THE END TO ENDOCRINE CLUELESSNESS – HOLY HORMONES!

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THE END TO ENDOCRINE CLUELESSNESS

Last week we talked about hormones being the chemical messengers that our bodies need to tell our cells what to do. So where do our essential hormones come from? It’s called the endocrine system. Our endocrine system works with the nervous system to control important bodily functions. It’s a system of unique glands that secrete specific hormones into the bloodstream. Although there are eight major endocrine glands scattered throughout the body, they are still considered to be one system because they often have similar functions, similar mechanisms and many important interrelationships. Regrettably, all sorts of problems can occur in the endocrine system when it produces excessive or deficient hormones. It can cause diabetes, thyroid problems, pituitary tumors and more than you really want to know. “Oh, no!” Oh, yes.

GIVE GLANDS A HAND

As we’ve said, glands are the guys that produce the hormones we simply can’t live without. You might say they’re the bosses of a healthy life, telling your body what to do. You’ve probably heard of some of them, but do you really know what they do?

  1. PITUITARY GLAND  Produces the hormones that control the thyroid gland, adrenal glands, ovaries, and testes
  2. THYROID Regulates the body’s metabolic rate, heart and digestive function, muscle control, brain development, and bone density
  3. PARATHYROID Helps control calcium within the blood, which then regulates how much calcium ends up in your bones, leading to bone density
  4. ADRENAL GLANDS Produce sex hormones and the stress hormone, cortisol
  5. PANCREAS Produces insulin and glucagon, which both keep the body’s blood glucose (sugar) in balance
  6. OVARIES Produce estrogen and progesterone to facilitate fertility and conception. Can also produce steroid hormones that can aid in a fertilized embryo implanting in the uterus
  7. TESTES Produce testosterone, which initiates the testes to descend before birth, regulates sperm production and promotes the development of secondary sexual characteristics at puberty
  8. PINEAL GLAND Produces melatonin that helps to regulate the human sleep-wake cycle known as the circadian rhyth

Some body of work going on here…

TOP GUNS

So those were the glands. These are some of the hormones they produce that get and keep us going. The muckety-mucks of making everything work the way it’s supposed to.

  1. PROGESTERONE – Key player in your menstrual cycle, progesterone levels rise after ovulation and prepare your uterus for a fertilized egg.
  2. IRISIN – Dubbed the exercise hormone, it’s released when you get a sweat on, and converts calorie-storing white fat cells into calorie-torching brown fat cells.
  3. TESTOSTERONE – The male sex hormone plays a role in your sex drive, bone density, and muscle strength (oh, of course, you knew about the sex part).
  4. PEPTIDE YY (PYY) – The gut hormone helps to decrease appetite and make you feel full after eating (which doesn’t mean you also need a plateful of will power to avoid devouring that molten chocolate cake for dessert).
  5. GLUCAGON-LIKE PEPTIDE 1 (GLP-1) – Another appetite-regulating hormone produced in the gut after you chow down, that makes you feel more satisfied.
  6. THYROID  – Controls your metabolism. Not only does your metabolism dictate your weight, it also determines your energy levels, internal temperature, skin, hair, nail growth, and more.
  7. INSULIN – After you eat, cells in your pancreas release insulin that shuttles sugar from your bloodstream into your body’s tissues to use for energy later. The lack of insulin causes a form of diabetes.
  8. GLUCAGON – When your blood sugar levels dip, glucagon breaks down stored glucose so your body can use it for energy. Insulin and glucagon work together to keep your blood sugar levels stable
  9. SEROTONIN – Major mood booster associated with learning and memory, regulating sleep, and digestion. Low levels could lead to depression.
  10. GHERKIN – Ghrelin is your hunger gremlin. Signals your brain that it’s time to feast (maybe “have a healthy meal” is more like it) Controlling ghrelin levels may be key to preventing weight gain (nice for keeping your stomach from growing over the waist of your pants!).
  11. LEPTIN – Ghrelin’s counterpart communicates to your brain that you’ve been fed so you stop eating, which is why it’s been given the nickname the “satiety hormone”. Also helps your brain regulate how much energy your body burns throughout the day.
  12. ADIPONECTIN – Another fat-fighting hormone, this one boosts your muscles’ ability to use carbohydrates for energy, increases your metabolism, and speeds the rate at which your body breaks down fat.
  13. MELATONIN – Known as the sleep hormone, it is produced at night to help you fall asleep and stay asleep.
  14. ADRENALINE – Churns out the “fight or flight” hormone, which allows you to battle danger head-on or escape to safety.
  15. DOPAMINE – The kick-ass chemical in your brain that makes you feel and do happy things.

