Episode 4 - The Effects of our Hormones on our Body

In this insightful episode of "Embrace the Change: A Menopause Journey," we dive deep into the essential hormones that play a crucial role in women's health. From estradiol and progesterone to testosterone and cortisol, we'll explore how these hormones influence everything from reproductive and sexual function to bone health and stress response. You'll also learn about DHEA, pregnenolone, and thyroid hormones (T3 and T4), which are vital for metabolism and overall well-being.

We'll discuss common hormonal challenges, including imbalances and their effects, as well as the changes that occur during menopause. Plus, we'll touch on the important topic of contraception and how hormonal interactions can impact your health.

Join me as we navigate this complex but empowering subject, backed by trusted sources like Swisshealthmed's hormone tests, and contraception tools from Trackle and Lady-Comp.

At the end of the episode, you can access a full transcript to revisit the information covered. 

Thank you for tuning in and special thanks to my family for their unwavering support. Stay tuned for our next episode, where we’ll delve into hormone replacement therapy. Until then, take good care of yourself!

Sources:

• Saliva Test by Swisshealthmed https://hormone-testen.de/  Founder: Sabine Bischoff
• Contraception without hormones:

1.  https://trackle.de/
2. https://lady-comp.com/de/de/

Transcript

Welcome to another episode of Embrace the Change, a menopause journey. I'm Daria and today we're diving deep into the fascinating world of hormones. Those powerful chemical messengers that play a really crucial role in our bodies. I'll be discussing how they work together, how they can support each other, but also how they can cause harm and what might happen to these hormones during menopause.

Let's start with a brief overview of the hormones we'll be discussing today. I'll be looking closely at eight. Do note there are much more than these eight in our body. The first one, estradiol, a form of estrogen. If you remember, it's our strongest, most prominent estrogen. This is the one that diminishes during postmenopause.

It is crucial for reproductive and sexual functions as well as, for example, bone health. The second, progesterone. This helps regulate the menstrual cycle and, for example, supports pregnancy. The third steroid hormone I'll be talking about is testosterone. It's important for women for muscle mass, bone density, and a healthy libido.

The fourth, a so called precursor hormone, that can be converted into estradiol and testosterone. The fifth, the mother of all hormones or the mother hormone pregnenolone, from which all other hormones are synthesized. The sixth one, insulin. This regulates our blood sugar levels. Number seven, cortisol. This is a stress hormone, and it's involved in the body's stress response.

And number eight, well it's actually more of a group of hormones, the so called thyroid hormones. The most popular you've probably heard of, T3 and T4. And then TSH, the thyroid stimulating hormone, the hormone that stimulates the production of the thyroid hormones. These regulate metabolism or energy levels and are important for our overall health.

Before I start, I also want to again say thank you. I always appreciate the valuable feedback I am given. It helps me improve and it does show me where I need to communicate more clearly because some listeners have told me that my journey as described in the episode sometimes sounds a bit confusing. Believe it or not, that's intentional. Just like my journey, hormonal imbalances, the female cycle and menopause are often confusing and unfortunately in many ways still a mystery. So how we treat our bodies has long term effects and the consequences can catch up with us years or decades later. And that's why I started my story from the very beginning.

 So think of the first six episodes like a crime story where in episode six the culprit is revealed. But unlike a typical crime story, it, it's not going to end here. So starting from episode 7, I will dive even more deeply into each topic to provide clarity and understanding.

So please be patient with me and with the process, and I'm very sure you can take away a lot from my story, especially if you see parallels to your own life. And as always, if I mention something that I haven't explained in detail yet, Don't hesitate to reach out to me. I also offer one on one coaching if you want to dive deeper.

I've also received feedback that I don't delve deeply enough into some of the material. This too is intentional because my podcast is for everyone. Whether you're a nerd like me and on listening to me are inspired to research even further on your own or if you just want support and starting to feel better and are inspired by my stories, I want to reach all women and with that also men.

And before I go deeper, I want to emphasize that there are many women who don't experience any symptoms. If you're one of them, that's fantastic. Please never let anyone convince you that you need to take hormones or undergo therapy if you feel fine. However, I highly recommend you do regular checkups as there are those silent symptoms that you might not notice until it's almost too late or too late, such as cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, or bone density.

