As women, we go through a ton of hormonal shifts in our life from puberty, to pregnancy, to perimenopause, and then eventually menopausal. Even within those times, there are daily hormonal shift, weekly ones and monthly shifts as well. These are all normal and expected hormone shifts.
When stress is high, your body goes through other types of hormonal shifts with insulin, adrenaline and cortisol – produced in the adrenal glands known as our “stress” hormones.
What Are Hormones?
According to the Hormone Health Network, hormones are special chemical messengers in the body that are created in the endocrine glands. These messengers control most major bodily functions, from simple basic needs like hunger to complex systems like reproduction, and even the emotions and mood.
A hormonal imbalance means that any hormone is either too high or too low.
Symptoms of Hormonal Imbalances
Since there are so many hormones, there are a wide range of symptoms that can show up depending on which hormones are affected.
Here are the major hormone imbalance symptoms I see the most frequently:
- Weight gain/stubborn weight loss. I am told all the time by women they are frustrated with how hard it is to lose weight or that they are gaining fat in their stomach, butt, hips and thighs. Hormonally, the culprits for this are estrogen, cortisol, insulin and low active thyroid hormone (T3). If you’re eating well, eating the right amount, exercising, lifting weights and are getting no where, it’s time to look at these hormones.
- Irregular periods. Our menstrual cycles are determined solely on hormones driving it. When our estrogen, progesterone, follicle stimulating hormone, or luteinizing hormones are off, there will be changes in it such as bloating, spotting, PMS, breast tenderness, heavy flows, too light of flows, painful periods, moodiness, etc.
- Extreme fatigue. This fatigue isn’t just a “you’ve been running around too much and you’re tired” type of fatigue. Hormonally-driven fatigue feels like you got 8 hours of sleep and need 8 more. It feels like we could sleep for a week, or that you have to lay down. This is caused by either thyroid hormones or stress hormones. The two are inter-connected as well, so you might even have both avenues going on.
- Acne. If you notice acne either cyclical with your menses or its persistent throughout the month, this can be caused by excess androgens (testosterone).
- Night sweats and hot flashes. This is common for women to experience as we near towards menopause when hormones drastically decrease in production from the ovaries. However, women of all ages can actually experience this drop in estrogen due to lifestyle factors of stress, under-eating carbs and in general, and overexercise.
- GI disturbances. Hormonal swings that occur during ovulation and especially right before our period can temporarily change the state of our microbiome and enteric nervous system (the second brain), so you might experience short bouts of diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas and discomfort.
- Anxiety and/or depression. Anxiety and depression can be caused by lots of factors, one being hormones. Adrenaline is a hormone produced in your adrenal glands and when produced, causes the feeling of anxiety. In addition to adrenaline, low progesterone, high cortisol, and low estrogen can also make anxiety feel more rampant.
- Other common symptoms:
- Sweating
- Constipation
- Water retention
- Mood swings
- Vaginal dryness
- Hair loss
- Male hair patterns -facial hair
- Dry, brittle nails and skin
This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of hormone imbalances, but these are the most common that I see in my practice, online patients and within Heal Your Hormones Masterclass.
If you’re dealing with these things, let me give you hope. They can be treated. I help women treat these very symptoms all the time. I offer a self-paced, group coaching program called Heal Your Hormones Masterclass where these are covered extensively. I also offer 1:1 online consultations and if your local to Denver, I have a practice.
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