Relax, they’ll be no quiz. Just accept that they’re there. And be very, very grateful.

THE DIRTY DOZEN DISRUPTERS

Caution…warning…all is not well in the gland kingdom all the time. There is no end to the dirty deeds that endocrine disruptors can play on your body: increasing production of certain hormones, decreasing production of others, imitating hormones, turning one hormone into another, interfering with hormone signaling, telling cells to die prematurely (yes, as in “kaput”), competing with essential nutrients, binding to essential hormones, accumulating in organs that produce hormones. They can mess up every single part of your body in deadly dastardly ways.

BPA – Some may say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but do you really want a chemical used in plastics imitating the sex hormone estrogen in your body? 93 percent of Americans have it in their bodies!

Dioxin – Dioxins are multi-taskers… but not in a good way. Very long-lived, they build up both in the body and in the food chain, are powerful carcinogens and can also affect the immune and reproductive systems.

Phthalates (nope, no vowel missing) – Chemicals called phthalates can trigger what’s known as “death-inducing signaling” in testicular cells, making them die earlier than they should- (yep, that’s cell death – in your man parts).

Perchlorate (Isn’t that what you do with coffee?) – Who needs food tainted with rocket fuel?! That’s right, perchlorate, a component in rocket fuel, contaminates much of our produce and milk.

Fire retardants – These incredibly persistent chemicals have been found to contaminate the bodies of people and wildlife around the globe – even polar bears. Incredibly persistent, they’re going to be contaminating people and wildlife for decades to come.

Lead – This is one heavy metal you want to avoid. This killer is toxic especially to children. It harms almost every organ system in the body and has been linked to a staggering array of health effects. Funny how the phrase “get the lead out” has come to mean “hurry”. Well you certainly want to hurry avoiding this.

(Are you getting really nervous and pissed-off yet?)

Arsenic – Arsenic isn’t just for murder mysteries anymore. In fact, it’s lurking in your food and drinking water. If you eat enough of it, arsenic will kill you outright. In smaller amounts, arsenic can cause skin, bladder and lung cancer.

Mercury – Caution: that sushi you are eating could be hazardous to your health. Mercury, a naturally occurring but toxic metal, gets into the air and the oceans primarily though burning coal. Eventually, it can end up on your plate in the form of mercury-contaminated seafood.

Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs)  – Chemicals used to make non-stick cookware can stick to you. They are so widespread and extraordinarily persistent that 99 percent of Americans have these chemicals in their bodies. They don’t break down in the environment – ever. That means that even though the chemical was banned after decades of use, it will be showing up in people’s bodies for countless generations to come.

Organophosphate pesticides – These compounds produced by the Nazis in huge quantities for chemical warfare during World War II, were luckily never used. After the war ended, American scientists used the same chemistry to develop a long line of pesticides that target the nervous systems of insects.

Even all the names of these devils sound ominous and menacing.

UNDERSTANDING HORMONES BEYOND “HUH?”

WITH ALL THE DETAILS REGARDING THE ENDOCRINE SYSTEM AND HORMONES, IT COULD CAUSE HEADS TO SPIN. IT’S COMPLICATED. BUT THEN THE WAY OUR BODIES WORK IS LIKE TRYING TO PUT TOGETHER A 5000-PIECE CROSSWORD PUZZLE. THE IMPORTANT THING TO TAKE AWAY IS HOW SO MANY THINGS CAN GUNK UP YOUR HORMONES AND SEND THEM SPIRALING OUT OF BALANCE. AND WHEN YOUR HORMONES AREN’T BALANCED, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO FEEL YOUR BEST. FORTUNATELY, DR. STEPHEN A. GOLDSTEIN, M.D, F.A.C.S. AT DENVER HORMONE HEALTH IS AT THE HEAD OF THE FIELD IN BHRT OR BIOIDENTICAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY. HIS EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE IS UNPARALLEL. FIRST HE TAKES THE TIME TO DISCUSS AND EXAMINE YOUR SYMPTOMS. THEN, WITH EXACTING CARE, HE DEVELOPS A UNIQUE TREATMENT PLAN SPECIFIC TO YOUR PROBLEMS. CALL TODAY FOR A CONSULTATION.

THEN ALL YOU’LL HAVE TO UNDERSTAND IS THAT YOU’RE GETTING THE BEST.

A LIFE WITHOUT HORMONES? HORRORS! – HOLY HORMONES!

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A LIFE WITHOUT HORMONES? HORRORS!

