Are you tired lately? Have you gained weight? Are you not sleeping well? How is your ability to concentrate? Are you able to be resilient in the face of challenges?
Symptoms of hormonal imbalance include: fatigue, weight gain, mood swings, poor sleep, low libido, insomnia, hot flashes, thinning hair, menstrual irregularities, constipation and difficulty concentrating.
With hormonal imbalances, I often start with testing. We don’t know what is happening until we test. If a person does not want to test, acupuncture and Chinese herbs can be very effective for hormonal balance depending on the severity of what is happening.
In a world full of endocrine disruptors, sometimes people need intervention with hormones to actually feel better and thrive. Sometimes things can be balanced with an approach that places patients in the parasympathetic and allows their system to reset away from the daily fight or flight.
Female imbalances in hormones can contribute to PCOS, PMS, infertility, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, perimenopausal symptoms and menopausal symptoms.
Male symptoms related to low testosterone include fatigue, erectile dysfunction, depression and muscle wasting.
When I did my master’s thesis in Chinese medicine on how Chinese medicine is evolving in America, I asked doctors from China about clinical differences they saw between China and America. At the time, in 2001, they said they saw more infectious diseases in China and in the US, because there was so much opportunity at the time, they saw more diseases of deficiency. Deficiency diseases are often related to hormone deficiencies.
An endocrinology teacher in naturopathic medical school said the thyroid, adrenals and sex hormones are like three rock climbers going up tied together by a rope. If one starts to fall, it can bring the others down.
Our world has more rapidly changed in the last five years than it had in my entire lifetime. That is a lot for our bodies and hormones to process.
If you would like to assess your hormones and seek hormone balancing, feel free to contact me at 503-241-5094.