You’re not alone in searching online for a hormone imbalance checklist!
Do you feel you’re fighting a losing battle with essential body functions, like getting a proper night’s sleep, controlling your appetite, or finding the sexual drive you once had? It might be because your hormone levels are not at optimal level.
We’ll help you find out today by going through a checklist to mark off against possible hormone imbalance.
But it’s definitely worth checking for hormone imbalance because…
Your hormones are powerful chemicals responsible for regulating different bodily functions. They send signals from your blood to your muscles, organs, and tissues, communicating to them what to do – and how and when to do it. It’s a critically exact business they’re involved in.
That’s why, if something seems out of kilter, it’s useful to consult with your healthcare provider and get your body back on track. So give us a call if you’d rather talk things through. Otherwise read on.
You probably realize that when your body produces too much or too little of a specific hormone, you’ll experience an imbalance, which leads to many uncomfortable symptoms.
Our hormone imbalance checklist will therefore help you look at your symptoms and know when to seek help.
But first, let’s imagine a lovely mental illustration of how important it is that your hormones play their role well in your body’s functions!
Synchronized Orchestral Chemistry!
Think of your hormones as an orchestra.
If the cello decides to ignore the conductor and stop playing, or play out of tune, it compromises the harmony of the entire group.
Now imagine if the flute, trying to compensate for the cello’s erratic performance, starts adding tunes in randomly to fill the gaps. The result is not going to be very pleasant!
In your body, the cello and the other instruments are your hormones, and your endocrine system is the orchestra’s conductor.
If one hormone is overproduced or lacking, your other hormones try to make up for it. This effort puts them out of sync, causing hormone imbalance and affecting your overall wellbeing.
This is what leads to all the uncomfortable symptoms from the following checklist.
Hormone Imbalance Checklist
The signs of hormonal imbalance can vary depending on the kind of hormone your body is overproducing or lacking.
Gender and age play their part too. Women are usually more susceptible to suffering, due to hormonal fluctuations during their entire reproductive life and to the natural decrease and interruption of estrogen levels over the years.
But whether you’re male or female, if you’re experiencing one or more symptoms from this checklist, you might want to ask your doctor to check your hormone levels.
- Weight gain
- Skin problems
- Low libido
- Fatigue, muscle weakness, poor sleep
- Painful periods
- Anxiety, depression, brain fog, irritability, mood swings etc.
We’re going to pull out a few of these to look at more closely.
Weight gain
If you’re struggling to lose weight, despite having a healthy lifestyle, including exercising and a balanced diet, the root cause may be hormonal.
Unexplained weight gain is commonly related to changes in your metabolism – the chemical reactions that transform food into energy in your body.
The hormone responsible for your metabolism is thyroxine, produced by the thyroid gland. You’ll notice (indirectly) if your thyroid might be producing too much or too little thyroxine next time you step on the scales!
Moreover, if you suffer from hypothyroidism (too little thyroxin hormone), you’ll probably gain weight and feel constantly tired. Hyperthyroidism, on the other hand, accelerates your metabolism, leading to weight loss.
In addition to thyroid malfunction, weight gain can also be commonly associated with the following:
- Sexual hormone imbalance (when going through menopause and andropause, or other sexual health conditions, such as polycystic ovary syndrome – PCOS).
- Pancreas dysfunction (leading to diabetes).
- Pituitary imbalance.
Skin problems
If you’re experiencing skin problems, chances are, again, that your hormones are not balanced.
Skin problems are strong indicators that your reproductive organs or adrenal glands are producing too much androgen, the hormone responsible for regulating sebum. Excessive sebum in your pores results in acne, even in adults.
Low libido
The most common cause of low sex drive is hormonal imbalance. The decrease in the production of the main male and female sex hormones – testosterone and estrogen – that naturally happens as you age can take its toll on your libido, resulting in less interest or readiness for sexual intercourse.
Sexual hormones, when not balanced, can also lead to symptoms such as
- weight gain,
- fatigue,
- anxiety,
- mood changes, and
- hot flashes.
You can see from this list how the orchestra has messed up your endocrine system’s beautifully arranged symphony!
Anxiety, depression, mood swings, and other mental issues
Hormones play an essential role in your mental health. Let’s look at how and why.
The adrenal hormoneregulates the body’s stress response through the production of cortisol. Excessive levels of this hormone raise your blood pressure, heart rate, and muscle tension. The idea originally was to enable fight or flight when danger appeared on the horizon.
When out of sync, cortisol brings with it other symptoms such as severe fatigue, anxiety, and a gain in weight.
The sex hormones we mentioned above also affect neurotransmitters such as serotonin (a chemical that boosts feelings), so when they’re not balanced, you can experience low mental states, maybe even depression.
Nava Center Can Help You Recover Balance
No hormone imbalance checklist can cover every aspect of how the hormones in your body interact when they’re not in sync! For example, a few patients complain of hormone imbalance headaches. We’re all unique.
However, at Nava Health, our practitioners are experts in hormone health and integrative wellness. We understand how the systems of your body work together to create balance.
That’s why we refuse to treat your symptoms alone. Instead, we investigate and discover the root causes of your problems to solve them once and for all.
The same applies with hormonal imbalance. We’ll first provide you with a comprehensive evaluation of your key biomarkers, including your hormone levels. We then prescribe the proper treatment, including lifestyle adjustments and the safest and most effective way to manage any hormone imbalance – BRHT therapy.
Contact us today and let us help rebalance your hormones so you can uncover your best version at any age.
A Medical Director, and one of the first physicians to join the Nava Health & Vitality Center, Dr. Douglas Lord has made significant contributions to our Center and its founding principles. Dr. Lord has helped develop and implement the Nava Method™—Nava’s proprietary approach to total body wellness. He has also been instrumental in liaising with other expert practitioners to successfully implement Nava’s range of therapies, treatments, and products.