Hormonal Imbalance Treatment

Quick view: Hormonal Imbalance Treatment the Hormone Repair Manual

How are hormonal imbalances treated? The first step to treating hormonal imbalance is identifying the cause and if your hormones are lower or higher than normal. The most common causes of hormonal imbalance in both men and women come from poor diet, and stress during the teenage to mid-twenties and over the age of 40.

Quick Review: Here is what we will be covering in this post. 

• at-home testosterone test
• low progesterone & natural progesterone 
• estrogen dominance & too much estrogen in men
• low testosterone in women
• hormonal weight gain
• the hormone repair manual

At-Home Testosterone Test

There are two options in testing your hormone levels you can test them at home, I linked a great at home hormone panel test kit below from Amazon to check out, or you can request blood work from your doctor called a full hormonal panel test. 

A saliva-based hormone test, measuring 5 important female hormones.

How does the at home female hormone health check test work? 
After your order is taken, the test kit will be delivered to you. You collect your sample from the comfort of your home and send it right back to the Verisana Laboratory. After running the analysis, we send you your results via email in a confidential format.

This test kit contains:

• 1 instruction for collecting your saliva sample
• 1 test tube
• 1 straw
• 1 label for your saliva sample

HORMONAL HEALTH: Libido, menstruation, fertility, metabolism, and many more aspects can be impacted by your hormone levels. SYMPTOMS: Symptoms for hormonal imbalances could be fatigue, physical exhaustion, depression / depressive mood swings, sleeping disorders, menstrual and abdominal pain, nervousness, and anxiety. SIMPLICITY: Easy hormone test to do at home – once you get your salivary test kit, take the sample and send it back to our lab.

NOTE: Due to regulatory reasons, this test is currently not available in NY/NJ/RI/MD.

Clinical Bloodwork: Requesting a Full Hormone Panel from Your Doctor

Your second option is to have a doctor or specialist check your hormone levels for you by requesting a full hormonal panel bloodwork be done. Find a doctor who takes a more natural approach otherwise they will do what Dr. Hyman calls “diagnose and adios”. 

If there is a hormonal imbalance they will simply write you a prescription and send you on your way. This will help to supplement the hormones your body is not producing BUT it will not fix the problem, and often people find they have to continuously increase the medication as it becomes less and less effective. 

To avoid this do a quick google search or ask around for a good functional medicine doctor, or doctors that focus on taking a wholistic approach to medicine. There are not many of them out there so you might have to do some digging to find a good one. 

Low Progesterone & Natural Progesterone Treatment

One of the most common hormonal imbalances is low progesterone, which leads to estrogen dominance. Estrogen and progesterone are hormones that can be viewed as needing to balance each other on the seesaw. If one starts dropping it will cause the other to go up. This will then lead to other hormones such as the thyroid and adrenal glands being thrown out of balance.

Low Progesterone Symptoms to look out for:

• Low libido or decreased sex drive.
• Hot flashes.
• Migraines or headaches.
• Depression, anxiety or other mood changes.
• Low blood sugar.
• Vaginal dryness.
• weight gain.
• PMS, irregular menstrual cycle, heavy bleeding, spotting between periods, loss of menstrual cycle
• breast tenderness, fibrocystic breasts.
• fibroids.
• gallbladder problems.

Natural Progesterone Treatment

The fastest way to eliminate any hormonal imbalance is to eliminate foods that are causing issues such as highly inflammatory foods, highly processes foods, sugary foods and drinks, and so on.

Read more on the best Hormonal Imbalance Diet here and Progesterone Deficiency.

Estrogen Dominance & Too Much Estrogen in Men

Where there is Estrogen Dominance you will also find Progesterone Deficiency. They are hormones that act as a balance on a seesaw, however, if one goes up the other is sure to drop. Estrogen dominance is the second most common hormonal imbalance in men only after hypothyroidism.

Men normally around the age of 40 start having drops in their testosterone levels which can often lead to estrogen dominance and hormonal weight gain. The hormonal weight gain in men is known as the dreaded “dad bod” giving the pair-shaped weight gain in the stomach, hips, and thighs.

Estrogen dominance in women can happen three different times throughout a womens life. Puberty, which would be around the ages of 13-22, during or post pregnancy, normally around the ages of 23-35, and again around the age premenopause and menopause kick in (age 40 and beyond).  

The hormonal weight gain for women appears in the same pair-shaped areas of the stomach, butt, hips, and thighs. Women often struggle more in the stomach area, called the hormonal belly, which is the hardest area for both men and women to lose weight.

