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HORMONES - STEROIDS

THE GREEK ROOT, HORMON, MEANS
“THAT WHICH SETS IN MOTION.”

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STEROID HORMONES

  • Derived from cholesterol
  • Help regulate metabolism, inflammation, immune functions, salt and water balance, development of sexual characteristics, and the ability to withstand injury and illness, and more
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ENDOCRINE DISORDERS, 1984

Did you know the word hormone comes from the Greek meaning, “set in motion?” The term hormone was introduced by scientists in 1902 to describe a chemical substance that travels around the body influencing physiology and behavior. Hormones really do set everything in your body “in motion.” Hormones are chemical messengers that are produced in the body by glands and can be transported by the blood to a target organ. Hormones are used to communicate between organs and tissues and control almost all tasks in the body relating to regulation. These include sex and brain function, growth, and the breakdown of food. Hormones are messengers that tell other parts of the body how and when to work.

PROGESTERONE

  • Estrogen antagonist
  • Supports pregnancy
  • Helps use fat for energy
  • Protects against breast fibrocysts
  • Normalizes blood clotting

Progesterone is a steroid hormone that is
produced naturally in the body. Studies show this hormone is very protective and has direct effects on mitochondria, promoting energy production, and facilitating thyroid hormone functions in various ways. Progesterone also promotes the elimination of estrogen from tissues and is the precursor for all other steroid hormones.

As women age, their progesterone production diminishes. Supplementing natural bio-identical progesterone with a high-quality cream or capsule may help fight stress, aging, chronic inflammation, estrogen excess, thyroid problems, infertility, and much more.

1. Progesterone has bone-building properties. One study showed bone mineral density loss is more rapid in perimenopause than postmenopause due to “decreased bone formation due to P4 deficiency contributes.”

2. Progesterone maintains pregnancy. A very high concentration of progesterone is made in a women’s body during pregnancy to protect the baby from stressors. Progesterone is often used to help prevent miscarriage.

3. Progesterone protects the brain against toxins. Progesterone is known to have protective qualities and studies show it can protect against “glutamate-induced toxicity” (Kaur, 2007).

4. Progesterone is anti-estrogenic. Progesterone opposes the hormone, estrogen. Several studies that estrogen can amplify the stress response, corroborating progesterone’s protective qualities.

5. Progesterone can restore many of the functions of aged skin. Effects of 2% progesterone cream on the skin of peri- and postmenopausal women were studied and the results showed progesterone acts primarily in increasing elasticity and firmness

PROGESTERONE

PROGESTERONE PRODUCTION DECLINES WITH AGE

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Progesterone usually declines with age, and yet is one of the most important hormones in the body.

As women age, their progesterone production diminishes. Supplementing natural bio-identical progesterone with a high quality cream or capsule may help fight stress, aging, chronic inflammation, estrogen excess, thyroid problems, infertility, and much more.

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ESTROGEN

  • Helps to regulate the menstrual cycle
  • Allows proliferative effect on tissue, which is why it’s needed for a baby to grow, but also why it is involved in cancer development
  • Responsible for breast development
  • Plays a role in vaginal dryness
  • Plays a role in fatigue
  • Plays a role in brain fog

Estrogen is made in both men and women. It’s needed to perform many roles in the body, but just like when oxalates are chronically or insulin is chronically high, problems can happen. The body like its balance.

-Periods of estrogen dominance in a woman’s menstrual cycle are normal and needed for women to reproduce. Problems can arise when estrogen dominance is sustained.

-Estrogen has messages (cell proliferation and growth) that make it important to have it opposed with sufficient progesterone.

-Estrogen “regulates a plethora of biological processes, by affecting key pathways in cell proliferation, fate, survival & metabolism” (Fortini, 2019). It has also been known to promote cell proliferation through the activation of estrogen receptors.

Cell proliferation is the process by which a cell grows and divides to produce two daughter cells.

