Imbalance Of Hormones: Symptoms, Causes & Treatment

An imbalance of hormones can occur in anyone and can be caused by a number of reasons. Having a hormone imbalance means that your body isn’t producing enough or is creating too much of a particular hormone. Your hormones are the vital chemicals in your system that instruct your body to do certain jobs. If your levels are out of sync it can make you feel quite unwell so it’s important to address the problem.

What hormones do we have?

Can you believe that the human body has at least 64 hormones running through it. Wikipedia has a list of human hormones if you want to check them out. I don’t know about you, but I was quite shocked by this.

The main ones we usually hear about are the fertility hormones but there are so many more, all busy doing there thing and sending important messages around in the background.

Obviously it would take far too long to talk about all 64 hormones so let’s focus on 5 main ones:

• Insulin
• Melatonin
• Oestrogen
• Testosterone
• Cortisol

How do hormones affect the body?

Insulin

I’m sure you’ve heard of insulin, probably from somebody who was talking about treating diabetes. Insulin is considered to be the anabolic hormone. When you eat food, carbohydrates are broken down into glucose. This is the sugar that your body uses as its main source of energy. The glucose goes into your blood stream and your pancreas then responds by making insulin. The insulin then allows glucose to enter your body cells, and this gives you energy.

Melatonin

The hormone melatonin is produced by your body when you are in the dark. It is released in your brain and helps to balance your sleep patterns. If you are exposed to too much light at night-time, this can prevent your body from producing melatonin.

Oestrogen

Oestrogen is one of the most well-known female sex hormones and is needed for the purposes of puberty, menstrual cycle, pregnancy, bone strength and many other functions.

Testosterone

Testosterone is known as the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in men. This hormone plays a very important role in the development of the male reproductive system, as well as increasing muscle body mass and growth of body hair.

Cortisol

This hormone is the controller of stress in your body. Cortisol helps to increase blood sugars and boosts your brains use of glucose. It also increases the amount of certain substances you need to repair any damaged tissue. This is the hormone that determines what happens during your feeling of fright or flight. It sends messages to your brain to trigger a shutdown of any non-vital functions in your body in an emergency, such as your digestive or reproductive system. Therefore, allowing your body to give all its resources to more immediately important areas like your muscles and heart. Pretty darn clever if you think about it.

How does an imbalance of hormones affect the body?

Any imbalance of hormones in your body can disrupt these functions that I’ve previously mentioned. Women definitely got the short straw when it came to hormone fluctuations. (Believe me, I know from personal experience having recently started on a course of HRT for perimenopause!) And so, let’s first talk about the female imbalance of hormones and the symptoms it can cause.

Female imbalance of hormones: symptoms

Women can experience many different symptoms depending on which hormones are fluctuating but some of the most common symptoms experienced by women include:

• Headaches
• Brain fog
• Nausea
• Dizziness
• Mood swings
• Irregular periods
• Night sweats
• Hot flushes
• Tiredness
• Acne
• Weight gain
• Diarrhoea
• Constipation

Male imbalance of hormones: symptoms

Men tend to experience fewer hormone fluctions in their lifetime (lucky ducks 😊), but they do potentially have some changes caused by andropause (Male menopause) or from hypothyroidism. Symptoms may include:

• Mood swings and irritability
• Loss of muscle strength
• Lack of energy
• Appearance of “man boobs” or belly fat
• Unable to sleep
• Tiredness
• Lack of concentration

What can cause an imbalance of hormones?

Your hormone levels change constantly throughout your life and even through the day to assist in regulating your normal bodily functions, however there are certain stages in life that can cause a more dramatic change.

These life stages in are:

• Puberty (Males and females)
• Pregnancy (Females)
• Menopause (Females)
• Andropause (Males)

There are also a few more reasons why your hormone levels might go up and down which are a bit more unpredictable such as:

• Excessive Stress
• Medication use
• Steroid use

There are also some serious conditions that can cause a fluctuation of hormones, such as tumours or thyroid problems. I’m not going to cover that here because I am not qualified, but if you are concerned then you should definitely contact your healthcare provider for some advice.

How do you fix an imbalance of hormones?

Treatment for an imbalance of hormones will depend on what is causing it.

If your hormone imbalance is caused by increased stress brought on by work or family issues, then it is usually a temporary situation and can be fixed by reducing the stress at the root cause. In the same way if the hormone change has been brought on by certain medication you are taking your healthcare provider should be able to adjust your dose which will help.

If your hormone levels are particularly low, for example when you reach menopause, your oestrogen levels drop more dramatically each month, then HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) is usually the way forward. This helps to balance out your hormones so the symptoms either disappear or aren’t so dramatic. HRT can come in many forms such as pills, patches, gels, injections and inserts.

You can read more about this and my HRT experience in my post Menstrual Migraine – My fantastic treatment and how I coped.  You may also find my post HRT Patches Side Effects – The facts you should know interesting.

When your hormone levels increase abnormally there are a few options for treatment such as medication, surgery or radiation therapy. These treatments are a bit more severe, and I know they sound a bit scary, but this shouldn’t stop you looking into your options as they could help you considerably.

Do nutritional supplements help with an imbalance of hormones?

Nutritional supplements are always an option to help balance out your hormones. Personally, I did some research into magnesium and omega-3 to help with my issues and I take these supplements on a regular basis. Don’t be afraid to do your own research, but make sure that you check with your healthcare provider before adding any supplements to your diet. Unfortunately, there isn’t a huge amount of scientific evidence to show that nutritional supplements help in a big way but there is some, so do your research and make your own choices. After all, it is your body and no one else’s.

How do I prevent an imbalance of hormones?

It’s not always possible unfortunately to stop your hormone levels jumping about, but there are a few things you should do to maintain your over all health and this could help to keep your hormones in check.  These include:

• Eating a healthy balanced diet
• Exercising regularly
• Managing your stress levels
• Ensuring you get enough sleep
• Don’t smoke
• Don’t drink excessive amounts of alcohol

I always like to remind my readers that any posts I write are purely informational and for entertainment purposes only. Whilst I have done my own informational research, I am not medically qualified, and you should always seek the advice of a medical professional if you have questions regarding medical conditions.