If you are not ovulating you are not producing progesterone.
If you are in your 40’s or older, menopausal or on birth control pills, you may not be producing enough testosterone. Progesterone and testosterone are known as androgens. They are the more male like hormones that balance the effects of estrogens.
The ratio of estrogen to androgen needs to be in balance.
If you are on the heavy side of the weight scale, as many of us are as we get older, you probably are estrogen dominant.
It is not uncommon for women to only require progesterone and/or testosterone for Hormone Replacement Therapy balance in order to deal with hot flashes and interrupted sleep.
One of the side effects of estrogen dominance is that it alters how our bodies produce and use insulin. Cortisol also effects this balance. You tend to have high cortisol if you worry or are anxious most of the time.
Every cell in our body is coated with receptor cells. I will use hormone receptors as the example here. Receptors work the same way for nutrients such as vitamins and minerals.
The receptor “picks up” the hormone and sends a signal through the cell wall into the nucleus holding the RNA-DNA. The nucleus sends out a message to the cell that effects its function. This is very simplistically described and I think it works for this situation. If you have too much of a hormone the cell receptor will turn off and you get a similar effect to having too little of the hormone.
In insulin resistance your body produces excess insulin, especially when you are eating sugar and carbohydrates, to tell the body to use the sugar as fuel. The receptors do not recognize it so our bodies store the fuel as fat. The outcome of this is that we feel like we are starving and we are gaining weight. The most effective way to deal with Insulin resistance is to balance estrogen and androgens.
We have tests that evaluate your balance.
We offer a blood hormone profile that looks at estradiol, estrone, FSH, progesterone, and testosterone. We can alternately do a 24 hour urine test as well that looks at your body’s use of estrogens, progesterone, testosterone and all your adrenal hormones.
Balancing estrogen-androgens takes time and attention. I have twenty three years of experience doing this. For an appointment contact us.