Heather Locklear Hormone Deficient? by Candice Lane, M.D.

 

          Heather Locklear returned home on July 23, after spending a month in a spa-like treatment facility in Arizona for anxiety and depression. Articles imply 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, and emotional lability, weepiness, and depression can follow. Added to this is that the FDA has warned that anti-depressants themselves 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. In addition, adrenal fatigue and stress may effect thyroid function by altering the efficiency of how thyroid hormone is working in the body. Low thyroid function can cause depression. So treating hormone deficiency has to take all the hormones into account.

          All this may sound confusing, but it works. I recently had a patient that was on a few antidepressants and seeing a therapist. She balanced her hormones and within a few months got off all her medications and is feeling great. I personally had that experience as well. After 10 years of anti-depressants and counseling to no avail, I started on bioidentical hormones for perimenopausal hormones loss. I was able to get off all anti-depressants and am doing  better than ever with mood and outlook. (That’s an article in itself but we’re talking crying at the drop of a hat, irritable on the road and in parking lots, and general helpless and hopeless to doing just fine.) 

          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 “Ageless”. With bioidentical hormone replacement we can treat the underlying cause of our mid-life perimenopausal changes and be ourselves again.

 

Candice Lane, M.D.,  Diplomate and Fellow American Academy for Anti-aging Medicine, 1250 La Venta Dr., Ste.206, Westlake Village, CA 91361, 805-496-7869, 877-496-4289

Weight and Hormones by Candice Lane, MD

 

 

Tired of fighting the battle of the bulge? Following a strict diet and exercising, yet still unable to lose weight. You may be suffering from hormone imbalance.

There are several hormones that contribute to weight control.

Most of us know about how increased stress hormone, cortisol, can increase belly fat. But several other hormones contribute to weight gain and inability to lose weight.

In women, lack of progesterone, that is natural bioidentical progesterone, not progestin, can cause you to gain weight. Estrogen is responsible for 400 functions in the female body, but without progesterone to modulate the building up effect of estrogen, you will gain weight. Both estrogen and progesterone fall with age, but progesterone goes first leaving most women with a relative estrogen excess in comparison to progesterone. Estrogen without enough progesterone can cause a weight gain of about 10 pounds. Progesterone is a natural diuretic and modulates this effect of estrogen, making it easier to lose weight.

Another hormone deficiency that increases weight gain in men and women is lack of thyroid hormone. The active thyroid hormone to lose weight is T3, but most doctors measure the inactive hormones T4 and TSH, giving an inaccurate view of thyroid function. In addition, parameters for normal are too broad. You may also be thyroid hormone resistant due to yo-yo starvation diets, stress, and nutrient deficiencies. To make matters worse, thyroid hormone naturally decreases with aging. A thorough thyroid blood work evaluation can detect if your weight problems are due to lack of thyroid hormone.

Lack of testosterone in women, but especially in men, can cause weight gain. Testosterone helps to build up muscle which burns fat. In men testosterone improves energy to exercise, burn fat, and build muscle.

DHEA is another hormone that helps to lose weight. Studies have shown people who take DHEA have more success losing weight than those who do not. DHEA helps burn fat, raise metabolism, decrease appetite, and decrease fat storage in and of itself.

Last but not least is adult growth hormone deficiency.  Growth hormone helps to increase lean body mass, and decrease fat mass. It improves energy and outlook including desire and ability to exercise. It increases muscle mass which increases fat burning.

  Hormones and nutrients go hand in hand and there are many nutrients that help lose weight including chromium, CLA, GLA, zinc, selenium, green tea, ginseng, and Co Q 10, among many others.

Of course, diet and exercise and very important to weight loss as well. If you feel you’re doing everything right but can’t lose weight, check you’re hormones.

 

Candice Lane, M.D., Diplomat and Fellow American Academy for Anti-Aging Medicine, 1250 La Venta Dr., Ste. 206, Westlake Village, CA 91361.805-496-7869.

Making Sense of Hormones by Candice Lane, MD

 

 

As we age we lose our hormones. All of our good building up hormones start declining after age 30.   Cortisol and insulin tend to increase, which can harm our health. These changes are detrimental to our vitality and our health.

