Fatigued? Depressed? Trouble losing weight? ... It may be your hormones

The endocrine system is devised of glands that produce and send hormones to all areas of our body to regulate the essential functions of our body like temperature, reproduction, growth, immunity, and aging. It stands to reason that this should be the hub of vitality, longevity and well-being. Many individuals are getting remarkable results from having their hormones optimized by medical doctors specializing in the newest medial specialty, anti-aging medicine. These doctors specialize in doing thorough hormonal testing in order to bring the hormones into optimal ranges.

Many people are finding that common problems of fatigue, depression and difficulty losing weight can be completely reversed by these hormone specialists. Individuals often suffer for years being told that there thyroid, testosterone, estrogen, progesterone and adrenals are fine, but these doctors are finding that these levels are actually low and need to be supplemented, often with remarkable results. Standard blood tests only pick up the sickest 2.5% of the population.

Many of the common complaints that rarely get addressed by standard medicine can be remedied by hormone optimization. These include complaints such as:

• I can't lose weight like I use to
• I don't get the results from working out as I used to
• I feel depressed
• My body aches
• My skin is dry and rough
• My joints hurt
• I am aging faster than I would like
• I sure get tired easily
• I feel cold all the time
• My libido is shot
• My hair is thinning
• I don't feel right
• My nails break so easily
• I get sick easily
• I get frequent headaches
• I seem to retain water
• I'm always constipated
• I have PMS
• I have lost my motivation
• I am being treated for depression but I'm still depressed
• I'm not getting much relief from my treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia

Two of the biggest problems are low thyroid for women and low testosterone for men. So many women who are told over and over that their thyroid levels are fine, actually have severely low thyroids that are not picked up by the standard TSH and T4 testing, which is the only testing done about 90% of the time. This is the standard way to diagnose hypothyroidism. There are, however, many things that result in hypothyroidism but are not diagnosed using the standard TSH and T4 testing. This method only reveals a few of the very sickest patients, leaving the majority of patients undiagnosed.

For a thorough workup - please call Fibromyalgia and Fatigue Centers for an appointment.
Many women have been going from doctor to doctor knowing that their thyroid is low, only to be told it is fine over and over. When more extensive testing is done these women are so relieved to be shown on paper that their thyroid is truly sub-optimal and that they can expect to be feeling better soon.

Likewise, many men suffer needlessly because their testosterone is never checked or the wrong test is ordered. Men as young as 25 to 30 years in age are presenting with low levels of testosterone, which was not the case 10 or 20 years ago. Older men who have been told their testosterone is fine may actually have low testosterone since most testing only checks the amount of testosterone, not the amount of usable testosterone.

With more in-depth testing, low thyroid and low testosterone can be detected and appropriate therapies implemented to correct these conditions and produce optimal levels of both hormones. By doing so the patient not only feels better, but can reduce their risk of life threatening conditions such as heart disease and cancer.