Answers to your health and nutrition questions:
Q. "Who out there is on hormone replacement therapy? Having some symptoms, and yes, my mom had breast cancer after getting on them. Please elaborate."
A. You are right, there is no simple one-size-fits-all answer to this, so I will elaborate with a reprint of an article that I wrote for one of the local magazines.
On May 31, 2002, the Women's Health Initiative abruptly stopped a study of 16,608 postmenopausal American women to assess the risk to benefit ratio of the most commonly used HRT. The trial was cut short by about 3.5 years because the women in the study were being put at high risk. The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that not only did the study find that HRT (in this case, estrogen plus progestin) significantly increases the risk of coronary heart disease, but it greatly increases breast cancer as well.
Last week my home air conditioner stopped working. One of my friends said, "Oh, it's probably the relay switch". Another one said, "It probably needs freon". Yet another said, "Did you check the thermostat?" When in reality the true diagnosis was a circuit control board. What a perfect parallel to our own bodies.
Think of your physical body like a finely tuned machine which functions best using the proper mix of chemicals, live functioning wires and switches. The body transfers energy in many different ways but primarily through the central nervous system and secondarily through the hormonal system. Your body has an electrical system that provides power to these systems. Vitamins, minerals, enzymes and other co-factors participate in this endeavor.
How healthy is your relay switch?
Most people think of the female gender when the word "hormone" is mentioned. However, there are nine hormone-producing glands in the body. These glands carry instructions naturally throughout the body. The hypothalamus and pituitary are the main electrical switches that either open or close the flow of hormones. They and other glands transfer signals by way of hormonal messengers such as adrenaline, insulin, cortisol, thyroid stimulating hormone, insulin, estrogen, melatonin, progesterone and testosterone.
What is the setting on your thermostat?
The thyroid and adrenal glands are the main energy producing glands and the thermostat that regulates temperature. They supply the body with more than 98% of its energy as they support metabolism. Bodily fluids including the blood, the lymphatic system, and the fluid between the cells and in the cells carry these chemical messengers and are analogous to the freon. A dehydrated body challenges proper temperature regulation.
Does your circuit control board need tweaking?
All of these parts are important to the stable function of the body; however, the critical circuit control board is the brain, without which nothing else works. This control panel consists of neurotransmitter chemical messengers important to the function of the hormonal system as well as the entire body. Each intricacy of this electrical signaling is vital for optimal hormone functioning in a temperature-regulated body.
Life is in the blood
Minerals such as calcium and magnesium and other supporting nutrients help to make up the proper mix of chemicals for a healthy hot wire transfer of messages. Deficiencies interfere with hormonal transfer in the body. Bodily fluids must be pH stable. If the blood fluids become too acid the buffer minerals calcium, magnesium and other alkaline minerals are naturally pulled out of the bones and teeth to reduce acidity. We can survive toothless with osteoporosis, but we cannot survive if the blood is too acid. Stress, weakened or burned-out adrenal glands, a high sugar and carbohydrate diet, fried foods and carbonated beverages all contribute to an acid body.
Hormone replacement therapy
Hormones must be "hot" to transfer messages. The gland must be healthy enough to produce the hormone, and the hormonal receptor site must be healthy enough to receive the message. Thus attempting to correct hormones by simply giving hormones will not always solve the problem. For example, hot flashes and night sweats are not always a sign of low estrogen or menopause. Other reasons might include low progesterone, eating a high sugar and high carbohydrate diet, low thyroid or adrenal function, and inability of the liver to convert hormones properly.
Symptoms of lukewarm hormones
The body was Divinely designed for balanced health. Any of the following symptoms can be indicators of unbalanced hormones that may need tweaking:
- Fatigue or exhaustion
- Cravings or addictions
- Hair loss
- Headaches, migraines
- Irritability, moodiness, anger
- Depression
- Fuzzy thinking
- Loss of focus and concentration
- ADD-type symptoms
- Low libido
- Short-term memory loss
- Heart palpitations
- Insomnia or poor sleep patterns
Interferences in the circuit control board
Continued abuse of the body results in hormonal imbalance. Following are some causes of interference:
- Poor diet
- Lack of proper sleep
- Uncontrolled stressors
- Drug or other addictions
- Pharmaceutical drugs
- Heavy metals: mercury, lead, arsenic, aluminum, and cadmium
- Chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides
- Preservatives, additives, colorings
- Growth hormones in meat and dairy
- Antibiotics in poultry
- Poor gut health
- Mental and emotional trauma
The first requirement for a finely tuned hormonal system is to take responsibility for your own health. Checking your levels of hormones and neurotransmitters every couple of years through saliva or urine testing is a good idea whether you're male or female. If you don't know how to eat a healthy diet or you're not getting adequate sleep, call me for an appointment. And finally, improving the flow of hormones throughout the body can be supported by exercise, meditation, prayer, and avoiding negative people and stressful situations.
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"The theif comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly."
Jesus speaking from the Book of John, Chapter 10, Verse 10.
Don't let the enemy steal your joy by living with 'cold' hormones, or by refusing the peace of Jesus Christ. If you don't know how, ask me by simply hitting the reply button to this email. It will go straight to my personal email.
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