Yes, now there's a lot of talk about hormone replacement therapy, hormone therapy, and I believe it's really important that we talk about it because I want to take away the fear, of these hormones, these bio identical hormones, but it doesn't mean that we all need to be taking hormones. Some of us can, supplement with very healthy food or, a very healthy diet with that sports.

So don't feel yourself pressured in having to take hormones if it's not necessary for you yet. , as mentioned in episode 3, I divide my last 40 years into decades, and today I'll talk about my life from 21 to 31. Again, a time full of challenges that I'd like to share with you before we dive deeper into hormones.

So at 21, I stopped taking the pill because I noticed it wasn't doing me any good, and I had been taking it for 7 years. And by the time I was 20, I had really severe lower back pain. And This pain became so bad that I had to sleep sitting up at night, and I couldn't dress myself or tie my shoes without help.

These torments plagued me for 17 years. 17 years. In 2008, I finally found an orthopedist who discovered that my discs between my sacrum and L5, as between L5 and L4, were completely destroyed. So those are the discs that are between that bone structure at the very bottom of your spine and between the last vertebrae and the vertebrae above that.

So the, soft tissue that kind of buffers your spine. They were completely destroyed and a so called calcification had developed. So they were, bone on bone and they, grew together. And then I chose, against injections and I opted for. Immanuel Therapy, thank God. And after three months of therapy with a really gifted therapist, I was pain free.

 When I thought I was healed, he told me that the real recovery was just beginning. Remember, I was 37. I'll be going into this next episode. Now you might be thinking, okay, what does this have to do with all this hormone stuff? Do you remember the gut microbes from episode three?

Well, the chronic inflammation of my gut due to my eating disorder had increased the pressure on my lower spine, causing the discs to degenerate gradually because the gut is connected to the spine by nerves and connective tissue, which means the inflammation, kept pulling the spine forward 24 7, putting a lot of pressure on it and grinding my discs until they were pulp and then until they were completely gone.

And at the age 37, I finally received the help from my therapist that I should have gotten much earlier, a strict diet plan to heal my gut. And with that, the gut inflammation didn't only cause back problems, also a lot of hormonal problems. I'll be going into that. So the biggest challenge, not only was my.

Pain in my spine or my lower back, but it was also. Yeah, contraception. So in the 10 years I didn't take the pill, I've measured my temperature with the help of a so called lady comp. So this is a computer. It has a little traffic light on it and it shows up. So you measure your temperature every day, at the exact same hour and it has a little traffic light and it turns red when you have an ovulation, which means, Oh, careful here, you could become pregnant.

Green is you're good to go. Well, the yellow light is, you can break now, but you can also, you know, push on the gas pedal. It's up to you depending on how you feel. Well, in those 10 years, I was almost permanently yellow. Um, and yeah, I didn't really have a regular cycle.

That's what it was telling me. So my ovulations were all anovulatory. I still had light bleeding and I wasn't aware at a, Oh, well, that's not really right. Of course I was aware of it, but I didn't care because my body and everything around it was so unimportant for me. And I took this quite easily because then already I was dating my now husband and, I didn't want to become pregnant.

But I guess I felt okay if it happens, it's going to happen with the right guy. Well, my irregular cycle and the light bleeding, like I already said, were signs of a progesterone deficiency due to a so called luteal insufficiency. And that was likely one of the reasons I, never got pregnant. with this method.

I was saying the method is really good. It just wasn't good for me at the time because that little traffic light, you know, wasn't working how it should be working. But then again, it has nothing to do with this method. It's a very good method. I'll be adding it to the show notes. Well, this deficiency probably arose from my predisp disposition and the fact that my body had forgotten how to produce progesterone after the long Sequence of taking the pill.

So I was still hormonally a disaster living with frequent muscle pain and fatigue and the determination to at least be successful in sports. My femininity was more of a nuisance to me. And in my younger years, I was actually happy to have such light periods. Now I know that the irregularities in the cycle are a sign of imbalance.

illness, or stress, or all three together. Um, I also want to share something really personal, because I know a lot of women out there, have the same thoughts that I do, and I, I just want to speak for all of us. Because recently a good friend, Asked me why I never wanted children and this question had been asked of me often and I never really had a proper answer.