In the simplest of terms (simple is good) hormones are the chemical messengers that your body needs to tell your cells what to do. No messages and the cells just plop themselves down and wait. Sort of like road workers who sit with their donuts and do nothing, or worse, just quit and walk off the job. Which isn’t good considering all that your hormones need to do to keep your engine running. And because the body secretes around 50 different hormones, there are lots of messages flying around. The control tower needs to be alert.

Some of the activities of hormones include:

  • -Prompting cell or tissue growth and development
  • -Helping with food metabolism
  • -Initiating and maintaining sexual development and reproduction
  • -Maintaining body temperature
  • -Controlling thirst

-Regulating mood and cognitive functioning

  • -Development and growth
  • -Metabolism of food items
  • -Sexual function and reproductive growth and health
  • -Cognitive function and mood
  • -Maintenance of body temperature and thirst
  • Just a few, by the way.

OH, THOSE TRICKY, FICKLE HORMONES

All hormones pretty much work until you die. (yea!) Regrettably, sometimes they go bonkers. (figures…) Example: three hormone biggies are insulin, cortisol and adrenaline. They are considered major because if they were to disappear we would not be able to survive for more than a few hours or days. (no, we’re not kidding). Loss of the minor hormones, on the other hand, would not cause our immediate demise but would cause us to feel pretty lousy and could contribute to diseases which could also rob us of good health and longevity. Some of these hormones are thyroid, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, growth hormone, and DHEA. Each hormone, both major and minor, plays a role in the delicate balance of our metabolism, which is how we build or use our body. If you’re missing or have low levels of a hormone, your metabolism becomes imbalanced. And when that happens, watch your body go “BOOM”.

GUYS, THIS OUGHT TO GET YOUR ADRENALINE PUMPING.

Time to put down your devices and listen to this. According to HealthDay News, a recent study showed that aging men who are losing their “bring-it-on-sexual-self” can receive a love-life boost from testosterone replacement therapy. That includes improvements in their sex drive, sexual activity and erectile function. Not to say it could turn you into sexual Supermen, but hey…still good news. Especially considering all men experience a natural decline in testosterone levels as they age. (which could be as early as in your thirties) And speaking of aging, baby boomer men are also looking to testosterone therapy as a potential “fountain of youth.” The number of men beginning testosterone treatments has nearly quadrupled since 2000. That’s a ton of testosterone.

CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT ‘EM

AS YOU’VE PROBABLY FIGURED OUT BY NOW, HORMONES ARE SERIOUS STUFF. TO KEEP THEM DOING THE JOBS THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO, NEEDS SERIOUS HELP. AND NO ONE IS MORE ATTUNED TO WHAT IS INVOLVED, THAN DR. STEPHEN A. GOLDSTEIN, M.D, F.A.C.S. AT DENVER HORMONE HEALTH. DR. GOLDSTEIN HAS YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN TREATING EACH PATIENT’S PROBLEMS UNIQUELY. WITH SIMPLE TESTS, HE IS ABLE TO DETERMINE WHAT IS BEST AT HELPING YOU TO FEEL YOUR BEST. NO SOLUTION IS ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL. EACH TREATMENT IS UNIQUELY TAILORED AND SAFELY COMPOUNDED FOR YOUR INDIVIDUAL NEEDS. IN EVERY WAY, DR. GOLDSTEIN IS SERIOUS ABOUT WHAT HE DOES. WHICH MEANS YOU CAN TRUST BOTH HIS CONCERN AND HIS EXPERTISE.

CALL FOR A CONSULTATION TODAY.

SERIOUSLY.

WHO KNEW?

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Vitamin D, Denver, COVitamin D is perhaps the single most underrated nutrient in the world of nutrition. The sun shines and it’s there for everyone. Your body makes Vitamin D when sunlight touches your skin. (pretty convenient, huh?)  Drug companies can’t sell you sunlight, so they’re not out there promoting its health benefits. Truth is, most people don’t know the real story on Vitamin D and health. So here’s some facts:

  • Vitamin D is produced by your skin in response to exposure to ultraviolet radiation from natural sunlight
  • The healing rays of natural sunlight (that generate Vitamin D in your skin) cannot penetrate glass. So you don’t generate Vitamin D when sitting in your car or home
  • It is nearly impossible to get adequate amounts of Vitamin D from your diet. Sunlight exposure is the only reliable way to generate Vitamin D in your own body
  • A person would have to drink ten tall glasses of Vitamin D fortified milk each day just to get minimum levels of Vitamin D into their diet
  • The further you live from the equator, the longer exposure you need to the sun in order to generate Vitamin D. Canada, the UK and most U.S. states are far from the equator
  • People with dark skin pigmentation may need 20 – 30 times as much exposure to sunlight as fair-skinned people to generate the same amount of Vitamin D. That’s why prostate cancer is epidemic among black men — it’s a simple, but widespread, sunlight
  • Sufficient levels of Vitamin D are crucial for calcium absorption in your intestines. Without sufficient Vitamin D, your body cannot absorb calcium, rendering calcium supplements useless
  • Chronic Vitamin D deficiency cannot be reversed overnight: it takes months of Vitamin D supplementation and sunlight exposure to rebuild the body’s bones and nervous system
  • Even weak sunscreens (SPF=8) block your body’s ability to generate vitamin D by 95%. This is how sunscreen products actually cause disease — by creating a critical vitamin deficiency in the body.
  • It is impossible to generate too much vitamin D in your body from sunlight exposure: your body will self-regulate and only generate what it needs
  • If it hurts to press firmly on your sternum, you may be suffering from chronic Vitamin D deficiency right now.
  • Vitamin D is “activated” in your body by your kidneys and liver before it can be used
  • Having kidney disease or liver damage can greatly impair your body’s ability to activate circulating vitamin D.

Even though Vitamin D is one of the most powerful healing chemicals in your body, your body makes it absolutely free. No prescription required.

FEELING D ALL OVER

Just knowing all the ways Vitamin D can help are making people feel better. We’ve talked about some of the more serious illnesses that are being helped by raising Vitamin D levels. But there are a host of other (and less devastating) applications we haven’t mentioned yet.

Vitamin D deficiencies are being linked to nearsighted vision in children. And speaking of vision, it’s also being linked to dry eye and impaired tear function. Sleep apnea? Yep, another one.  Oh, and guys, you probably want to pay close attention to this… researchers recently found that Vitamin D deficiency was more common in men with erectile dysfunction than men without erectile dysfunction. So what’ll it be? D? Or Viagra?

SOMETIMES EVEN FOR THE SPORT OF IT

In a study published by the British Journal of Nutrition it was determined that Vitamin D status is positively associated with cardiopulmonary exercise capacity. The role of Vitamin D in athletic performance has been gaining in popularity over recent years. In fact, research has determined that Vitamin D helps improve muscle strength by increasing the rate of protein synthesis and enlarging muscle fiber size.

A recent article published in the Wall Street Journal described how professional and college sports teams think they have found a cutting-edge advantage in Vitamin D. With scientific research having proven that an optimum supply of Vitamin D is a crucial factor for our health, and with deficiency well-known to be widespread, the sporting world’s newfound advocacy of the “sunshine vitamin” follows the growing trend of health experts recommending a supplementary intake for everyone to support cellular metabolism. As the Wall Street Journal article describes, with millions of dollars at stake elite sports teams are now monitoring the health of their players more closely than ever. In the world of professional sport, winning trophies is directly dependent on maximizing the performance of players and ensuring they stay injury-free. Significantly therefore, towards this goal, teams in all U.S. major leagues, some college athletic departments and the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams are all now believed to have started tracking their players’ Vitamin D levels and intake.

GO, D!!

A DOSE OF TROUBLE

Certainly, you know there are a ton of Vitamin D supplements to be found out there (including online). But what’s what? Did you know that there is a D2 and also a D3? (hmmm, never looked at that one, did’ja?) Research shows Vitamin D3 is approximately 87 percent more potent in raising and maintaining Vitamin D concentrations and produces 2- to 3-fold greater storage of Vitamin D than does D2. Taking the wrong one could actually do you more harm than good.

And just how much should you take? Everyone has their opinions. Even doctors. (should you bother to consult one). How much sun are you getting? (the good kind?). What are you eating? (Cheetos don’t count). Is it enough? (You can’t pretty much count on the answer being “no”.) What your body needs, are the particular needs of your body. Not something you can just guess at. So stop trying.

Another undeniable fact is that there are few people whose hormones, including vitamin D, are in balance. Which puts their immune systems and the way their bodies function in jeopardy. From head to toe. So what’s the answer? One, is hormone replacement therapy. Another is DR. STEPHEN A. GOLDSTEIN, M.D, F.A.C.S. AT DENVER HORMONE HEALTH.  WITH HIS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE IN THE FIELD, HE KNOWS THAT TESTING AND COMPREHENSIVE EVALUATION OF YOUR HORMONE level RESULTS ARE CRITICAL FACTORS FOR SUCCESS. ONCE DETERMINING YOUR EXACT NEEDS, HE DEVELOPS AN INDIVIDUALIZED TREATMENT PROGRAM DESIGNED TO HELP RELIEVE AND IN MANY CASES ELIMINATE YOUR ISSUES.

The first way to find relief is to call now for an appointment.

There’s no guessing here.