Estrogen has this action mostly via activation of growth factor pathways that prompt cells to divide. This mechanism is also needed for reproduction. However, this mechanism must be controlled so the message isn’t used for the wrong processes in the body.

It’s commonly said that “estrogen makes everything grow.” It helps grow a baby! It makes the lining of the uterus grow, promotes the growth of the egg, and keeps the vaginal tissue moist. Growth messages can be positive and negative-this is why estrogen must be balanced.

Keep in mind that while estrogen is needed for cell proliferation, it can also be a contraceptive and can mimic stress.

What matters is that estrogen is produced at normal levels and is balanced optimally to support you

TESTOSTERONE

Testosterone production usually declines with age in men and women.

  • Critical for many of your biological processes especially the building, maintenance and repair of your bones
  • Plays a role in libido
  • Plays a role in cardiovascular health.
  • Plays a role in immune system
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Testosterone is often thought of as just a “male hormone,” but it’s incredibly important for women too.

-Testosterone helps to protect the heart. Older women with low blood testosterone and DHEA concentrations, but not low estrogen, were found to have twice the risk of a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or heart failure than those with higher testosterone. The apparent protective effects of testosterone and DHEA appeared to emerge early, with the higher three quartiles for each hormone tracking together.

-Healthy testosterone levels are associated with better mood. Thirty-four women completed the study and testosterone therapy resulted in statistically significant improvements in mood.

Conclusions: Testosterone therapy improves well-being, mood, and sexual function in premenopausal women with low libido and low testosterone.

Testosterone can help with the immune system. This may be why men are known to recover from the flu faster than women. Testosterone may be protective against the flu (and this may be why men tend to recover from the flu quicker than women). These data suggest that androgen receptor signaling creates a local pulmonary environment that promotes downregulation of detrimental inflammatory immune responses to protect against prolonged influenza disease.

-Healthy testosterone levels are associated with greater bone mineral density.

-Healthy testosterone levels are associated with greater lean body mass. Total and free T were measured using sensitive assays in 232 community-dwelling women aged 67–94 years old. Free T was positively related to hip BMD, lean body mass, and body fat (all P < 0.05), with more than 10% differences in each outcome between women at the highest and lowest ends of the free T range, with attenuation after excluding estrogen users and adjusting for estradiol.

DHEA

  • Decreases significantly with aging
  • Similar to progesterone
  • Plays a role in bone health
  • Plays a role in mental health
  • Highest-circulating steroid present in the human body
  • Helps produce other hormones, including testosterone and estrogen
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DHEA is the highest-circulating steroid present in the human body and it helps to produce other hormones, including testosterone and estrogen. DHEA plays an important role in the brain, immune system, anti-aging, and overall health, but levels decrease by about 80% between ages 25 and 75.

As the levels of DHEA and DHEA-S decline with age, the brain loses its protective properties and becomes more sensitive to the ravages of neurological decline.

DHEA supplementation provides benefits for both early and late postmenopausal women. One study treated early (50-55 years and late postmenopausal women (60-65 years) with oral DHEA 50 mg/day for 6 months. Treatment with DHEA was associated with a progressive improvement of the menopausal symptoms(Gyencol Endocrin 2000).

Sex steroid hormone levels and specifically high levels of estrogen and low levels of DHEA have been linked with depressive symptoms. One study showed “lowered dehydroepiandrosterone levels are an additional state abnormality in adult depression. Adrenal steroid changes are thus not limited to cortisol. Because dehydroepiandrosterone may antagonize some effects of cortisol and may have mood improving properties, these findings may have significant implications for the pathophysiology of depression” (Biol Psychiatry, 2000). Another study concluded, “In men and women, DHEAS levels and depressive symptoms were inversely associated” (Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2007). In addition, the National Institute of Mental Health studied 46 patients age 40-65 with major and minor depression. After six weeks of administering DHEA, 23 patients showed a 50% decrease in depressive symptoms. Ten patients chose to continue taking DHEA for one year at a low dose and remained free of depression.