Well, I had one, but I couldn't articulate it. But now in the book, The Wisdom of Menopause, so I've mentioned this a couple of episodes ago by Christian Northrup, I found the exact explanation for myself. And let me read it to you briefly. In the early years of our family life, I became increasingly aware that the injustices that bothered me in my marriage were a reflection of the injustices that existed in the culture around us.

I saw many couples like my husband and me, people who had started their marriages on equal financial and educational footing. But once the children came, it was always the wife who sacrificed her free time, professional achievement, and personal fulfillment. Wow. I'm aware that there are a lot of fortunate women out there don't feel this, but there are a lot that do.

And this is where I notice, okay, this is the explanation for me and this is something I can share. Because I wanted to be just as autonomous as any man. I wanted to grow and live my life. And back then as a young woman, I was often criticized. And labeled as selfish when I said I didn't want to have children.

Today, women react with understanding to my desire to be childless. Okay, with that, now let's discuss how hormones interact with each other. Because our bodies function optimally when our hormones are imbalanced. Think of it as a Swiss watch or a Swiss clock. All the wheels intertwining together and one of them stops, the whole system is going to stop.

So, an imbalance can lead to various problems. And I'm going to give you a couple of examples of, Yeah, of these delicate balances. And one of them is the balance between Progesterone and cortisol and they share a common precursor, pregnenolone. During stressful times, the body prioritizes the production of cortisol over progesterone, leading to a so-called progesterone stealing.

This can cause a drop of progesterone levels which can affect the menstrual cycle and of course, overall hormonal balance. What happens in stress, the body protects us from pregnancy because in times of this intense stress, especially when it's chronic, both we and the unborn baby would, we would be in danger.

Another delicate balance is between estradiol and progesterone, and this magic happens with every healthy woman. every single month. While estradiol stimulates the growth and development of the reproductive system, progesterone is needed to maintain the system and prepare the body for pregnancy.

Too much estradiol without enough progesterone can then lead to a so-called estrogen dominance. When this becomes chronic, this can cause symptoms such as weight gain, mood swings, and an increased risk of certain cancers. Also, closely linked are insulin and cortisol. These are so called master hormones.

So, they have on the hierarchy very, high up above. High levels of stress can raise our cortisol levels, which in turn can raise blood sugar levels and the insulin resistance. This leads to weight gain and increased risk of diabetes. In stressful times, the body needs quick energy to survive.

Remember, you've got to run away from that dangerous tiger, you need to protect your family. The liver releases its sugar reserves back into the bloodstream, making it very readily available. Insulin on the other side is there to return the blood sugar back to the cells of the liver, fat, and muscles.

Where it is again converted into energy. If this stress phase is too long, meaning chronic, the receptors Okay, now what happens, the blood sugar levels keep rising and continues to signal the pancreas to produce insulin. It produces and produces and produces and the blood sugar keeps rising and at some point, the pancreas burns out.

It cannot produce any insulin any longer. So over time, when it becomes overworked, It cannot produce any more insulin. This is when injections become necessary. This is then diabetes. That's what happens. And as I said, insulin and cortisol are so called master hormones. They're next in the hormone hierarchy.

And then after that first come the thyroid hormones. And then only then are reproductive hormones. like estrogen and progesterone, and the latter two are important to regulate, of course, our menstrual cycle. When the blood sugar is out of balance, the body primarily responds to the signals then, of course, to the master hormones, insulin and cortisol, and all other hormones are secondary.

However, when your blood sugar level is balanced, then the body can more easily respond to the signals of, for example, estrogen and progesterone, with that supporting a very healthy cycle. Yeah! Exciting, because this fascinating relationship between our cycle phase and our response to sugar, um, is again, a very closely linked system and interesting.

In the first half of our cycle, more estrogen than progesterone is present, and insulin sensitivity increases. This changes in the second half. Women often feel the shift just before their period through cravings, mood swings, so at this time, if you reach for chocolate at the second phase of your cycle, a blood sugar vicious cycle can occur.

The reduced insulin sensitivity in the second part of the cycle means that your blood sugar level spikes higher and can drop lower. This roller coaster then makes you tired, promotes cravings, PMS and period cramps. It's really important to look at your diet and in the second half of your cycle, soothe those cravings with really healthy carbohydrates, for example, really healthy whole grains.

as an example, and then eat your sweets if necessary, in your first half of the cycle. This is really important. Okay. Let's discuss the symptoms associated with these deficiencies and imbalances of the hormones. Again, I'll be starting with the strongest and most important. Estradiol. Now we do become deficient somewhere in life, latest in postmenopause where estradiol lacks completely and is then replaced with other hormones.

