by Rosa Kincaid, M.D.
Sometimes I can tell if a woman is having a “hormone problem” when she walks through the door. Often she will be crying in the waiting room or appear to be disheveled or “out of it”. The term “hormone imbalance,” usually conjures up images of old ladies with hot flashes and brittle bones. However, it can occur in any person of any age.
Hormone imbalances in young women can cause: menstrual irregularities, fibroid tumors, mood swings, pre-menstrual syndrome, depression, weight gain, endometriosis, infertility and more. Very often these symptoms are overlooked as just being part of being a woman’s “emotional” make-up or something that runs in the family. But, a minimal check-up of the output of hormones from the: thyroid, adrenals and ovaries should be done.
What are hormones? If you think of the brain as your hardware, hormones are the software. They are messengers from the brain that tell our major organs what to do. When they are all functioning correctly you have a happy, healthy and “well’” person. When they are imbalanced, it is like that malfunctioning fuel pump that can cause the entire engine to shut down or that one employee that is resistant to working with the team. These hormones work together. One hormone that is misbehaving causes a cascade, like falling dominoes, that causes the entire being to not be at their best.
So, these hormone “problems” are not age-related and now young women are experiencing many of the symptoms of imbalance: acne, depression, abnormal spotting in between periods, absence of periods, breast masses, heavy bleeding, cramping, PMS, etc. The usual treatment is going to be birth control pills (although the person is not seeking contraception and may be only 12 yeas old), antibiotics, anti-depressants or surgery. Most women or girls going through this usually have no idea of why they are having a problem.
Instead of suppressing the symptoms of imbalance with pills it is important for women of all ages to understand what is really happening in the very complex, precise biochemistry of the female reproductive system. A sensitive system that responds to the moon, steroid infested meats, pesticides, stress and lack of adequate rest. Women of all ages need to have their hormones checked and balanced.
Rosa Kincaid, M.D. Kincaid Medical Center, 3016 Locust, Suite 104, www.drrosakincaid.com. 314-531-0008.