What Are Hormones and How Do They Affect Your Health?

What Are Hormones and How Do They Affect Your Health?

The endocrine system may just be one of your body’s most amazing messaging platforms. It includes organs like your thyroid, pituitary gland, and the hypothalamus, a part of your brain. They all monitor your body’s need for hormones, or the chemical messages they send to many places in your body through your blood, enabling it to function optimally.  

Hormones regulate so much, from your mood, sleep patterns, and appetite, to your libido and fertility. Think of them as the conductors of an orchestra, with your organs playing different instruments. 

Since Dr. Mandeep Walia-Bhatia and Dr. Jeremy La Motte are dedicated to caring for all of you, and not just an isolated set of symptoms, they assess your hormone levels as one component of their complete wellness evaluation

Gain Wellness Center's services aren't only highly customized to each patient, treatment plans are designed around both your individual health history and current needs. 

When hormones go awry

Since your hormones direct so much about how your body functions, when they enter a state of disequilibrium, you may experience all types of unpleasant symptoms:

Imbalanced hormones can even cause your bathroom habits to change and create the need to urinate more often or not enough, as well as uncomfortable bloating

A skim over these symptoms reveals immediately why your quality of life can feel greatly compromised because of a hormonal imbalance. 

The many reasons why hormone levels waver

It’s completely normal for your hormones to fluctuate during certain life transitions, like puberty, pregnancy, or menopause — and don’t think mid- and later life hormonal changes are for women only. 

Though menopausal women, for example, suffer from hormonally induced hot flashes, sleep problems, and vaginal dryness, men also experience hormone-related changes that can lead to erectile dysfunction, unusual fatigue, and muscle mass loss.

If your symptoms aren’t connected to one of these transitions, the problem might lie with how your endocrine glands are performing — or not performing. For example, if your thyroid is underactive or overactive, you’ll notice decreased or increased appetite and weight fluctuations. 

The Gain Wellness Center approach to hormone imbalances begins with looking at your lifestyle and overall health, because everything from stress, excess pounds, and living with a chronic condition like diabetes, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) for women, or high blood pressure may negatively impact your hormone levels.

Conversely, a hormonal condition can cause a spike in your blood pressure, along with other symptoms, so hormonal imbalance solutions require dedicated sleuthing by your doctor. 

Finally, external factors, such as whether you’ve received treatment for cancer or environmental toxins in your home or workplace, are likely to throw your hormones out of whack. 

How can a hormonal imbalance be successfully diagnosed and treated?

Fortunately, the Gain Wellness Center team offers a whole-patient approach to investigating your hormonal issue and treating it with a uniquely tailored approach. 

We create your treatment plan only after conducting a detailed physical and an evaluation of your personal medical history. We also use blood and saliva testing to discover how your hormones are functioning.

Our treatment plan is designed for you and you alone. 

We provide nutritional counseling, so you can eat optimally, as well as advice on the level of daily physical activity that’s best for you. If you seek to lose weight, getting your diet and exercise habits regulated fuels weight loss. 

We now know that stress is a significant contributing factor to hormonal problems, so we look at your work-life balance, your relationships, your use of technology, the quality of your rest, and other potential sources of stress, so we can recommend changes that can help with hormonal regulation.

Often, beginning a practice like meditation or yoga, ensuring that you spend time with loved ones, and engaging in activities that you enjoy can be powerful antidotes for a high-stress life. 

Our emphasis on detoxification, from the cellular level to your home and work environments, is also key in righting your hormonal levels. 

Some patients benefit from hormone replacement therapy, which helps many people with their hormonal imbalances. The safe, synthetic hormones we offer are available via injection, topical agents, and pills taken orally. 

Since your hormones are woven through so many of your bodily processes, treating an imbalance transforms your life — for the better!

If you suspect you might have a hormonal imbalance, don’t delay scheduling an appointment with us. You can make an appointment for a free consultation by calling our office at 858-216-2129 or booking one through our website

Author
Dr. Mandeep Walia-Bhatia, DC, AFMCP Dr. Mandeep Walia-Bhatia, DC, AFMCP, is the founder of Gain Wellness Center in Poway, California. At the integrated medical practice, one of Dr. Walia's, greatest goals, as a health care provider, is to provide her practice members with alternative, but healthy and safe choices that will enhance their health and well-being. She likes to motivate and educate her practice members to take charge of their health by providing them with evidence-based information so that they can make informed decisions regarding their own personal health and take control of their health. Dr. Walia was born in India and raised in Canada before moving to San Diego. She attended McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada for her Master of Science degree with specialties in Biology and Physiology. She had various publications in research articles during her time at McMaster University funded by the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. She has three kids and enjoys cooking, hiking and going to the beach with her family.

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