A deficiency can also occur earlier in life and can be very acute or then later chronic. So acute symptoms would be then during perimenopause, hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, menstrual irregularities, fatigue, Hair loss or thinning. Heart palpitations. Depressive moods. Lack of motivation. Frequent crying.

Memory lapses. Breast growth in older women. I'm not talking about the puberty growth of breasts, but breast growth later in life up to one cup size. Overactive bladder as one form of incontinence. When estradiol deficiency becomes chronic, later than in postmenopause, it can lead to symptoms like vaginal dryness, dry mucous membranes, dry and irritated eyes, and Reduced libido, sagging breasts, increased wrinkles due to dry skin.

Here the wrinkles perpendicular to the upper lip are very typical for a estradiol deficiency. Osteoporosis and an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. And now you understand why it's so important to have your levels checked. Because this is something you do not want. Nobody wants. Now estradiol has a lot of preventive effects and this will also help you decide then for bioidentical hormones when you see what it can do if it's taken properly.

It protects against heart disease, dementia, osteoporosis. It protects against diabetes by improving your insulin sensitivity. It maintains our cognitive functions and our moods. It maintains the thickness and fullness of our skin and hair. It hydrates our mucous membranes, protects against colon cancer, it protects against the oxidation of our bad cholesterol, so the LDL, low density lipid, and increases the portion of good cholesterol, HDL, high density lipid.

And last but not least, it reduces the plaque buildup, which can clog arteries. Now we'll come to the progesterone deficiency, which actually happens first in perimenopause. Remember, progesterone dips first. Symptoms here, then, can happen very early, like irregular menstrual cycles. Heavy menstrual bleeding, premenstrual syndrome, so called PMS, anxiety, panic attacks, sleep disturbances, aggression, irritability, depression, food cravings, mystophathy, and mastodynia.

So that's also in addition to the tissue buildup, it's painful breasts. Dysmenorrhea, so it's the pain during menstruation, swollen face, hands, feet, bloated abdomen, fat accumulation in the lower abdomen, joint and muscle pain, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids. Oh wow, phew, now you understand the confusion because a lot of hormones have a lot of the same symptoms when they're dominant or deficient and that's why it's so important to track your symptoms, have your hormone checks and find somebody to support you because It's so important to get that connection and every one of us is so individual and every one of us will need a different type of support and we need patience because it takes time for of course if we do decide to take hormones it takes time for our body to adapt.

Well this progesterone deficiency is due to a luteal insufficiency and this is caused or often caused by insufficient progesterone production. during the so called [00:20:00] luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, leading to fertility issues and problems maintaining pregnancy, because the follicle quality is really poor.

Also, a cause can be the post pill syndrome or stress. Remember high cortisol levels, leads to progesterone stealing. Progesterone also has very good preventive effects, like it promotes sleep, it relieves anxiety, and it has a very calming effect. When you think of replacing this hormone, these are the wonderful, beautiful side effects.

Okay, I want to go into post pill syndrome because a lot of women will be interested in this. Which means, after discontinuing your birth control pill or removing your coil or spiral, it can come to hormonal imbalances including irregular periods, acne, hair loss and mood swings because it can happen that the ovaries struggle to recover from the suppressive effects of the so called progestins on the hormones FSH and LH.

I'll get into that in a second. Your body cannot produce progesterone because it's being suppressed by what you are taking orally or which you have inserted in your uterus. However, an underlying condition may have existed before taking the pill. Remember my progesterone deficiency as a very young child and then taking the pill.

 I definitely suffered from post pill syndrome. Um, you'll see a loan in my gut microbial being upset and other things that I'll be revealing later. That's why I like to mention those non hormonal contraceptions like Lady Comp or Trackle. Very, Lady Comp is very good, even though it was not good for me, the system is very good.

I don't know, trackle, I just did some investigation. I would urge you to look at both. They're both in the show notes. So now what is FSH? It's a, Follicle stimulating Hormone. In women of childbearing age, FSH leads to the maturation of the follicle. in the first half of the cycle and the production of estrogen in the maturing follicle.

