The Top 4 Causes of Hormone Imbalance in Women 😳

Hey there!

Okay, so last week I shared with you my story about what caused my hormones to become unbalanced. Now, I want to chat with you a little about some of the most common causes of hormone imbalance you may be experiencing.

1) Menopause- This is an obvious one and can start anywhere from the early 40's to the late 50's, although the average age of menopause is around 51. Nowadays, I am also seeing more women in their 30's who are going through menopause or peri-menopause.

Even before actual menopause (which is defined as 1 full year without a period), hormone levels of progesterone, testosterone, and estrogen can start to decline. Unfortunately, that decline manifests in symptoms such as low libido, moodiness, anxiety, and vaginal dryness.

2) Stress- This is a MAJOR culprit, and may be the most important. Our hormone system is VERY delicate and is affected by things that stress both our minds and bodies. Even seemingly positive experiences, such as getting married or having a baby, results in great amounts of stress to the brain and body. Other examples of stressors include divorce, taking care of a parent, death of a family member, having the flu or any other illness, and buying a home.

If this type of stress is prolonged or consistent every day without a reprieve, it inevitably leads to Adrenal Fatigue or Adrenal Burn-out. This happens because our cortisol levels rise to support us during stress, but since they were only made to do this in short bursts (like running away from the tiger), they eventually can't keep up with the rate of production and so eventually crash. When it comes to hormones, your cortisol has to be in that perfect "sweet" spot of not too much and not too little in order to function.

3) Toxins (Xenoestrogens)- Unfortunately, these are everywhere! These are man-made toxins that mimic the effects of estrogen and can be found in growth hormones fed to our cows to produce more milk, household cleaners, body products, and cosmetics. Our food supply is bombarded with sprays and pesticides that cause dysfunction as well. Exposure to these can cause our bodies to become confused, create growths in our own bodies, and clog up the liver, which is our main detoxifying organ.

4) Birth Control (and synthetic hormones)- This is the last one I want to talk about today. I think I was probably 12 or 13 when I was put on an oral contraceptive and stayed on some form of synthetic hormones for over 15 years. The initial reasoning behind it was to help control my periods, but honestly, I think my mom was afraid I was sexually active :-). So basically I not only introduced synthetic hormones into my body at a young age but stayed on them continuously for a LONG time. It was no wonder my body went ballistic when I finally got off of them. In my traditional practice, I've given out my share of synthetic hormone prescriptions, but I didn't know better than. That was all I had in my toolkit. Today, there are MUCH better options for balancing hormones, periods, mood swings, etc.

**So my point is that we must be careful what we put into our bodies, whether food, drink, or thoughts.

The first thing you can do today is keep a symptom diary. Make 3 columns and in column 1, write what you ate. In column 2, write down what you are thinking and in column 3, write down any bodily symptoms. Simply having the awareness of what you are putting into your body and what you are thinking and how that may be affecting your body is a POWERFUL first step.

So this was just a sampling of 4 common causes of hormone imbalances. The next time we speak, I will start to talk about how to treat hormone imbalance.