How many times have you heard the phrase, “it must be your hormones”? It’s true, hormones can be unbalanced, but what does that even look like and what does it mean for your body and autoimmune attacks? Let’s dig in!
Check out my YouTube video below if you’d rather watch this article.
What do hormones do?
Hormones are in charge of almost everything (if not everything) in your body. They tell your organs how to run. Whether it be hair and nail growth, blood sugar and blood pressure control, sex drive, sleep or weight control, hormones are in charge.
There are over 50 hormones identified in the human body. The ones we tend to focus on are estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, insulin, thyroid hormones and cortisol. When your body has sufficient supply of hormones, each organ/process it controls will run smoothly. But if there is an imbalance of a hormone, symptoms (like autoimmune attacks) will arise.
What does it look like if they are imbalanced?
Because your hormones control every process in your body, the signs and symptoms of hormonal imbalance can be wide ranging and hard to pinpoint exactly the problem. There are so many more symptoms than this, but the symptoms most women come to me complaining of include:
- weight gain or loss
- trouble sleeping (waking up in the middle of the night, trouble falling asleep, or waking up too early)
- chronic fatigue and not feeling rested after a full night sleep
- anxiety and/or depression
- digestive problems (bloating, gas, pain, constipation and/or diarrhea)
- headaches and/or migraines
- autoimmune attacks
- high cholesterol
- numbness or tingling in hands and feet
- acne
- low sex drive
- mood swings and/or irritability
- brain fog
For us women, there are two to three times in our lives that we go through a hormonal shift. Those shifts occur during puberty, pregnancy and menopause. Research shows that during those hormonal shifts, more women are susceptible to being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease or having autoimmune attacks. Then to compound it, if your hormones aren’t balanced at other times in your life, the your autoimmune disease can flair causing autoimmune attacks.
What are the hormonal imbalance culprits?
Plastic
Food stored in plastic containers (both purchased and after cooking), absorbs the chemicals plastic contains. One such chemical is called phthalates and is a known hormone disruptor, especially during hormone shifts. To avoid consuming phthalates, purchase fresh food that hasn’t been stored in plastic containers. When storing leftovers, use glass instead of plastic.
Environmental Toxins
It’s impossible to avoid all environmental toxins, but you can take back some control with the products you purchase that come into your home. Household cleaners, skin, body and hair care products, air fresheners and candles, and anything else you use in the home or in and on your body is subject to have toxins. My favorite website to find less toxic products is the Environmental Working Group.
Stress and Nervous System Activation
Keeping your nervous system in the fight or flight mode will keep your cortisol levels high, effecting your sleep, mood, weight and so many more processes in your body. Incorporating stress reduction activities can help to rebalance your cortisol, improve sleep, mood, lessen autoimmune attacks and aid in weight loss. There are lots of stress reduction activities you can choose, my favorite are exercise (the right type) and breathwork.
Processed, High Carbohydrate Diet
Eating a processed diet can negatively effect your hormones by not providing enough nutrients, increasing inflammation, increasing insulin output, and putting stress on your adrenal glands (affecting cortisol). Change your eating habits by increasing fresh fruits and vegetables and non-processed meats, and decreasing processed carbohydrates, processed meats and starchy foods.
How can you test your hormones with functional medicine?
My favorite test I run on women is called the DUTCH Test. DUTCH testing is unique because it helps identify symptoms of hormonal imbalances by providing a complete picture of a patient’s hormone levels which cannot be seen in testing blood or saliva alone.
I want to tell you how I use this test. I had a client with Hashimoto’s autoimmune thyroiditis that came to me complaining of chronic autoimmune attacks, severe fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, moods swings, irritability, brain fog, acne, chronic pain, constipation, and inability to lose weight. After getting her results back, we saw where her imbalances were in her estrogen and progesterone production during the whole month (not just a snippet of one day like most tests). We could also tell that her cortisol levels were high in the middle of the night and dropped significantly after she woke up and during the rest of the day.
Natural Treatments for Autoimmune Attacks
With this individualized picture of what her hormones were doing during the month, we developed a unique plan to improve her hormone levels and decrease her symptoms. Soon after, she started reporting better sleep, she was able to control her mood and emotions better, she was having regular bowel movements, and she lost 20#.
There are many steps you can take to improve your hormone levels naturally and lessen autoimmune attacks. Removing the culprits that effect them is a great place to start. Have you changed any of these culprits and found results? Comment below if so!
If you are interested in getting more help balancing your hormones and/or reducing your autoimmune attacks, I’d love to talk with you! Send me a message or schedule a quick call here. Let’s get you feeling better!!