Click here to read more on Estrogen Dominance signs, symptoms, and natural treatment options.

Low Testosterone in Women

One of the first and biggest signsof low testosterone in women weight gain. Low testosterone in women is most commonly linked to birthcontrol pills or patches, and certain medications such as anti-hypertensives and opiates. It can also cause or lead to ovarium failure.

 Low testosterone in women treatment is to boost it naturally through the use of vitamins and supplements such as zinc, magnesium, B vitamins particularly vitamin B6 and Omega-3 essential fatty acids, and increasing the amount of protein from clean sources such as wild-caught fish, grass-fed grass-finished beef, and free-range organic chicken thighs. 

I have linked some of the supplements I take daily that helped me heal my thyroid and wean off all medication, lose over 50 pounds, and get my own hormones back to a happy healthy hormonal balance.

Symptoms of low testosterone in women

• low libido
• weight gain
• changes in mood 
• thinning hair
• loss of muscle mass which will also cause an increase in body fat
• dry skin (itchy skin at night is a common link to hormone imbalance)

Medical Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I am a normal person just like you who had a hormonal imbalance that I was told was incurable by a medical professional. I refused to believe it and took my health into my own hands. Healing my autoimmune system (hypothyroidism) and weaning off all medication naturally losing over 50 pounds in the process and keeping it off for over 6 years now! The information I share is based on my own journey and is not medical advice, but it is meant to help lead you to find your own answers and solutions in your healing journey. 

Hormonal Weight Gain

Hormonal weight gain after my second pregnancy that would NOT come off no matter what I tried was the reason I started researching how to heal my hormonal imbalance. There were a lot of other pesky symptoms such as dry, britle, and frizzy hair, hormonal cystic acne, and extreme fatigue and mood swings I delt with but if I am being honest the weight gain was the biggest pain point. 

Hormonal weight gain is also the top reason friends, clients, and blog readers come to me. So many of them have tried every diet and workout program under the sun, but when there is a hormonal balance losing weight can feel impossible. 

Focusing on weight loss is like trying to solve a problem from the outside in. The weight gain is not the root of the problem, the hormonal imbalance is. So, if you want to lose the weight you must start with getting your hormones balanced. Otherwise, if you were lucky enough to make any progress in your weight loss journey it would all just boomeranging right back on plus an extra 10-20 pounds! 

If hormonal weight loss is one of your top pain points like it was for me check out this post next: Hormonal Imbalance Weight Gain where we deep dive into how to fix hormonal imbalance so you can finally lose the weight and keep it off for good!

Other Commonly asked questions about hormonal imbalance

How can I cure my hormonal imbalance?

Depending on your situation you may need to help your hormones for a time by taking a natural hormone replacement prescription. If your hormonal imbalance is less serious then you may be able to skip the prescription medications. Eliminating certain foods and skincare and personal hygiene products that are full of endocrine disruptors is the quickest, most natural, and most effective way to heal a hormonal imbalance.

To find out what foods to eliminate read this post next: Hormonal Imbalance Diet and eliminating skincare, personal hygiene, and products around your home that are known endocrine disruptors check out this post next: How to Find Hidden Toxins in Everyday Products

What are signs of a hormonal imbalance?

• Irregular menstruation (periods)
• Infertility
• Acne and hormonal acne
• Diabetes
• Thyroid disease/disorder
• Obesity 
• Slow heartbeat or rapid heartbeat 
• Unexplained weight gain or weight loss.
• Fatigue.
• Constipation.
• Diarrhea or more frequent bowel movements.
• Numbness and tingling in your hands.
• Higher-than-normal blood cholesterol levels.
• Depression or anxiety.
• Being unable to tolerate cold temperatures or warm temperatures.
• Dry, coarse skin and hair.
• Thin, warm and moist skin.
• Irregular body fat distribution.
• Darkened skin in your armpit or the back and sides of your neck.
• Skin tags.
• Extreme thirst and frequent urination.

Can I balance my hormones myself?

Yes and no. Depending on the level of hormonal imbalance you have there may be a time when you need medication, however, with a clean diet eliminating foods that are causing problems, and removing toxic hormone-blocking ingredients from your skincare, personal hygiene, and products around your home you can bring your hormones naturally back into balance over time.

What age does hormonal imbalance start?

There are three times in a woman’s life that hormonal imbalance occurs most. Puberty, pregnancy, and menopause (pre-menopause). For men, hormonal imbalances become more of an issue later in life around age 40 when testosterone tends to drop causing hormonal weight gain among other difficulties. Though it is not unusual during the teenage years that cause hormonal acne and changes in mood.