What Is Hormonal Imbalance In Men
The most common hormonal imbalances in men are related to testosterone levels. Men may experience low levels of testosterone due to disorders, like hypogonadism for example when the testes cannot produce an adequate supply of testosterone. More commonly, aging is the underlying cause, with testosterone production gradually diminishing over time, beginning around age 40. For some men, levels fall so low that the bodys basic needs for the hormone cannot be fulfilled, which can lead to many of the symptoms listed above. Other factors that can contribute to low testosterone levels include excessive stress, poor diet, obesity and regular excessive alcohol use.
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A Quick Summary Of Hormones
Hormones serve as chemical messengers in your body, carrying signals to different areas of your body and affecting vital functions like metabolism and growth. These chemicals are produced by the endocrine system and contain information that helps instruct different organs and tissues throughout your body about how to function.
When these chemicals are out of balance, it can lead to:
While this sounds like a bunch of medical jargon, each hormone has an important purpose in the reproductive system.
AMH is released by cells around your follicles and is the best predictor of your ovarian reserve or egg count. FSH is responsible for starting ovulation, while estradiol is a sex hormone produced by your ovaries. LH is the hormone that keeps your cycle regular and is produced by your pituitary gland.
Testing for thyroid health is also necessary since the gland can often be the root of pregnancy issues. Low levels of TSH and untreated hypothyroidism can interfere with ovulation, impairing fertility. Thankfully, TSH and fT4 can be adjusted with medication when thyroid disease is present.
Causes Of Hormone Imbalance
You might experience changes in your hormones due to aging its natural to see sex hormones alter in women around the time of menopause and men in their older years. Excessive stress or exercise can lead to an imbalance in your adrenals. Thyroid hormone imbalances may be caused by disease.
Regardless of why you have an imbalance in your hormones, you dont have to tolerate the discomfort. The Well for Health can help. We identify the imbalance and offer solutions whether that be replacement hormones, a personalized program of dietary and other lifestyle changes, or adrenal or thyroid optimization.
If youre ready to feel like yourself again and banish the symptoms of erratic hormones, call The Well for Health or schedule an appointment online.
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Your Hormones Your Health
Feeling bloated, irritable, or just not your best? Shifts in your hormones could be to blame. Hormones are chemical âmessengersâ that impact the way your cells and organs function. Itâs normal for your levels of them to shift at different times of your life, such as before and during your period or a pregnancy, or during menopause. But some medications and health issues can cause your levels to go up or down, too.
What Are The Different Types Of Hormones
Endocrine glands are located throughout the body. These glands include the:
- Hypothalamus: controls thirst, hunger, sleep, sex drive, moods, body temperature, and the release of other hormones
- Parathyroid: controls calcium
- Ovaries, in women: controls female sex hormones
- Testes, in men: controls male sex hormones
There are several different types of hormones in the body. When you have a hormonal imbalance, you may have a problem in one of more of these glands. The specific hormone that’s imbalanced will determine the signs and symptoms that you experience as a result. Some of the major hormones found in the body include:
- Estrogen: controls sex drive in both men and women, and regulates the menstrual cycle in women
- Progesterone: influences the body’s changes through pregnancy
- Testosterone: controls sex drive in both men and women
- Cortisol: controls stress
- Melatonin: control’s the body’s circadian rhythm and sleep cycles
- Serotonin: controls sleep cycles, appetite, and mood
- Growth hormone: controls the reproduction of cells and their subsequent growth
- Leptin: controls appetite, signaling when you’re full
- Ghrelin: controls appetite, signaling when you’re hungry
- Insulin: responds to sugar in the bloodstream
If your hormones are well-balanced, you will thrive. An imbalance, however, is something you cannot afford to ignore.
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How To Regulate Your Hormones
Although you cant stop aging altogether, there are ways you can help regulate your hormones. Eating a balanced diet packed with fruits, vegetables, and lean meats is one of the best ways you can balance your hormones. Exercising for at least 30 minutes 3-5 times a week can also keep your hormone levels in check.
Even those who have a healthy lifestyle can experience negative symptoms from hormone imbalances. If youre not happy with the symptoms youre experiencing, hormone replacement therapy may be able to help you feel normal again. Dr. Irizarry-Román can create a custom plan to replenish your hormones to healthy levels again.
To learn more about hormone imbalances and hormone replacement therapy, book an appointment online or over the phone with No Mercy Sports Medicine today.
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Supplement With Vitamin D
A Vitamin D deficiency is more common than you may think, with over a billion people worldwide suffering from either a deficient or insufficient supply of this critical vitamin. Vitamin D plays an extremely important role in a number of bodily functions, such as immune function, cell differentiation, and inflammatory response. Low levels of Vitamin D have been associated with an increased risk in colon, prostate, and breast cancer, as well as tuberculosis, influenza, and heart disease. A relationship has also been found between hypothyroidism and a vitamin D deficiency.
