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Hormonal
Imbalance This article was provided by: Note:
The information on this website is presented for educational purposes
only. Hormones are messengers that our body's cells, tissues, and organs use as a means to communicate with each other. When I began my study of medicine forty years ago, the lectures on hormones concerned the diseases of the thyroid, adrenal, sex glands and pituitary. Now it is different. In my clinical practice, I recognize that each cell needs to communicate with every other cell since, by definition, any part of a whole must have some relationship with all of the whole. Now when I see a patient, I think of hormones made by the heart, lung, bowel and the immune cells. I think of all the messengers that maintain cellular communications and allow cells to express their cellular intelligence. After decades of work as a hospital pathologist and a practicing clinician, I now consider it poor medicine to classify a patient's symptoms as "this or that" disease. In light of the above comments I want to answer three very good questions posed to me. Q: Can taking testosterone help some women with hormonal imbalance? A: All women produce testosterone naturally, it stands to reason that the hormone must do some good. Regrettably most gynecologists are not well informed about the value of small doses of oral testosterone supplementation (1.25 to 2.5 mg daily) restoring hormonal balance in women with chronic health problems such as fibromylagia, chronic fatigue, chemical sensitivity, and complex thyroid and adrenal problems. In addition I observe good results with a testosterone cream (2% strength of dipropionate form) than with estrogen creams for my patients with vaginal dryness and irritation.This subject however requires considerable experience on the part of the doctor. With small doses as mentioned here, the potential for adverse effects is extremely small. many women report improvement in their sex drive. Hair growth, if it ever occurs, clears up quickly when testosterone is discontinued. I do not recommend that women do this therapy on their own, without close professional supervision. Testosterone is a prescription item. Androstenedione, a precursor of testosterone, is available without prescription but enough about its clinical use is not known. Hence, I do not recommend it for women at this time. Q: DHEA helps adrenal weakness. Pregnenolone does the same. Which is better? A: Both are natural substances which the adrenal gland uses to prepare progesterone, estrogen, testosterone, cortisone and related hormone. The following table shows their relationships: The question which is better of the two cannot be answered in a generic sense. Each individual has her/his own unique requirements based on hormonal evaluation with laboratory tests and clinical assessment. For most persons with simple adrenal weakness, DHEA given in modest doses of 25 to 50 mg daily is enough. However, in many patients with chronic immune, ecologic and metabolic disorders, adrenal weakness is also a complex problem. It is created by failure of adrenal enzymes at more than one levels, and is often associated with functional weaknesses of thyroid, pancreas and sex hormones. In such patients it often requires a "multi-layered" approach that addresses enzyme failures at whatever level they take place. Thus, I sometimes use 25 mg of DHEA, 10 mg of pregnenolone and 25 to 50 mg of natural progesterone in my female patients as a three-prong approach to restoring the normal adrenal and female sex hormone balance. So you can see it is not a matter of which is better, DHEA or pregnenolone. Rather, what hormonal support is necessary for a given patient with hormonal imbalance. Q. Is there any truth behind claims of natural female hormone replacement therapy? A: The word "natural" in the context of hormone supplementation for hormonal balancing requires a careful comment. Drug companies design their synthetic hormones to be different from natural hormones for patent protection. Such hormones, of course, wreak havoc on cell memebrane receptors (where hormones connect to the cell as they float in blood). I know many women who have fallen victim to estrogenic avalanches unleashed by synthetic hormones and hormone-like substances (such as pesticides) and these avalanches of estrogen are causing the epidemics of breast and prostate cancers. However, it is possible to take raw materials from foods such soybean to prepare hormones which faithfully copy the structure and the function of the naturally-occurring hormones. Thus, in integrative medicine, we seek to correct hormonal deficiencies by prescribing soybean-derived hormones which are identical to naturally-occurring hormones. From many years of experience at The Institute of Preventive Medicine, we know that this approach is far safer than using synthetic hormones. Furthermore, we use anti-cancer hormones in much larger doses (for example, progestrone) and hormones with potential cancer-causing effects (such as estrodiol) in much smaller doses. Comments?: E-mail
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