Longstanding Hormone Imbalances
Many women struggle with hormone imbalances for years. Whilst these may be obvious issues such as menstrual cycle issues and fertility problems or issues that have received a diagnosis such as endometriosis and PCOS, there are many others common issues that are often not connected with hormone imbalances:
Irritable bowel syndrome, migraines, skin issues and anxiety are often all connected with hormone issues.
Hormone Symptoms
Generally, when we say the word ‘hormone’ we think of the sex hormones – oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, but there are hundreds of hormones in the body that when imbalanced can become a root cause of symptoms.
For example, when we have too much of the blood sugar hormone insulin and it stops being effective (insulin resistance), this can be behind many common conditions, not just the obvious issues such as Type 2 diabetes, obesity and weight gain but others such as migraines, Alzheimer’s and dementia, erectile dysfunction, PCOS, gout, arthritis and heart disease.
We like to think of this as an iceberg. The issues we see above the water whilst the potential causes are below the water.
How are Balanced Wellness different?
We are trained in the cutting-edge research around menopause. We know that putting more oestrogen into the body is not always the answer, especially in peri menopause when most symptoms can be caused by “oestrogen dominance” or a progesterone deficit. We review all aspects of your health including
- whether contraceptive hormones are contributing to hormone imbalances
- the stress in your life and how you are managing it
- how much exposure you have to oestrogen mimicking chemicals
- how your diet and any food intolerances are impacting your hormones and gut
- how you process and absorb your hormones
- if any regular lifestyle choices are potentially contributing to hormone disturbances
- order hormone or digestive lab tests to gain more information on where your health and to action these results with diet, supplements and recommendations
It is important to understand all the different aspects so we can get to the bottom of your menopausal symptoms.
How do we work with hormones?
The Bowel Hormone Storm
When we eat a diet that is high carbohydrate, highly processed or contains inflammatory grains, we imbalance our blood sugars.
This has a knock-on effect with digestive hormones such as motilin which is the hormone that is released in the upper small intestine. It stimulates gastric and small intestine motility, causing undigested food to move into the large intestine.
Imbalanced blood sugars create adrenaline and cortisol which can cause the oesophagus to go into spasm, increase the acid in the stomach, and reduce enzyme output from the pancreas.
With heightened stress, we see the leg muscles rotate in the legs which can misalign the pelvis. This in turn misaligns the ileo-cecal valve which causes digestive disturbance and pain.
With high insulin, high cortisol and impaired motilin and serotonin, we see an increase in stress and oestrogen and a reduction in sex hormones like progesterone.
High oestrogen and gut disturbance contribute to high histamine, increased inflammation and a heightened immune response which can show itself as allergies or food intolerances.
If the body is unable to process and balance these hormones, we stay in the blood sugar rollercoaster which adds to our desire to eat erratically.
To balance the hormone bowel storm, we start with the basics of avoiding food intolerances, balancing blood sugars and reducing stress.
How many sessions will I need?
We recommend 6 appointments to aim to resolve hormone imbalances. Once optimum health has been attained, regular appointments keep the body balanced and prevent further ill health.
Where is your clinic?
We offer remote consultations via zoom so can work across the UK and internationally.
How long is an appointment?
Appointments take 30 minutes. Prior to the first session, all new clients will be required to fill in a comprehensive medical history form and consent form.
What happens in an appointment?
All our sessions are on video call and within your session, your coach will review your health history form, analyse your food and nutrition, discuss your priorities, offer hormone education where necessary, offer food, lifestyle and supplement recommendations and coach you on areas in your life you are finding challenging. There is often homework for you to adopt and your coach will discuss further sessions with you.
Interested in becoming a hormone coach yourself?
We partner with the College of Functional Wellness to offer diplomas in hormone coaching. This 2 year training is delivered online and via zoom and is accredited by the Federation of Holistic Therapists. Click here to discover more.
Oestrogen Dominance
Oestrogen dominance (or progesterone deficiency) is on the increase because of the following, all of which is explored in your appointment.
- Hormonal birth control
- Impaired metabolism, detoxification or poor digestion
- High refined carbohydrate diet and blood sugar instability
- Xeno-oestrogens
- Stress
For more on this, watch this video.
Will I need any lab tests?
We order lab tests if necessary from Nordic Labs who provide DUTCH testing.
We can use kinesiology muscle testing in our clinic to test a hair sample which can be a quick route to identifying imbalances and the best supplementation.
Where issues are out of our remit and you require specific medical prescriptions, we work with a team of functional doctors and will refer you to the appropriate practitioner. An example would be if you require medication for SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) we will recommend you work with a Gastroenterologist or if you required specific HRT then we would recommend the right Endocrinologist.