Ideally, we would get our daily dose of Vitamin D from 10 to 30 minutes of uninterrupted sun exposure, but this is unrealistic for most. Thats why its important to take a Vitamin D3 supplement and eat foods rich in Vitamin D, such as pastured eggs and wild salmon. Its also important to note that as we age, our production of Vitamin D decreases, so make sure youre monitoring your levels and getting them checked by your primary care provider.
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What Is The Need For Hormonal Imbalance Treatment
When your hormones are out of balance, your bodys systems cant cope with the resulting changes. Fortunately, there are many ways to get your hormones back into balance. By visiting a hormone specialist, you can schedule an exam to determine the root cause of your imbalance. In addition, you should bring along a list of your diet, medications, and supplements to your appointment.
If your hormones are out of balance, they can affect many aspects of your life. Therefore, the first step is to visit your doctor in Phuket clinic or where you are located, and discuss your symptoms. Your physician will most likely perform additional tests or prescribe other medications to treat your symptoms and may also advise you on lifestyle changes that will help you improve your condition. Once they determine what is causing your imbalance, they can make recommendations for a hormonal imbalance treatment plan.
Your hormones are the key to your overall health and well-being. While a hormone imbalance isnt deadly to your life, it can impact your health and your bodys performance. Hormone imbalances can make you feel irritable, causing you to miss the best parts of life. Thankfully, by regaining your balance with hormone replacement therapy, you can prevent severely negative symptoms.
What Kind Of Doctors Treat Hormonal Imbalances
Primary healthcare providers can diagnose and help you manage many hormonal imbalances, but you may benefit from seeing an endocrinologist.
An endocrinologist is a healthcare provider who specializes in endocrinology, a field of medicine that studies conditions related to your hormones. They can diagnose endocrine conditions, develop treatment and management plans and prescribe medication.
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What Causes Hormonal Imbalances
Throughout your life and even throughout the day your hormone levels naturally rise and fall.
Certain periods of life cause more dramatic changes and fluctuations in hormones, including:
However, there are several other reasons why your hormone levels may be irregular at unexpected times. Some of the most common causes of fluctuating or imbalanced hormone levels include:
- Certain medications.
These hormonal imbalances are more likely to be temporary or fixable with a change in medication or properly managing stress.
Chronic hormone-related conditions can have several different possible causes. In general, the main conditions or situations that cause medically significant hormone imbalances include:
Tumors, adenomas and growths
Any kind of growth on a gland or organ that produces hormones, such as a tumor, adenoma or nodule, could affect its ability to do so.
Tumors
Rare endocrine tumors form in glands or in cells that produce hormones and can cause hormone imbalances. Some of the rare endocrine tumors include:
Adenomas
An adenoma is a benign tumor. Many adenomas are nonfunctioning, meaning they dont produce hormones. But some can produce excess hormones. These are called functioning adenomas. Adenomas that affect your endocrine system and cause hormone imbalances include:
Other growths
Damage or injury to an endocrine gland
Autoimmune conditions
Are You A Female Living With A Hormone Imbalance
Answer yes or no to the following questions:
1. Do you feel tired and/or fatigued most days than not during the span of a week?
2. Are you having difficulty sleeping? Do you wake up numerous times during the night?
3. Do you feel like there has been a shift in your mood and energy?
4. Are you feeling down, have no motivation, and/or depressed?
5. Are you consistently craving sugar and/or salt?
6. Have you gained some weight despite eating healthy and exercising routinely?
7. Have you noticed changes in your appearance lately? How about some weight gain , dry skin, puffy face, and/or thinning of hair?
8. Do you need caffeine to survive during most of the day?
9. Your joints hurt and/or have achy muscles?
10. And if you are a female, do you have worse PMS symptoms now than ever before? Are you flowing more or are your periods lasting longer than normal?
11. Have you noticed changes in your bowel and/or bladder habits? Peeing more often? Constipated?
If you have answered yes to two or more then youre probably suffering from some level of hormonal imbalance.
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Check Your Hormone Levels From The Convenience Of Home
If youâre concerned about your hormone levels, you can use the information here on how to know if you have a hormonal imbalanceâplus speaking with a healthcare providerâto help inform your next steps.If youâre interested in hormone testing at home, consider the following tests :
- Womenâs Hormone Test – Lets you learn your levels for 10 key hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, cortisol, and thyroid hormones.
- Thyroid Test – Check the 3 main thyroid hormones , plus thyroid antibodies.
- Womenâs Fertility Test – Test your levels for 5 hormones that help support ovarian function and pregnancy.
- Men’s Health Test – Check your cortisol, DHEA-S, estradiol, and testosterone.
Appetite And Weight Gain
You may gain weight during hormonal shifts, such as menopause. But hormone changes donât directly affect your weight. Instead, it likely happens because of other factors, like aging or lifestyle. For example, when youâre feeling blue or irritated, as you can be when your estrogen levels drop, you may want to eat more. It can also impact your bodyâs levels of leptin, a hunger-revving hormone.
