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Obesity, skin problems, insomnia, depression, fatigue, cysts, fibroids, burn-out, irritability, headaches, forgetfulness - your doctor doesn't always think to check your hormones. And so you can often turn yourself upside down and nothing will help as long as your hormone levels are out of balance.

Hormones regulate all processes in our body, including those of our psyche

This post is a preface to a video that you will receive next week. I invited Dr Plakolm, gynaecologist and specialist in natural hormones, to my practice to conduct an interview with him. A few of my clients' cases best describe why. You will of course understand that I have changed all the names:

Andrea, panic attacks

Andrea, 25 years old. Struggles with recurring panic attacks and anxiety. "Even my own body scares me," she says. I use kinesiology to test whether we are working on a mental or physical level. I test for zinc and vitamin B deficiency, as well as hormone imbalances. That sounds logical to me, a good supply of zinc and B vitamins is not insignificant for a balanced hormone level. After two months of taking zinc and B-complex, her skin problems have disappeared, her anxiety has improved but is still there. As we are continuously working on the emotional level, I test her body again and her hormones come back. Then we talk about her cycle and she tells me that she is taking the pill. As I have been working with hormones for a while and have another client who is convinced that the pill has triggered an almost psychotic attack in her, I explain to her that the pill can have side effects on a psychological level. She stops taking the pill and stabilises within six months. So I'm looking at a perfectly healthy, balanced young woman who would have been offered antidepressants by her GP six months earlier.

Birgit, Burn Out

Birgit, 52 years old. Has been suffering from burnout for 8 years. It also tests the physical level, but she wants to work primarily on the mental level. After all, she has already been examined by many doctors. Her childhood and also her later life are characterised by very stressful relationships and a tremendous amount of work that she has done. Although she still doesn't want to deal with the physical level, I advise her to have her hormone levels checked. However, I also understand that she feels the need for emotional work, she is trying to reposition herself in her life and condition herself to healthy relationships. When she feels like she's getting better and feels more stable, one day she does take an interest in this thing I keep telling her about. She has her hormone levels tested and my suspicions are confirmed - her DHEA hormone is only minimally present. She started taking this hormone orally and noticed a clear improvement after several weeks. Of course, the mental process is essential, because there is an important reason why the adrenal glands can no longer cope with hormone production.

Feel-good hormone, youth hormone, we need them all

What kind of hormones am I actually talking about here? Well, progesterone is also called the Happiness hormone and DHEA is also the youth hormone. That already says a lot. Obesity, skin problems, insomnia, depression, fatigue, cysts, fibroids, burn-out, irritability, headaches - all of these can be caused by an imbalance in hormone levels. And none of this can be treated with conventional hormone therapies without really dangerous side effects. Dr Plakolm explains what causes these hormones to become unbalanced and what you can do yourself to keep your hormone levels in balance.

Hormonal breast cancer

I would like to tell you about one case, as the woman concerned was very close to me. Her uterus was removed when she was around 40 and she went through the menopause early. She struggled with her hot flushes and was given artificial hormones by her doctor. She took these for many years, but every time she tried to stop taking them, the hot flushes came back. So she stayed on it for a very long time. At some point she developed breast cancer. Hormonal. I'm not a scientist and I can't prove or claim the connection. What I can do is report on the lecture by Dr Anneliese Scheuernstuhl, who spoke about how the ethics committee had to stop two large studies on artificial hormones at an early stage because they led to cancer, heart attacks and strokes too often in the people treated. I will spare you the details of this woman's ordeal.

There is a lot at stake - we need to take a closer look

Sometimes I get the suspicion that science has been male-dominated for far too long and probably still is. And that our sensitive female hormone balance is not treated as it deserves, even by doctors. According to an American study, 58% of the pill is not prescribed for contraception, but to elegantly cover up other hormonal problems. Women are laughed at when they tell their gynaecologists about their psychological difficulties, which they themselves associate with the pill. But not only does the pill upset the sensitive hormone balance, the problems underlying the symptoms are not really treated at all. There is a lot going wrong.

End of the line uterus

The removal of the uterus is one of the most common gynaecological operations. Around one in six women in Germany between the ages of 18 and 79 no longer has a uterus. Its removal leads to a complete change in the woman's hormonal balance, which is not without its problems. The reasons for removing this important organ are sometimes all reasons that could very probably be resolved by stabilising the hormone balance: Disorders and pain during menstruation, heavy bleeding, endometriosis, fibroids. However, in order to bring the hormone balance into equilibrium in a gentle way, doctors would have to be much more attentive to patients and some of them would also have to be much better informed.

Your hormone balance is like an orchestra, you have to tune all your hormones to each other. If one dances out of tune, it upsets everything. Bioidentical hormones are a promising new approach. But you yourself can also contribute a lot to a well-tuned hormone orchestra. I will return to this topic again and again in my articles, as it is so important. After all, your hormones control almost everything in your body, your mood and your psyche. And yes, with a well-tuned hormone orchestra you will stay young, fit and sexy for longer.

What every woman should know

What every woman should also know is that her hormone levels start to become unbalanced at the age of 35, not just during the menopause. And since it is so crucial to our physical and mental well-being, I think it is important that women know their way around this area. So what to do if artificial hormones are not the way to go?

To investigate this question, I invited the dedicated gynaecologist Dr Plakolm for an interview. I can hardly wait to send you his interesting explanations, but I still need some time for the editing. So don't forget to check your mails next Tuesday! Be so kind and forward this to all the women you think should know.

PS: I have already dedicated several articles to the topic of hormones, take a look here:

Dien Cham points for a better hormone balance

How a hormone influences our happinesst

You have to try it - The hormone run