Dr. Loretta Lanphier, ND, CN, HHP

Teen Rap: Hormone Facts Adults Don't Always Know

Are you wondering how to handle your body’s changes, acne, mood swings, anger, or just plain stress? Here’s the scoop—there’s a possible solution to these symptoms of hormonal problems that is simple to determine and inexpensive, too.

Stressing Out
Teens today experience many hormonal imbalance symptoms as a result of the pressures of being a teen today. Too often you’re exposed to chemicals in foods and in the environment from pesticides, plastics, beauty products, cleaners, and lawn and garden chemicals, just to name a few sources. Water alone can contain hormones. You’re exposed to so much junk food, fast food, and soda. Dairy products and farmed fish have added hormones and antibiotics. Antibiotics to control yeast and acne also stress the body. Your body can be overloaded by the time you enter your teen years.

Many of you are being put on birth control pills to control premenstrual syndrome (PMS)— symptoms that occur before or at the beginning of your period--or to prevent pregnancy. Or maybe you’re on medication for ADD or depression.

Then there’s all the stress that a typical teenager today is under with school work, social life, dating, sports, expectations to “be the best,” high achievement pressure, summer school, get into college, etc. Your home environment might be stressing you with sibling arguments, disagreements with parents, a death in the family, alcoholism, an unexpected divorce, or a parent running off. Or you’re helping a friend going through some of these issues and share their pain. The list is endless.

What Happens to the Body
Adrenal glands, which regulate the hormones in your body, do a good job under normal circumstances. But too much stress creates hormonal imbalances, which then creates emotional instability. Your adrenals can get exhausted, then can cause hormone imbalances, or hormone imbalances can cause adrenal exhaustion. Regardless of the cause, the results are the same.

So to handle all of the stress, your adrenals produce a large amount of a steroid called cortisol. This over production leads to a huge reduction of the hormone progesterone. When this happens, another hormone estrogen takes over. So now two hormones are affected. They have become unbalanced.

Symptoms of Hormone Imbalance
Below are symptoms of this imbalance. These can occur anytime:

• Abdominal bloating
• Abdominal cramping
• Accident proneness, coordination difficulties
• Acne, hives
• Aggression, rage, anger
• Anxiety, irritability, suicidal thoughts
• Asthma
• Back pain
• Breast swelling and pain
• Bruising
• Confusion
• Depression, withdrawal from others, emotional liability
• Edema
• Exacerbation of preexisting conditions (lupus, arthritis, ulcers, herpes, etc.)
• Excessive sleep patterns, fatigue, lethargy
• Fainting 
• Food binges, salt cravings, sweet cravings
• Headache, migraine
• Heart palpitations
• Insomnia
• Joint swelling and pain
• Nausea
• Seizures
• Sinus problems
• Sore throat
• Urinary difficulties

What Can Be Done
Progesterone can greatly improve overall hormone balance. Natural progesterone is safe and non-toxic. It’s a natural hormone to the body with no undesirable side effects, when used as directed. It can be bought over the counter, so no prescription is needed. Progesterone helps to balance the effects of hormone imbalances, and has a calming effect on the nervous system. Some teens notice a leveling off of their emotions when they get their progesterone levels up to where they should be. Many of the symptoms listed above disappear quickly within the first couple of weeks of use.

At Oasis Advanced Wellness we offer hormone saliva testing kits that allow you to test yourself within the comfort of your own home. With test results, you can determine your need for natural HRT. The use of natural progesterone in combination with lifestyle changes often improves symptoms and general health and well being. Be sure to work with your healthcare professional in determining dosages. For more information go to: www.menopause-pms-progesterone.org and www.oasisserene.com

It’s never too early to learn how to take care of your body. Education allows you to understand and take control of your health. Prevention is always the best way.

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