The Rise of Hormone Replacement Therapies
You may not think about it much, but our hormones are under attack. It is bad enough that over the last 40+ years, science has begun to discover all of the ways that you have been disrupting your hormones – from utilizing certain chemicals and processes in so many facets of your life.
To add to it, you may have altered your hormones directly along the way. Are you unsure if this applies to you? Let’s explore some of the ways that you may have changed your body’s ability to regulate its hormones.
One Size of Hormone Change Does Not Fit All
Did you know that hormone replacement therapies have been around since the 1920s? These therapies were primarily focused on injecting insulin for diabetes control.
Soon estrogen, testosterone and others would follow suit a few decades later. If you have ever injected yourself with insulin, applied a hormone “deodorant / cream” or used birth control you have altered your hormonal profile.
Modern birth control became an option in the 1960s. The initial birth control pills were largely estrogen based. However, since issues with high amounts of estrogen are astronomical (more on this in a bit), the concentrations of birth control packets were altered to be dominant in progesterone.
The progesterone used only prevents a pregnancy as long as fertilization has not already occurred.
Fun fact: On the flip side, there are now progesterone pills that can help to reverse a chemical abortion.
So if you had a chemical abortion, and within 24 hours wish you had not made the decision to terminate the baby, there is a progesterone pill that has around a ~75% chance of reviving the pregnancy.
This may seem like a great thing, but when you understand the massive altering in hormones that both mom and baby must undergo, the short- and long-term health consequences can be monuments!
The same can be said about testosterone. “Low-T” has been marketed in mainstream society as an easy fix with testosterone replacement for decades. It is way more complicated than that!
Low-T is normally a result of up-stream chemical changes that need to be addressed. Rarely will supplementing with testosterone lead to a long-term correction of the cause of Low-T in the first place. If you really want to
get to the bottom of any testosterone or estrogen hormone question you must address aromatization of hormones; thus, it is best to invest in a Complete DUTCH test for yourself, which will show the entire cascade of hormones along with aromatization profiles.
Ever receive a cortisone injection? Used to reduce pain and/or inflammation within the body, synthetic cortisone is also a HORMONE with negative effects.
It can shut down the metabolism within the local area of the injection – ie all healing opportunities within the cells stop; all regulatory functions are temporarily halted.
This is why medicine instructs physicians not to preform more than three cortisone injections within a single joint, as more than 3 can lead to destruction!
This is really just the top of the iceberg. There is quite a bit more.
Thyroid medications? The real problem is rarely the need for synthetic thyroid hormones.
Growth hormone issues? Almost guaranteed to be a neural issue of some kind. Struggling with hunger/weight gain? Satiety hormone imbalance is most likely result from gut microbiome dysfunction and/or neural interference.
The truth is that any hormone you put into your body can create dis-regulation in the area you suspect and even the area you didn’t suspect to be the cause.
If you have been a patient for any length of time in our office, you know addressing symptoms never leads to a cure. Correct the root cause and you change the opportunity to regulate/create your hormones normally!
Focusing in on High Levels of Estrogen
Let’s highlight a few things about estrogen. Estrogen taken in any type of supplement form can be a dangerous thing. Specifically, high levels of estrogen can lead to a host of chronic issues. I want to highlight a few for you to connect the dots with:
High estrogen levels, combined with chronic antibiotic use, leads to microbiome yeast overgrowth (candida), which can create chronic vaginal yeast overgrowth in women.
Estrogen related cancers are estrogen receptor tolerance issues. Many contaminates, like mold for example, compete with estrogen at its receptor. So high levels of estrogen that cannot activate their receptors because the mold has docked to the estrogen receptor can lead to cancer growth.
If estrogen is deemed to be an issue with your health, do a follow up study to look for the CALM heavy metals (cadmium, aluminum, lead, and mercury). These metals lead to estrogen disruption which can lead to numerous secondary issues within your body.
If methylation is a health issue of yours, high estrogen levels could be a root cause. Combined with high levels of B9 and B12 in the body, the concoction limits the methylation ability of your metabolism, disrupting all sorts of processes.
High levels of estrogen can cause a chemical compound called phenols to breakdown. This can shut down phase 2 liver detox pathways, leading to metabolic syndrome and chronic fatigue.
Elevated estrogen slows down enzymes in the brain, which disrupts neurotransmitters, and creates high levels of dopamine between your neurons. This can cause anxiety and other mental focus and attention issues (Brain Fog, ADD/ADHD, Dementia, etc).
For more information on the Dutch Test Complete Hormone profile, visit THIS LINK. To schedule a free consultation with one of the Cornerstone Health Center doctors for a functional approach to hormone therapy, CLICK HERE