Hormone dysregulation

Glands throughout our body secrete hormones in response to signals from our pituitary. These glands include the thyroid, adrenals, ovaries (in women), testes (in men) and lesser known glands such as the parathyroid, pineal and thymus gland.

Dysregulation in our hormone balance usually occurs due to significant negative stressors, either physical or mental. These include toxic diets and lifestyle habits, toxins in our environment, too much mental or physical stress, being too sedentary, inflammation and chronic illness.

Hormones influence almost every aspect of our health, including our ability to focus, sleep, mood, vitality, metabolism, bowel habits, ability to bounce back from stress, hair/skin/nail health, blood pressure and blood sugar balance, libido and fertility.

For women, hormone dysregulation is associated of course with menstrual issues including pain, irregularity, PCOS, PMS, endometriosis, fibrocystic breasts, fertility issues and fibroids.

Our hormones also impact our immune system and vice versa, so immune dysregulation can be both a cause and effect of hormone imbalances. In fact, a lot of women will tell you that they get ‘flares’ of whatever inflammatory issue they have around their period and even ovulation.

InHealthRVA works to understand how your body works and what gets in the way of it working well. We alleviate issues and optimize health, not just band-aid your hormonally-related health issues and conditions.

This works well for hypothyroidism, irregular and difficult periods, infertility, PCOS, PMS, menopause and andropause, hypothyroidism, fatigue, sleep disruptions, menstrual migraines/headaches, constipation and skin and hair health, optimal aging and can be a part of mental health work.

We focus on restoring balance to hormonal systems to alleviate these conditions and optimize overall wellness.

To diagnose hormone imbalances, InHealthRVA utilizes more comprehensive blood testing along with the advanced Functional medicine lab, DUTCH test (Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones).

Labs can’t tell us everything, so we also ask in-depth health questions to understand your symptoms, and how you got to them.

And since hormone dysregulation is usually the “collateral damage” from other issues (the gut, nutrients, inflammation, lifestyle, etc), we investigate and work on those issues too, so your hormones can heal!

Hormones are often “collateral damage” from other health and life issues and other imbalances in our body. So to heal hormone dysregulation, InHealthRVA investigates and treats both what caused your hormone dysregulations as well as your hormones themselves. Your treatment plan at InHealthRVA can include anything and everything from diet and lifestyle therapy, natural herbal and supplement treatment protocols and prescription hormone therapies like BHRT and thyroid medications.

InHealthRVA follows your progress and maintains your health gains through regular check-ins. We retest as needed to make sure your hormones and other health parameters are within optimal ranges. And we continue to peel back the layers of your health issues until you are feeling truly well!

BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) is when prescription hormones are given to replace hormones that aren’t being naturally produced in the body. It is most commonly given around menopause (for women) and andropause (for men) for the symptoms associated with the natural decrease of hormones around this period of aging.

“BioIdentical” means the prescriptions are chemically identical to your body’s natural hormones. There may be less associated risks with the use of bioidentical hormone prescriptions and the mode of delivery (oral vs creams, for example) though research is not yet conclusive.

InHealthRVA offers superior BHRT in several ways.

We understand that menopause and andropause are not just about a handful of hormones. If menopause and andropause were just about a few hormones (estrogen, progesterone and testosterone), then we would all have the exact same experiences. Menopause/andropause can often be a time when all the things we may have thought we were getting away with over the years, along with inherited predispositions, comes home to roost. Healthy menopause/andropause involves more than just (over-) dosing with 25 year old levels of hormones.

We look at metrics of your whole health, diet and lifestyle and support your healing for all the reasons you are experiencing negative symptoms during this time.

We offer both natural and prescription support.

We use DUTCH advanced hormone testing to check how hormones are being metabolized. For example, to correct if estrogens are preferring the cancer-supporting 4-OH & 16-OH estrone pathways or that prescription testosterone is not just becoming estrogen.

We retest and make sure you are not being overdosed and that you are getting the safest and most effective dosing for your body.

BHRT can be revolutionary for your health and wellness, especially through transitioning as we age. At InHealthRVA we can support doing this in the most effective and safest way possible in conjunction with supporting your whole health.