Hormones

Hormone Testing; Serum, Saliva, or Urine?
Blood Testing (Serum) This is the most frequently used hormone testing in the Medical arena and has been the standard method for many years. It is reasonably accurate for testing the ‘peptide hormones’ of the body: FSH, LH, Prolactin, and Fasting Insulin. The only steroid hormone which is deliberately measured as the FREE component only, is Free Testosterone. So, if you are after testosterone levels only, blood testing would be fine. For our steroid hormones, it is another story altogether, as the blood level of these hormones can not differentiate between bound and free/usable hormones. To give …

How chemicals affect your hormones
One of the most frequently asked questions in clinic, is about SOY and its effects on the hormones, in particular estrogen. The “SOY debate” is a very well-published one, and it frequently divides a room with opinions… Most of the research you hear about is VERY out of date. Soy isoflavones (the active phytoestrogen in Soy), are now being used to effectively MODULATE the Estrogenic load in the body. It will raise low Estrogen levels, and bring down high ones… but more on that another time. What I want to …

Reasons you might have low Vitamin D
The Vitamin D debate is still a very hot topic at the moment. What most people understand is that your body can manufacture Vitamin D after exposure to the sun.  Then, if you do not get enough sun, you can take a supplement and top up your levels. The truth is, there are MANY factors which go into Vitamin D absorption.  Today I thought I would share with you a few of them, just for your information… 1. The latitude where you live. At higher latitudes, the amount of vitamin D–producing …

Oral contraceptives to curb teenage acne- bad idea.
Hi everyone.. Today I wanted to write about something I am seeing more and more frequently in the clinic- The long term outcome of young girls and women being put onto the Oral Contraceptive Pill in a push to try and reduce their teenage acne outbreak.  I use this as an example, because this is the one I see most frequently. However young teenage girls can be put onto the Pill for a myriad of reasons aside from contraception- mood stabilising, heavy or painful periods, or even irregular periods. Quite often these …
18Jun

When treating hormone imbalances, look deeper
As a Naturopath I spend around a third of my clinic hours working with Hormonal Imbalances of some description- Endometriosis, PCOS, PMS, Menopausal Complaints, Low Testosterone etc.. It seems that whatever stage of life you are in, the potential for a hormonal imbalance to be plaguing your health is very real.  But one thing I find disturbing, is the increasing number of practitioners and GPs who are simply giving some form of ‘hormone replacement’ in a bid to help balance them back out- whether it be a form of Contraceptive (hormone based) …
18Jun

Heal the thyroid by supporting the liver
Hashimoto’s and Hypothyroidism can cause a host of problems all over the body, but one place in particular where we can see it’s influence is on the liver and gall bladder. The body is not a machine, like our earth it is a group of interacting ecosystems that all talk to one another and influence each other in both good and bad ways. The liver and the thyroid are a perfect example of this. Here is a brief breakdown of how they interact: How Does the GallBladder Fit In to This? …

Glyphosate- the silent antibiotic
The Shikimate pathway is an enzymatic process used by bacteria, fungi, algae and plants, in order to make Folate. It is also responsible for the creation of three vital amino acids (tyrosine, tryptophan and phenylalanine), all of which CANNOT be made by animals, including humans. Glyphosate was deliberately made to BLOCK the Shikimate pathway, and by doing so, it will also block bacteria’s ability to create these nutrients, which then creates the knock-on effect of depriving certain plants (or weeds) of the things they required for growth and reproduction. Hence …
18Jun

Period pain is common; but not ‘normal’
Painful (or heavy) periods are not a normal event – yes it may be extremely common, but still this doesn’t make it ‘normal.’ Painful periods, technically known as Dysmenorrhoea, is one of the leading causes of all female school and work absences. Usually, the pain begins on either the day before, or the day of the start of the period, and can last up to two days.  It is more common in younger women and girls, but can hinder a woman for her entire (fertile) life if it is left …
18Jun

Natural Progesterone vs Synthetic progestins
Over the last few weeks, the RCH put out a series of videos on the topics of womens’ hormones and contraception. Suffice to say that after watching two of them, I was left gobsmacked at the level of MISinformation that was relayed in them. Two female ‘specialists’ in the field, flicked loaded Q & A’s to one another, and then proceeded to pull out false ‘evidence’ and claims there was no research to back up people’s concerns. They also repeatedly suggested across both videos, that the contraceptive pills, implanons and …
01May

Perfect thyroid results? Perhaps not!
An underactive thyroid can reap havoc on many functions in the body. Symptoms can include fatigue, tiredness, exhaustion, constipation, low body temperature (feeling cold all of the time), hairloss, dry skin, cognitive impairment, menstrual abnormalities, weight gain and hairloss on the outer third of the eyebrows.. So many people I see present with some (or all) of these symptoms, yet their most recent thyroid blood results have come back as  ‘normal’.  It happens a LOT actually.. so whats really happening here? The standard medical blood test for hypothyroidism is the measurement of …
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