 

These hormone changes are part of the cycle of life, a building up and then shutting down. Hormones are the highest in our most vital and healthy time of our life, our teens and twenties when we have our highest energy and best health, our “child-bearing years”. After this time, about age 30, our genetics dictate that our good hormones decline: testosterone, estrogen, progesterone, thyroid hormone, and growth hormone.  Hormones that can harm us, cortisol and insulin, start to rise.  At about age 40, hormone decline accelerates in women as the ovaries begin shutting down hormone production in the peri-menopause. Men’s hormones continue to decline. This is nature’s way of shutting us down and eliminating us. It is not a coincidence that the healthiest time of our lives is when we have our full complement of hormones, nor that we begin developing the diseases of aging, heart, bone, brain, and eye problem, as our hormones decline. We age because we lose our hormones!

 

This was not as issue prior to 1900, when the average age of death was 50. Most men and women did not experience the full force of hormone loss. Now with the average age of death at 80, we can live 30 years or more without our hormones and the consequences.

 

Certainly, lifestyle, exercise, body weight and exercise, nutrient supplements all contribute to being healthy and may help make the process of hormone loss easier or make certain hormone loss slower. But none of these things will put your hormones back. Acupuncture, chiropractic, yoga, and Aruvedic medicine may also help alleviate hormone symptoms, but none will not put your hormones back. The only way to keep your youthful compliment of hormones is by replacing them, and only with hormones that have the same exact molecular structure that is native to the human body.

 

When we enter our 40’s women start feeling these changes as ovaries start to shut down production of sex hormones in peri-menopause and menopause. Nature is most cruel to women because symptoms of perimenopause can be swift and profound. Menopause has been often likened to falling off a cliff where men’s andropause is likened to rolling down a hill. Men begin noticing the more gradual decline in testosterone called andropause. Meanwhile thyroid hormone and growth hormone also declines.

 

In women testosterone is the first to start declining, then progesterone. In their 40’s, women start noticing insomnia, irritability, mood swings, depression, low libido, hair loss, and migraines directly associated with low progesterone. Estrogen also starts declining, but is the last to go with hot flashes, weepiness, night sweats, and lack of energy. The symptoms of hormone change can continue for 15-20 prior to loss of menstruation.

 

With loss of testosterone, men experience fatigue, memory loss, loss of libido, loss of muscle mass, weight gain, decreased athletic ability, muscle aches, and decreased interest in activities.

 

Thyroid hormone and growth hormone play vital roles in hour health and energy as well, and need to be replaced and even optimized (but not abused) when deficient with bioidentical equivalents.

 

Bioidentical hormone replacement will alleviate the symptoms of menopause and andropause.   I am often asked, “Do I have to take them forever?”.  The answer is yes. If you stop taking hormones all your symptoms will come back. Once you stop making your hormones, they are gone. They do not come back unless you put them back with bioidentical hormone replacement.

 

The long term consequences of lack of hormones are weight gain, loss of muscle mass, heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, colon cancer, macular degeneration, cataract formation, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis. A lower chance of having these problems keeps me happily taking my hormones and vitamins each day.  I also feel the same way I did in my 30’s!

 

We all will die some day. The fact is that our cells can only divide so many times. Each time they divide they lose some DNA, and when a critical limit is met, they die. Current maximum age is believed to be 120 years due to this effect.

 

Of course we have to fuel our cells with nutrients and vitamins, limit our exposure to toxins and chemicals, and detoxify. 

 

We are living longer because we have great living conditions and can prevent mortality from many diseases and accidents. But most of us will feel lousy for the last 30 years struggling with symptoms and disease until we come to accept our age and poor state of wellness. 50% of those who live to be 85 will have Alzheimer’s (estrogen can prevent Alzheimer’s disease).

 

It doesn’t have to be that way. With bioidentical hormone and nutrient replacement you can enjoy feeling good for the rest of your life. The means is available. The choice is yours.

 

Candice Lane, MD, Diplomate and Fellow American Academy for Anti-aging Medicine, 1250 La Venta Drive, Suite206, Westlake Village, CA 91361, 877-496-4289, 805-496-7869.

 

Emotional and Hormonal Health by Candice Lane, M.D.

We often think of emotional health in terms of what’s going on in our lives, but more often it is tied to what’s going on in our bodies.

 

Emotional health is very much tied to our hormones. Depression in particular can be governed by deficiencies and imbalances in our hormones.

