Symptoms of hormone imbalance and determining the root cause
Hormone imbalances affect millions of Americans and contribute to a wide array of symptoms and conditions. General symptoms like fatigue, lack of energy, depression and other mood problems, lack of sex drive (for men AND women), high blood sugar, and much more are common signs of hormone imbalances.
Sadly, many people never speak to their care providers about these problems, and even if they do, they may not get the results they’re looking for.
We want you to know that it is possible to get to the root cause of your symptoms and identify exactly what’s needed to address the underlying cause of your hormone imbalance and regain excellent health, through Nutrition Response Testing.
First, what exactly are hormones? And what happens when they are out of balance?
The endocrine system
Almost every function in your body is controlled by your endocrine system. It’s made up of glands including the pituitary, thyroid, adrenals, pancreas, ovaries and testes, which all secrete hormones.
You can think of hormones like little messengers, or keys that fit into a specific lock in other organs and tissues.
For example, in women, the pituitary gland releases follicle stimulating hormone to send a message to the ovaries to ripen an egg. It also releases luteinizing hormone to trigger the ovary to release the mature egg (ovulation).
Meanwhile, the ovaries release the hormones estrogen and progesterone at various levels to regulate the menstrual cycle. If any part of this intricate system gets out of balance, it can trigger symptoms.
For example, when estrogen is too high (estrogen dominance) it can cause weight gain, cysts and fibroids, while progesterone dominance can cause PMS, irregular cycles and infertility.
Symptoms of common hormone-related conditions
Adrenal fatigue
The adrenal glands contribute to our “fight or flight” response by secreting hormones like cortisol, adrenaline, and epinephrine. However, they can only operate under a state of high stress for so long, and then there’s a “crash and burn” effect known as adrenal fatigue. It causes symptoms such as:
- fatigue
- low energy
- body aches
- weight loss
- low blood pressure
Because the adrenal glands help produce thyroid and sex hormones, prolonged stress can contribute to imbalances with those hormones too.
Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism
The thyroid is a butterfly-shaped gland in the neck that controls metabolism, or how your body turns food into energy. When your thyroid doesn’t produce enough hormones, hypothyroidism results. Symptoms include:
- depression
- fatigue
- weight gain
- always feeling cold
- gut issues like constipation
Less commonly, the thyroid produces too much of its hormones, resulting in hyperthyroidism. Symptoms include:
- anxiety or nervousness
- rapid heartbeat
- hand tremors
- difficulty sleeping
- weight loss
- excessive sweating
Many practitioners simply test Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) levels to check for these conditions, but it’s not always an effective approach. The thyroid hormones T3 and T4 may be low or high even if TSH looks ‘normal.’ If you’ve had TSH testing and were told that your thyroid level is normal, but you’re still experiencing symptoms, it’s wise to seek out more precise testing (see Nutrition Response Testing below).
Polycystic ovarian syndrome
Testosterone helps with mood, motivation, drive, libido, energy and muscle mass. In women, too much testosterone can lead to polycystic ovarian syndrome, one of the most common hormone related disorders in women. It causes:
- irregular or absent cycles
- weight gain
- fatigue
- unwanted hair growth on face or chest
- thinning hair on head
- acne
- pelvic pain
- sleep and mood changes
- headaches
- infertility
Diabetes
The body likes blood sugar maintained in a very narrow range. The hormones insulin and glucagon are released by the pancreas to reduce or increase blood sugar as needed. If the body doesn’t produce enough insulin, or becomes resistant to it, diabetes results.
Early symptoms of diabetes may include:
- hunger and fatigue
- peeing more often and being thirstier
- dry mouth and itchy skin
- blurred vision
What’s triggering my hormone imbalance?
There are many stressors that can contribute to the above conditions. Common stressors include:
- Nutritional deficiencies
- Food intolerances
- High-level prolonged stress
- Endocrine-disrupting chemicals like BPA, phthalates, lead, pesticides, etc
- Bacteria, viruses and fungi
- Parasites
- Mold
Because glands of the endocrine system work together, and the endocrine system is connected intimately to our other bodily systems, it can be very difficult to determine the source of an imbalance.
Conventional hormone testing is a good tool, but doesn’t always provide a full picture — especially when imbalances are “sub-clinical,” meaning not significant enough to show up on blood tests, but significant enough to cause symptoms, as with many thyroid issues.
Getting to the root cause
The key to understanding the root cause of your symptoms, and getting back to vibrant health, means accessing care with a practitioner who can accurately and precisely identify:
- What organs and glands in your body may not be functioning optimally, and
- the exact stressor that’s causing the dysfunction.
Five people with the same symptoms may very well have five different underlying reasons for feeling unwell, because one particular stressor can affect various organs or systems.
Nutrition Response Testing (NRT)
This is when Nutrition Response Testing can be an incredibly useful tool. It’s a clinically proven, precise method of determining the underlying cause of many health conditions, including hormone imbalances. It helps connect the dots between the symptoms you’re experiencing and the source of the symptoms, by giving the practitioner a detailed account of where your deficiencies lie, and what’s causing it.
Nutrition Response Testing not only identifies the root cause of your symptoms, but the needed lifestyle, nutrition and supplement adjustments, personalized to you, that will help get you back on the road to optimal health.
If you like Nutrition Response Testing may be right for you, you can visit our website to learn more about how it works, or call us at (319) 236-3363 to schedule a consultation today!