The follicle is an egg cell surrounded by a cell layer. It's the egg with a cell layer. Estrogen has a growth stimulating effect on the uterine lining, which is important in case you do conceive your, the egg can then be placed into this lining and pregnancy can be successful. In men, FSH is important for the proper formation and maturation of sperm.

Remember, we all have all hormones. LH, the luteinizing hormone, is also important. In women of childbearing age, LH triggers the ovulation and thus initiates the second half of the cycle. Everything from ovulation to menstruation or the beginning of a pregnancy, whatever happens first.

Under the influence of LH, the corpus luteum forms from the follicle remnants in this phase. The translation is yellow body. And this then produces the hormone progesterone. If you don't have an ovulation, an anovulatory cycle, then you don't have these remnants and, the hormone progesterone cannot be produced, which can also then of course lead to a deficiency.

 And under the influence of progesterone, when it's produced, the uterine lining prepares for the possible pregnancy. In men, LH stimulates testosterone production in the leydig cells of the testes. With that, I'm going to be speaking of testosterone deficiency. The symptoms here are reduced libido, decreased muscle mass, fatigue, mood swings, depression, low self-esteem, anxious mental state, lack of stress resilience, loss of strength, 

muscle weakness, and with men, sparse beard growth. Now remember the precursor hormone, DHEA? Well, the symptoms here with deficiency are lack of stress resilience, feelings of anxiety, low mood, exhaustion, sleep disturbances, hot flashes, headaches, loss of libido, dry hair, dull eyes, Dry and thin skin, prone to bruising, cellulite, and decreased bone and muscle mass.

Now that's why it's important to also, when you check your hormones, also to have DHEA also, checked. Because it's, like I said, the precursor, and if that's deficient, then of course the other hormones cannot be produced. The effects of a very healthy level of DHEA. It supports the production of other hormones, as said.

It's stress resilience. Memory Improvement, Muscle Building, Fat Reduction, Bone Strengthening, Immune Support, Anti Inflammatory Effects, and Vasodilation. So, wow, very important, like all hormones. But since it's a precursor, it needs to be taken care of. Otherwise, everything else is not going to function. Now, I'll be going into the cortisol imbalance.

Okay, we said cortisol is a stress hormone. Of course, it's really important. It helps you survive during acute stress. It means it raises your blood sugar, it increases blood pressure so you're alert, it accelerates your pulse, it enhances oxygen and nutrient supply to all organs, it inhibits inflammation, pain, and allergies, it stimulates your appetite, and it strengthens 

infection defenses. So, wow, this helps you just master through stress. And that's why we can go through acute phases of stress without, suffering. It just gets dangerous when it's chronic. Now, an excess can also not only be, caused by stress. It also can be caused by caffeine containing beverages, false fasting.

I want to stress the word false fasting micronutrient deficiencies. due to eating disorders, for example, or excessive exercise, which means lacking recuperation, not having a correct training plan. I'm not talking about those pro and elite athletes out there that have a great recuperation, great diet, take care of their body with massages and things like that.

I'm talking about you overdoing it and not letting your body come to rest. Cortisol can also be deficient, it happens, yeah, it can happen, here it leads to fatigue, muscle weakness, weight loss, low blood pressure, mood swings, nausea, hypoglycemia, low blood pressure, heart palpitations, with very little exertion, so just stepping up a couple of flight of stairs, your heart is beating like crazy, muscle and tendon pain, hyperpigmentation of the skin.

Now let's go to the mother of all hormones, pregnenolone deficiency. Here, a loss of vitality, decline in performance, memory disturbances, cognitive impairments, joint inflammation, and autoimmune diseases. important. This hormone needs to be taken care of, has to function. Otherwise the other hormones of course cannot be synthetized either.

Okay. I talked a lot about deficiencies, but there's one dominance I want to talk about, especially since it occurs with us during perimenopause. And some women have a really high dominance of estradiol and it causes a lot of problems. Some of us don't have a high dominance where you can check it through your blood, value.

Some of us will notice it just through the symptoms. So a dominance in women can cause infertility, menstrual irregularities, breast cysts, breast tenderness, weight gain in the hips and thighs, other than progesterone deficiency, your weight gain in the abdomen, an increased risk of thrombosis, gallbladder diseases, bloating, constipation, edema.

autoimmune diseases, hypothyroidism, mood swings, heavy menstrual periods, and an increased risk of breast and uterine cancer. So now you might understand what gets really high, why you might want to consider supporting with, bio identical progesterone to balance it out. Men can also have an estradiol, dominance.

