Heather Locklear - Hormone Imbalance?

 

 

Heather Locklear was arrested yesterday for driving under the influence of a controlled substance, presumably the pharmaceutical medication she is taking for anxiety and depression.

 

In July, she spent a month in a spa-like treatment facility in Arizona for anxiety and depression. Articles implied she was already on medication and needed it adjusted. Certainly her recent public divorce is a reason for situational depression.

 

With all due respect, I have one question. Has Heather had her hormones checked?  Now this might bring a collective groan, but think about it. Locklear is almost 47, well into the perimenopause and hormone loss. She looks young and beautiful, but our bodies have a relentless “biological clock” that cannot be ignored. We know that testosterone and progesterone are the first hormones to decline. Testosterone is linked to maintaining emotional shield and may prevent panic attacks. Progesterone deficiency causes irritability, mood swings, depression, and insomnia. Progesterone has a calming effect on the body by stimulating the calming GABA receptors in the brain. Add a little loss of estrogen which stimulates calming serotonin production (the same as those antidepressants are supposed to be doing), and emotional lability, weepiness, and depression can follow.

 

The FDA has warned that anti-depressants may increase depression and suicidality.

 

Medications like hormonal birth control or Prempro only make matters worse because progestins in these medications inhibit the production of the body’s progesterone and occupy progesterone receptors. I have had several patients lately on hormonal birth control come in with depression. They are on things like Mirena and Nuvaring, both of which secrete potent progestins (not progesterone) in the circulation that occupy progesterone receptors and deplete progesterone thereby preventing the calming effect of progesterone and natural hormonal balance. This effect may be more pronounced as we get older, since we are also losing our progesterone by our ovaries beginning to shut down. Post-partum depression is associated with a drop in progesterone after childbirth. Giving progesterone post-partum can prevent this depression.

 

Stress makes matters worse. When we have stress our adrenal glands increase our production of cortisol which is our hormone that controls our daily sleep-wake cycle and our fight or flight response. The body will use all its resources to make cortisol, a hormone we cannot live without.  The body uses progesterone to help make cortisol, so stress situations may make progesterone levels lower. This may be the connection between stress and infertility. Chronic stress gives way to fatigue as the body struggles to keep up with the stress demand. Both adrenal stress and fatigue can further intensify depression through fluctuations in cortisol and progesterone. Relaxation may allow temporary improvement, but the perimenopausal body still continues its relentless progesterone and estrogen decline.

 

Suzanne Somers’s has called anti-depressants, sleeping pills, and pain medicine, the “menopause cocktail”. As a former member of that club, I can attest to the truth of it. Initially, being uninformed and thinking I was still “young”, I did not put it together. It was only through proactive seeking that I found what was missing and that was my hormones. I recommend a good reading of Suzanne Somers’s “Breakthrough”. With bioidentical hormone replacement we can treat the underlying cause of our mid-life perimenopausal emotional changes and be ourselves again.

 

I have treated women who were able to throw their antidepressants and sleeping pills away and say “bye-bye” to their therapists once their hormone were replaced and balanced with bioidentical hormones.

 

Heather, check it out. Your body is changing and yes, you are getting older and losing your hormones. It happens to all of us. Replace and balance your hormones with bioidenticals and you might be able to get off all that pharmaceutical, controlled substance stuff, save yourself the embarrassment of negative publicity and mug shots, and be your lovely self again. What have you got to lose?

 

 

 

 

 

Bioidentical Hormones are Safe

Progesterone Deficiency

 

Although the traditional definition of menopause is 12 months without a period, hormone loss can start 10-15 years before this happens. Testosterone starts declining first, and then progesterone. Estrogen is the last to go and is often signaled by the infamous “hot flash” we’ve all heard about.

Most women start feeling differently from their younger selves in their 40’s when progesterone starts declining. But even young women can have decreased progesterone which can manifest as PMS (premenstrual syndrome), often associated with stress or hormonal birth control. The most common symptoms of decreased progesterone include:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Irritability
• Insomnia
• Mood swings
• Osteoporosis
• Pain and inflammation (aching joints, back)
• Increasing HDL cholesterol
• Excessive menstruation
• Weight gain or inability to lose weight.
• Fibroids
• Fibrocystic disease of the breast
• Breast tenderness
• Bloating
• Indigestion
• Gas
• Snoring
• Migraine headaches

There are other causes of decreased progesterone besides decreased production. These include:

• Stress
• Antidepressants
• Sugar
• Saturated fats
• Deficiency of vitamins A, B6, C, and Zinc
• Decreased thyroid hormone
• Taking progestins (a synthetic progesterone) in birth control pills and birth control devices, or in Prempro (synthetic hormone replacement)

Natural bioidentical (same molecular structure as in the human body) progesterone

has many beneficial effects including:

• A calming effect
• Helps sleep
• Balances estrogen
• Lowers blood pressure
• Helps the body metabolize fats
• Lowers cholesterol
• Increases scalp hair
• Is a natural diuretic
• Is a natural antidepressant
• Increases metabolic rate

 

If are experiencing the symptoms of progesterone deficiency, it is important to be tested by a knowledgeable physician to see if you need replacement. Natural bioidentical progesterone replacement may be all you need to start feeling yourself again.