and systems are functioning properly, all the hormones are produced in the right amounts and ratios, taking their turns doing their jobs. This is all governed by the pituitary gland, a tiny important little gland buried deep inside the brain, which shuts off when it senses that there are enough hormones in the system. This is why simply supplementing hormones from outside sources is NOT a good idea; if hormone levels are too high for too long, the pituitary gland becomes lazy and sluggish, sometimes ceasing to function at all!

Natural Help and Real Answers for Hormone Imbalances

If it’s not as simple as a single problem with a single solution, what IS the answer? The truth lies deeper, in the body’s overall ability to handle, regulate, and maintain hormone level balance.Several factors can disrupt this delicate ability, such as stress, diet, underlying emotional issues, or excess hormones from overlooked sources (either in foods or as foreign chemicals that mimic estrogen activity, known as xenoestrogens).

To balance the hormones is simple and yet complicated at the same time. It requires time, commitment, and patience, and the help of someone well-versed in Functional Medicine.

Our personalized programs are an excellent place to start.

Dr. Lara Sweeney’s formal education includes Functional Endocrinology, which addresses hormone balance and their underlying factors head-on, using effective, science-based protocols to:

• Determine the levels of various hormones using reliable testing
• Balance out all hormone levels, from top to bottom
• Design nutrition and supplementation plans to jumpstart the liver and pituitary gland
• Identify possible sources of xenoestrogens and other factors that disrupt hormone balance
• Eliminate the lion’s share of our outside hormonal exposure with 1 simple dietary change!

Working with Dr. Sweeney, you’ll be able to:

• Identify hidden sources of chemicals that throw your hormone levels off balance
• Eat SMART for proper hormone maintenance
• Which foods can sabotage your progress
• How to prevent chronic degenerative diseases like breast/ovarian/uterine cancers, PMS, and minimize your chances of developing autoimmune disorders

Your hormone symptoms may not simply be too much or too little estrogen; it’s important to see exactly where each hormone level is. Hormones are too important to take lightly – they govern everything! Now they can be checked, non-invasively and inexpensively. Get real control of your hormones now.