And I think it's really important to mention this here for you men listening, it can reduce your libido. It can cause a dysfunction in erections and it can lead to a, this word is hard, a gynecomastia, which means the breast growth with men. There are different types of estradiol dominance, and these are important also to know because it can be a relative dominance, which mean a high estradiol compared to progesterone, which means your progesterone is low, and that's why this occurs.

It's usually due to perimenopause and an absolute dominance, which means a high estradiol. level, regardless of what the other hormones are doing. They could be healthy, but your estradiol is going through the roof. So that's important also to understand this balance here. I want to go into a very important topic.

Now I talked about insulin and what happens during stress and with your pancreas, but there's also something that is really important, especially with us women. And it can either, occur during perimenopause or if you have thyroid problems, they can increase during perimenopause. If you already have them in earlier ages.

And there are two types of activities in your thyroid. Well, three actually, a normal one, an overactivity, and an underactivity. The overactivity is called a hyperthyroidism. So, you think of hyperactive. This occurs when too many thyroid hormones are produced and released, leading to an overactive metabolism.

This can lead to weight loss. inner restlessness, nervousness, and sweating. And affected individuals are constantly on edge and they find little peace. And in women of childbearing age, hyperthyroidism can lead to menstrual irregularities and infertility. Miscarriages may occur more frequently in the first months.

Then the underactivity, the hypothyroidism, this occurs when too few thyroid hormones are produced, which is much more common. Typical symptoms can include fatigue and lack of motivation, weight gain, with significant difficulty losing weight, memory and concentration problems, Water retention, constipation.

Many women also report that they're constantly cold and freezing, their skin is dry, pale, and their nails and hair are often brittle. Here, especially a need for vitamins and minerals may be increased, and menstrual irregularities and infertility can be the consequence of hypothyroidism. Particularly in women, that's why I'm sharing this, a chronic autoimmune related inflammation of the thyroid can occur.

Thank you for your time. This is the Hashimoto's disease, and this then leads eventually to hypothyroidism. Important here is that researchers also see a connection between the occurrence of PCOS, so the polycystic ovary syndrome, and Hashimoto. Treating Hashimoto, which is a chronic inflammation of the thyroid, can therefore possibly help with PCOS.

and they interact together. How does the thyroid react also with estrogens? Remember the hierarchy, so we have insulin, cortisol, they're the most important, they get prioritized, then come your thyroid hormones, and then the steroid hormones. The close connection between the thyroid and estrogen in particular, as well as other sexual hormones in general, well, they have a significant effect.

on your cycle, fertility, and the ability to carry a pregnancy. There's a close interaction, like I said, between thyroid hormones and estradiol and progesterone. That's why a tip from me, an undiagnosed hypo or maybe even hyperthyroidism is often the reason for, yeah, absent pregnancy or miscarriages.

So, have your thyroid hormones either checked during, your yearly checkups, make sure that they're okay. And the relationship between thyroid and estrogen. Well, estrogen is like, I always share one of the most well-known and strongest important female sex or steroid hormones, or however you want to call it.

And it is crucial as just mentioned for the development and maintenance of the menstrual cycle, the development of the uterine lining, and the preparation for ovulation. However, high estrogen levels, cause thyroid hormones to bind more strongly to proteins and thus become less active or inactive. This then results in a cycle dependent hypothyroidism.

Now if you remember me talking about saliva and blood tests, well the hormones in a blood test you can see are usually inactive because they've already been connected to a hormone nevertheless they give you your hormone level they just show also which ones are inactive a saliva will show you what your active hormones what that state is so that's why it's I think it's important to do Both tests.

Okay, but what can cause an estradiol dominance? First of all, our normal menstrual cycle because progesterone drops faster than estradiol and the last, one to two days are often acutely estradiol dominant. Typical for PMS, for example. Another reason for estradiol dominance is perimenopause or premenopause.

So, 10 to 15 years before menopause, while progesterone decreases, and fluctuates due to increased anovulatory cycles because our follicle quality declines. Estradiol is often still intact. Another reason is obesity. If you're overweight, estrogens are produced in fat tissue and this can increase then estradiol.

