I receive the Vitamin Research Newsletter in the mail free, and there is also a link to this newsletter at www.vrp.com. This is a great resource, and the information is very research oriented. Just go to the link--the newsletter is under the heading "Research Center."
The first article today on the VRP website is about Women's Hormonal Health (Estrogen Dominance.) This piece echos everything my Functional Nutritionist, Kristie Yaakoby, has told me about my own condition of hormonal imbalance.
A "pregnenolone steal" happens when cholesterol is converted to pregnenolone (the mother hormone), which is converted to progesterone, which is then converted to cortisol. In other words, under stress, cortisol is "gobbling up pregnenolone like crazy" through a domino effect. [my simplification]
This inevitably results in very low progesterone (since the cortisol is "gobbling up progesterone" as well) and results an imbalance called estrogen dominance where estrogen is much higher than the progesterone. This can cause fatigue, mood swings, abnormal menstrual cycles, and even reduced libido. Not everyone experiences all of these, and my symptoms are mainly of fatigue. (I also have Adreanal Fatigue--becasue my cortisol levels are imbalanced due to the "pregnenolone steal.")
The progesterone (the mother hormone), under normal circumstances, will produce DHEA, which in turn, produces sex the hormones testosterone, estradiol, or hormones that break down estrogen, such as estrone and estriol. Therefore, when pregnenolone is "stolen" to make extra cortisol, there isn't enough DHEA being produced, which leads to more hormonal imbalance. These imbalance can lead to low melatonin levels, which can affect sleep also.
Hence I take bio identical hormones, which are natural and non-cancer causing--pregnenolone, progesterone and DHEA. I currently take 10 drops of pregnenolone 3x daily, 3 drops of DHEA, and progesterone for part of the month. These have improved my energy level, and I will be retested using a saliva test in a few months to measure my progress.
As you know, in this blog, I share my experience and site studies, but I am not publishing a scientific journal as this is not "reference-heavy" forum. The Vitamin Research article on Women's Hormone's sites twenty three references and they are a great reference that is science-based if one is more interested in obtaining specific studies that back up a variety of general holistic health philosophies.
There is a really great video on estrogen dominance at the www.womhoo.com. Go to the site and look at the bottom left corner for videos. I will talk a little about their xenoestrogen video in my next post. This is a site that sells natural progesterone cream, which I don't use (I use drops), but Dr. Eckhart does a great job explaining estrogen dominance in these videos.
I do site references often but assume that if the reader wants technical detail, that the links in this blog will be helpful for locating specific references on the topics I cover. Overall, the concepts in this blog are considered to be general knowledge in the holistic health field, so I am referencing general information and posting links that are more heavy on research.
A Votre Sante, (Here's to Your Health), Alix
No comments:
Post a Comment