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How Does The Male Reproductive System Work
While there are hundreds of hormones that control the bodys chemistry, testosterone is a versatile and critical part of the balance that specifically controls male characteristics and sex drive. When the levels dip, the result can cause a male to experience low sex drive and depression, among other complaints. Low T as it is commonly referred to in the media, can cause a number of symptoms, including:
- Fatigue or generalized weakness
- Memory problems or lack of concentration
- Changes in mood or irritability
- Erectile dysfunction
Some diseases, like diabetes, can cause similar symptoms, so it can be hard to diagnose. To further complicate matters, testosterone decline in men is a slow process and, some healthy men can produce sperm well into their 80s.
In addition, there are variables that affect hormonal decline and speed up the process. These include weight gain, drug use, tobacco or alcohol abuse, mental illness or severe depression, as well as stress and chronic illness. One may need to keep in mind that medical experts still disagree about the link between declining hormone levels in men and their need for HRT.
How To Test For Hormone Imbalance
Instead of self-treating your symptoms with social media-influenced products and diets, you can make informed decisions about diet protocols, supplements, and lifestyle interventions to properly address your concerns.
Hormones are downright complex. Different doctors and healthcare professionals will have their own opinions and preferences with how and what they test and typically are based on a patients specific set of symptoms.
Testing for hormones can be done in several ways, and there are pros and cons to these different types of tests. Here is everything you need to know about how to test for hormone imbalance:
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Signs You May Be Suffering From A Hormone Imbalance
February 5, 2021 1:26 pmPublished by Midcity OBGYN
Hormones are important, as they regulate many body functions and processes, including appetite and metabolism, sleep cycles, reproductive cycles and sexual function, body temperature and mood. Here are some common signs you may be suffering from a hormone imbalance.
Eat Enough Protein At Every Meal
Consuming an adequate amount of protein is extremely important.
Dietary protein provides essential amino acids that your body cant make on its own and must be consumed every day in order to maintain muscle, bone and skin health.
In addition, protein influences the release of hormones that control appetite and food intake.
Research has shown that eating protein decreases levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin and stimulates the production of hormones that help you feel full, including PYY and GLP-1 .
In one study, men produced 20% more GLP-1 and 14% more PYY after eating a high-protein meal than after eating a meal that contained a normal amount of protein.
Whats more, participants hunger ratings decreased by 25% more after the high-protein meal compared to the normal-protein meal .
In another study, women who consumed a diet containing 30% protein experienced an increase in GLP-1 and greater feelings of fullness than when they ate a diet containing 10% protein.
Whats more, they experienced an increase in metabolism and fat burning .
To optimize hormone health, experts recommend consuming a minimum of 2030 grams of protein per meal (
This is easy to do by including a serving of these high-protein foods at each meal.
Summary:
Consuming adequate protein triggers the production of hormones that suppress appetite and help you feel full. Aim for a minimum of 2030 grams of protein per meal.
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Puffy Swollen Or Rounded Face
Though this symptom of hormonal imbalance isnt talked about much, for those who experience it, it can be a major concern. And while this symptom is relatively painless, besides possible tenderness due to the swelling, it may be negatively impacting your quality of life. Sometimes referred to as moon face, this gradual rounding or swelling of the face is a common sign of high cortisol characterized by Cushings syndrome. If your adrenal glands release too much cortisol, theyre unable to properly regulate your blood pressure and inflammatory response. As a result, your body has a hard time keeping your blood vessels functioning appropriately, leading to swelling and a puffy appearance around your face or shoulders.
Pms And Low Sex Drive
Low testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone are all associated with a decreased sex drive in both men and women. This is especially common after age 50 when estrogen and testosterone production declines. Since estrogen is one of the main hormones regulating a womans menstrual cycle a decrease in production can also lead to irregular periods that are too long, too short, unpredictable, heavy, or painful, infertility, hot flashes, mood swings, or painful intercourse.
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Hormone Imbalance: What Are The Symptoms And Treatments
When youre browsing social media or watching TV, you may have come across ads telling you to ask your doctor to check your hormones as the first step toward diagnosing and relieving a troublesome set of symptoms. Its true that hormone imbalances can be associated with many problems, such as period problems, unwanted hair growth, fertility struggles, weight gain, and even difficulty sleeping. You should absolutely talk to your doctor about these things. But you may be surprised when your doctor tells you that they cant just give you a hormone check.
A hormone check sounds simpleafter all, we check cholesterol to get a handle on our heart health. However, your doctor cant just give you a hormone test because a single test to check all your hormones doesnt exist.
So if there isnt a simple hormone test, how does your doctor discover hormone imbalances? And how can you learn what could be causing your symptoms?
Lets look at problems caused by hormone imbalances and how your doctor could potentially determine which hormones may be responsible for your symptoms.