CORTISOL

  • Hormone released when organism is under stress
  • Equips our bodies for times of survival.
  • High levels linked to fatty liver
  • High levels linked to blood sugar dysregulation
  • Can be immunosuppressive

Cortisol impacts our sex hormones including estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone as well as insulin and thyroid. Cortisol should be highest upon waking and then lowest at nighttime. It is inversely related to melatonin levels.

When we are stressed, our brain activates our hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) and can down-regulate FSH and LH, which can cause lower progesterone levels and impact sleep and mood. The body’s shock response increases cortisol, decreases blood pressure, and increases water uptake from the blood by tissues and organs. As a result, arteries become constricted. This physiological response is a huge contributing factor to many negative symptoms. High cortisol can contribute to excess estrogen. Excess estrogen is stored in our fat cells and can result in insulin resistance.

Elevated cortisol can also suppress thyroid levels since it can create the inactive form of thyroid hormone and can cause symptoms of fatigue, weight gain, constipation, mood changes, hair loss, and decrease metabolism.

Common causes of high cortisol:

  • Emotional stressors and anxiety
  • Not eating enough
  • Diet low in protein
  • High estrogen
  • Overexercising
  • Low thyroid

 

4 Things To Know About Cortisol

  • Cortisol activates the aromatase enzyme (used for estrogen biosynthesis) and in the absence of progesterone, cortisol becomes more active, increasing aromatase activity.
  • Cortisol tends to rise with age.
  • High cortisol promotes. the development of fatty liver.
  • Patients with hair loss often have excess levels of cortisol.

WHY HORMONE IMBALANCES HAPPEN

WHAT ARE HORMONES?

Hormones are chemicals made by parts of the body called glands. Hormones control almost all tasks in the body relating to regulation. These include sex and brain function, growth and the breakdown of food. Hormones are messengers that tell other parts of the body how and when to work. But what happens when the message goes amiss? Unfortunately, the symptoms of hormone imbalance can be serious and are closely linked to cancer.

Many different factors can affect hormones such as nutrition, stress, environment, medications, and other lifestyle factors. Furthermore, all the hormones affect each other. For instance progesterone influences estrogen, testosterone, LH, FSH, and prolactin. An excess of any of the above hormones will suppress progesterone. Each hormone affects the other, stimulating or inhibiting depending on the level of secretion

HORMONES AND THEIR MANY ROLES

Sex hormones have many effects on the body including:

  • Body development
  • Fertility and pregnancy
  • Mood
  • Metabolism
  • Skin health
  • Aging
  • Immune system
  • Brain health
  • Cancer development and apoptosis (programmed cell death)
  • Muscle growth
  • Heart rate
  • Menstrual cycles
  • Wake and sleep cycle
  • A hormone may also regulate the production and release of other hormones

Several causes of hormone imbalances

When hormones are out of balance, many harmful processes may occur, including:

  • Anxiety/depression
  • Allergies
  • Blood pressure issues (high or low)
  • Cancers caused by excess estrogen
  • Carpel tunnel syndrome
  • Cold hands and feet
  • Constipation
  • Colitis
  • Edema
  • Endometriosis
  • Epilepsy
  • Fatigue
  • Fibroids
  • Headaches and migraines
  • Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)
  • Immunological problems
  • Infertility
  • Inflammatory diseases
  • Insomnia
  • Early menopause
  • Memory problems (and dementia)
  • Osteoporosis (bone loss)
  • Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)
  • Varicose veins and bulging veins

Aging

As we age, our hormones reach peak levels and then start diminish. When hormones have less production the body, they can create imbalances.

Malnutrition

What we eat affects everything – our hair, skin, nails, bones, internal organs, brain, and emotions. Food can also impact our hormone production and secretion, which goes hand in hand with menopause.

Certain Medications

Certain medications have been shown to decrease the production of testosterone, DHEA, progesterone, and DHT. By decreasing the production of these hormones, overall imbalances may occur.