Then medication containing progestin, so synthetic Progesterone's outdated, hormone replacement therapy or pill coils, spirals, things like that. They suppress our own progesterone. This increases then, of course, estradiol. Progesterone and testosterone deficiency also lead to estradiol dominance. A very carbohydrate rich diet, so like sweets, increase insulin levels and of course your blood sugar.

Well, first blood sugar, then insulin. Try to eat, um, Carbohydrates, healthy ones, so whole grains and things like that. Alcohol can increase estradiol, especially beer because it contains hops. And this is a, form of a natural estrogen. So that's why you men, you drinking too much beer, you might have some side effects.

Eventually, stress increases estradiol, a weakened liver function, and the so called xenoestrogens, those exogenous estrogens I talked about last episode from the environment and cosmetics, so plastics and things like that. Now coming to progesterone and the effects on our thyroid. So as a counterpart to estrogen, progesterone has an opposite effect.

Therefore, progesterone deficiency worsens the hormone related hypothyroidism. Many affected individuals suffer from severe PMS with water retention, weight gain, tension, in the abdomen and breasts. So, now you understand why it's really important to check your levels, either in the context of a fertility examination, or, like I said, in your yearly examination, to make sure your levels are okay.

 And you might have to then either take thyroid hormones, or you can maybe balance out other hormones to make sure that everything is working well. Well, regarding the menstrual cycle, hypothyroidism can cause the following complaints. I want to just repeat this, cycle, irregularities, loss of libido, and menstrual discomfort.

In some cases, or I do recommend that if your blood values are tested with your thyroid hormones, it might also be, beneficial under some circumstances also to have an ultrasound of your thyroid. done simply to see if it's increased in size because a unhealthy thyroid, one that's under production, of course, , since it's trying so hard to produce, it grows in size and can then also be assigned for a, burned out thyroid.

Wow. Okay. So, you hear now that during menopause, the production of these important hormones, they change, significantly. So estradiol and progesterone levels decrease. They lead to common menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats and mood swings. And remember, I can't say this often enough. It's important to know that progesterone decreases first.

You will, if you have problems, you will most likely have a progesterone deficiency and estradiol dominance. Not always, but it can happen. Testosterone and DHEA levels also decrease.

Reduced pregnenolone levels mean there are fewer building blocks for other hormones, which then can exacerbate imbalances, so it's really important that of course this hormone is functioning because otherwise all other hormones will be out of balance. Again, to repeat, cortisol levels can become more unpredictable, contributing to stress and anxiety.

Now, it's interesting. You are under stress, your cortisol levels increase. Cortisol levels can become unpredictable without you actually being in stress, contributing to stress and anxiety. And that's why it's really important here at this stage to explain that a burnout can be. based on a hormonal imbalance.

And this is actually what happened to me. My hormones were going so crazy that I fell into a burnout and not through being overworked. Um, simply my hormones were going crazy and everything went wrong. Thyroid hormones can also fluctuate leading to symptoms like fatigue, weight gain, and depression. Wow.

Okay. This was a long one. It was also a very, maybe confusing, but also a very intense episode. And I want to bring this all together. As a conclusion that hormonal imbalances during menopause can lead to a variety of problems. The first one, mood swings and depression due to low progesterone and estradiol levels.

Second, weight gain and insulin resistance caused by high cortisol levels and low insulin sensitivity. Third, decreased libido and muscle mass due to low testosterone and DHEA levels. And fourth, fatigue and metabolic problems caused by an imbalance in thyroid hormones. 

And at this point I would like to introduce the saliva test from swisshealthmed, the founder Sabine Bischoff.

She has made it her goal to help others with hormonal imbalances. This test is produced and also returned back in Germany when you have it done. I think it's really great what Sabine does. The past episodes I shared other sources. Please also, support Sabine in her work. The source is also in the show notes.

Thank you for joining Embrace the Change, a menopause journey today. I find understanding the complex interplay of hormones in our bodies can empower us to make informed decisions about our health. If you have any questions or want to learn more, feel free to visit me at www.dariahead.de. 

A big thank you to my parents and my husband for your strong support.

Stay tuned for my next episode where we'll explore hormone replacement therapy or hormone therapy, whatever you want to call it until then. Take good care of yourself.