Young Women and Hormones

I can't help but use some real patient situations to teach others who might be struggling with some of the same things you will read about in this blog.  In the last 6 months or so, I have noticed a growing patient population of young women connecting to our office for help with their suspected hormonal imbalances.  I love it!!  Why do I love that so much?  Because I feel that many women have suffered for a very long time with endometriosis, missed menstrual cycles, horrible menstrual cramping, infertility, ovarian cysts, premenstrual syndromes, depression, and anxiety, and many other hormonally driven problems.  Menopause is one thing that we link to hormones, but young women also need to know that they don't have to be middle age to experience significant imbalances as well.  Addressing them early in life is critical in health for the long haul.  And birth control pills are not the magic cure-all for the things that ail young women.  Just being honest and the reason customized therapies with bio-identical hormones and natural treatments continues to grow. 

Here's a few brief scenarios of what young women are struggling with out there and I can promise that in a majority of these type cases, hormones are to blame.

Maybe YOU can relate to one of these women???

1.  A young 25 year old woman who had already been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS).  She is growing hair in certain places of the body and losing it on her scalp.  She is also struggling with intense weight gain (despite eating very little), experiencing extreme mood swings, missing menstrual cycles, suffering from acne breakouts, and experiencing vaginal dryness.  She sought me out and asked if I would be willing to help her check her hormone levels and to create a regimen of therapy so that she can try for a pregnancy in a few months.  "ABSOLUTELY!!", was my answer.   Get this!  She was diagnosed in her late teens and felt as if her case was hopeless.  Well, it's not! I just shared the lab reports with her yesterday and she now has a plan that is outside of everything else she has ever tried.  We clearly identified reasons!!!  I FULLY expect that she will be successful in starting a family after we get some of these 'reasons' reset for her.  She also needs to be encouraged to address this, because PCOS can cause diabetes and other endocrine diseases if left untreated.  Oh, and BTW, she is in nursing school and just couldn't shake the teachings she was made privy to in her studies. She acted on her knowledge and suspicion that more could be done.  And, yes, more can be done! Yeah for her!!

2.  A 28 year old with depression and anxiety, missed menstrual cycles, weight gain, extreme fatigue, exaggerated stress, and PMS symptoms.  Again, this young women needs to have her hormones evaluated.  Her case wreaks of hormonal deficiencies and a stress syndrome.  Just doing some lifestyle teaching and creating a supplement regimen for her can be incredibly life changing for her.

3.  A 30'ish woman with fatigue, painful intercourse, irritability, endometriosis, low libido, vaginal dryness, stress and lifestyle demands, depression, anxiety, and emotional instability.   This young women has a long life ahead of her and using band-aid coping medicines is not what's best for the long haul.   Again, testing her sex hormones along with her adrenal status, and treating her unique physical needs, can turn her around 180 degrees. 

4.  A young woman with menstrual migraines.  Hormones can be a reason for headaches and noticing their onset and severity near menstrual cycle time, can be a good clue that things need to be checked.  I have plenty of patients in my care who use hormone therapy to minimize or eradicate menstrual headaches.  I also advise on elimination of certain known environmental and food triggers linked to headaches.

If you are a young woman reading this, and if you are "dealing with" any of these problems, you should get tested.  I will be happy to guide you on the process of finding reasons and answers. If you are a mom or grandmother reading this for your young female family members, then please share this information to them.  It's so affordable and so critical to health. 

I'm proud to say that I've been doing customized and creative medicine for nearly 20 years.  I now take care of entire families, circles of friends, and now many physicians and practitioners are joining our patient pool.   Word of mouth is our teams greatest advertisement.  That means a GREAT deal to us !!  It really, really, really does.

To health and happy hormonal balance,
Dr. Sonja