Environment

Environmental toxins may include heavy metals, radiation, and metal toxicity. These types of environmental factors can influence the body and hormone production.

SOME OF THE SOLUTIONS - DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU NEED

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Progesterone

BIOIDENTICAL PROGESTERONE $45-$50

Moment’s progesterone is available in both capsules or creams. It is made without:

  • Peanut oil (PUFA)
  • Titanium dioxide (Can be neurotoxic and inflammatory)
  • Lecithin (Can irritate the gut)
  • Food colorings FD&C Red No. 40, D&C
  • Yellow No. 10 ( to inflammatory bowel disease)
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Pregnenolone

BIOIDENTICAL PREGNENOLONE $25

Moment’s pregnenolone is available in capsules. It is made without:

  • Peanut oil (PUFA)
  • Titanium dioxide (Can be neurotoxic and inflammatory)
  • Lecithin (Can irritate the gut)
  • Food colorings FD&C Red No. 40, D&C
  • Yellow No. 10 ( to inflammatory bowel disease)
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Testosterone

BIOIDENTICAL TESTERONE $45

Moment’s testosterone is available in drops or cream.

It is made without:

  • Peanut oil (PUFA)
  • Titanium dioxide (Can be neurotoxic and inflammatory)
  • Lecithin (Can irritate the gut)
  • Food colorings FD&C Red No. 40, D&C
  • Yellow No. 10 ( to inflammatory bowel disease)
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Estrogen

BIOIDENTICAL ESTROGEN $25-$45

Moment’s estrogen is available in oil or cream.

It is made without:

  • Peanut oil (PUFA)
  • Titanium dioxide (Can be neurotoxic and inflammatory)
  • Lecithin (Can irritate the gut)
  • Food colorings FD&C Red No. 40, D&C 
  • Yellow No. 10 ( to inflammatory bowel disease)

SOME OF THE SOLUTIONS - DEPENDING ON WHAT YOU NEED

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DHEA-S

BIOIDENTICAL DHEA-S $10-$17

DHEA is the highest-circulating steroid present in the human body and it helps to produce other hormones, including testosterone and estrogen. DHEA plays an important role in the brain, immune system, anti-aging, and overall health, but levels decrease by about 80% between ages 25 and 75

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Natural Dessicated Thyroid

T3 AND T4 AS NEEDED $45

Natural desiccated thyroid products release the thyroid hormones T4 and T3 upon digestion of the thyroid extract.

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Low Dose Naltrexone

CAPSULES

Naltrexone is an endotoxin (TLR4) antagonist that is known to help with reduced cravings/blocked effects of/for, alcohol and or opiates. However, it can also help with mood and depression. It can also be protective against many other conditions including MS and lupus through normalizing the immune system.

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Cyproheptadine

TABLETS

A compound with anti-stress mechanisms and is effective for many conditions including depression. Cyproheptadine alleviates the stress and inflammation in the liver, allowing it to better perform its detoxification functions.”

SOME OF THE SOLUTIONS - DEPENDING ON CONTEXT

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Semaglutide peptides

WEIGHT LOSS

Semaglutide, sold under the brand names Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, is an antidiabetic medication used for weight loss. It can be very effective as a catalyst for losing weight.

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BCP-157 Peptide

RECOVERY

BPC stands for “Body Protecting Compound. BPC-157 can increase vascular flow to the tendons and ligaments to promote healing. People who suffer from discomfort due to muscle sprains, tears, and damage may benefit from BPC-157 therapy.

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CJC-1295/Ipamorelin

OVERALL WELL-BEING

The benefits of this peptide include better sleep, better memory retention, stimulates muscle growth, aids in loss of fat, and helps lean muscle.

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TARGETED SUPPLEMENTS AS NEEDED

OVERALL WELL-BEING

Targeted supplements may include niacinimide, magnesium, selenium, vitamin C, methylene blue, vitamin A, vitamin E, and more.