 

In men, testosterone deficiency is linked with depression, irritability, and lack of motivation. The term “grumpy old men” is often used to describe the emotional changes that occur in men with testosterone deficiency. In women, lack of testosterone can be associated with lack of emotional shield and panic attacks.

 

In women, estrogen enhances formation of serotonin and estrogen deficiency can cause depression, but lack of progesterone is also tied to depression, irritability, and mood swings. With decreasing estrogen and progesterone in the pre- and peri-menopause it makes sense why women experience more depression in mid-life. Lack of estrogen can also effect concentration and memory.

 

 Post- partum depression is really a disorder of a precipitous drop in progesterone after childbirth and inability to rebound from this drop. Some informed obstetricians treat this change in mood not with anti-depressants but with bioidentical progesterone with great success.

 

 Many young women on the birth control pill or other forms of hormonal birth control experience increased depression, irritability, and mood swings. This is because the synthetic hormones in these drugs interfere with normal hormone balance, occupying normal progesterone receptors in addition to decreasing the production in progesterone eliminating the natural calming effect of this hormone.

 

Another hormone that can affect emotional health is cortisol (the stress hormone) excess or deficiency. These conditions can cause irritability, confusion, sleep disturbances, mood disturbances, depression, emotional imbalances, foggy thinking, and panic disorders.

 

Thyroid hormone deficiency can also cause depression, anxiety or panic attacks, decreased memory, inability to concentrate, slow speech, insomnia, and agitation.

 

Growth Hormone deficiency can also manifest not only as a lack of motivation but also as a lack of sociability.   In addition, a prominent characteristic of low growth hormone is an inability to concentrate and a failing memory.

 

A deficiency in any of our major hormones can have mental and emotional effects. The best way to determine if hormone loss is a factor in your mental health is to see a doctor familiar with the emotional effects of hormone loss, discuss your symptoms, and have hormone testing. If deficiencies are detected, replace lost hormones only with bioidentical hormones. It could make all the difference!

 

Candice Lane, M.D., 1250 La Venta Dr., Ste.206, Westlake Village, CA 91361, 805-496-7869.

Thyroid Hormone Deficiency by Candice Lane, M.D.

 

As we age we lose our hormones. Most people think about this in relationship to estrogen, progesterone ad testosterone, but thyroid hormone production decreases with age as well. In addition, hormone changes and nutrient deficiencies may exacerbate thyroid hormone deficiency.

Symptoms of hypothyroidism include fatigue, loss of energy, weight gain, difficulty losing weight, depression, dry skin, brittle nails, brittle hair, itchy scalp, hair loss, cold intolerance, constipation, puffy eyes and face, tingling in the wrist and hands, elevated LDL cholesterol, memory loss, fuzzy thinking, loss of sex drive, slowness of speech, hoarseness, muscle and joint pain, and headaches.

Subclinical hypothyroidism may present itself with mild symptoms or just fatigue which needs to be differentiated  from other hormone deficiencies such as estrogen or cortisol.

To complicate matters, hormone changes such as elevation or decline in cortisol from adrenal stress or fatigue, and imbalances in estrogen can affect the production and availability of thyroid hormone. In addition, deficiency of iron, B vitamins, iodine, selenium, and zinc can also have a negative effect.

Thyroid deficiencies are often under-diagnosed since most practitioners only measure TSH and T4 hormones as a gauge of function. The body converts T4 to the active hormone T3. With nutrient deficiencies, you may not be able to adequately convert T4 to T3.  In addition active T3 can be diluted by an inactive molecule called reverse T3, usually present more commonly in stress. Neither T3 or reverse T3 are usually measured. Thyroid antibodies are other tests also usually ignored. Elevated thyroid antibodies called Hashimoto’s disease, indicate the thyroid is making antibodies against itself. Although many physicians feel it is not necessary to treat this condition, others feel that it results in inconsistent thyroid hormone production that needs support.  

Thyroid replacement should be given as a combination of T4 and T3 (Armour thyroid or compounded T4 and T3), instead of T4 (Synthroid) alone. Again, if you are unable to convert T4 to T3, then T4 alone will not help. In cases of high reverse T3, it is best to replace T3 alone.

The symptoms the patient is having may often be the best guide to treatment.

Candice Lane, MD, 1250 La Venta Dr., Ste. 206, Wesrlake Village, CA, 91361, 805 496-7869, 877-496-4289.