Introducing to the Living Adjusted blog, Midwife and Birth Kween, Karly Nuttall. This rock star lady is giving women everywhere the dirt on all things menstrual health, hormones, birth, fertility and more! I have completely fallen in love with listening to her weekly podcast with co-host, Ali Feroah. Want in on the content their providing? Check it out here: http://www.karlynuttall.com/birth-kweens-podcast/
I couldn't be more excited to share Karly's thoughts on women's hormones, our cycles and if you're a candidate to have your hormones tested!! Let us know what y'all think in the comments below.
Are your hormones friends or foes?
Whether your hormones are life giving or life sucking depends on if they are natural or synthetic and if they are floating around at that goldilocks-and-the-three-bears sweet spot: just right.
Shockingly few women understand their hormone cycles and I don’t blame them, it’s not something that American culture makes out to be an important bit of information. The more common narrative is that if you have a “problem” with your cycle the Pill will “cure” it by “regulating your period”. That’s a lot of air quotes, or in other words, a lot of B.S.
There are two very VERY important things that women should know about periods and hormonal contraception.
The first is that your cycle is considered your 5th vital sign, an indicator of health just like blood pressure or your pulse. In other words it is sending you important messages! For example, periods that are more than 30 days apart could mean you’re high in testosterone, a period less than 26 days apart may mean you’re deficient in progesterone, a very heavy, painful period with clots could mean high estrogen. Beyond just affecting your menses, these sex hormones can influence everything else in your life because YOUR CYCLE AFFECTS MORE THAN YOUR ABILITY TO CONCEIVE! When produced at healthy levels throughout the month, these crucial sex hormones positively affect your mood, brain function, energy, muscle mass, sex drive, digestion, sleep, youthful appearance, vaginal lubrication, etc… but when imbalanced, deficient or high, these hormones can make you and your moon time feel terrible.
Number 2: What most women don’t realize about hormonal birth control is that it shuts down ovulation and therefore shuts down your body’s production of sex hormones. Peeps! This means that hormonal birth control does not mimic pregnancy, it mimics MENOPAUSE and at least some of those effects can be long lasting. It also means that you’re not having an actual period, you’re having a “withdrawal bleed” and therefore can’t determine much of anything from your monthly cycle because you’re not having one. The hormones in the pill, mirena, patch, etc…are not natural and do not interact in your body the same way the hormones your ovaries and adrenal glands make and are in no way a cure for gynecological issues, they are just bandaids. Sometimes very welcomed and necessary bandaids, but bandaids nonetheless.
All this is to say: if you are struggling with your period, if you know you have hormonal imbalances from PCOS, endometriosis or an unknown reason, before reaching for the pill, there are ways to find out what your body is telling you! I believe 100% in hormone testing and I’ll tell you why: it’s impossible to guess which hormones are at a healthy level and which ones are off. I’ve been surprised more than once when I’ve received a client’s sex hormone test results! Furthermore, many women at a loss of what else to do go to the health food store and start buying supplements that lower or raise the estrogen or progesterone only to test later and find out that herb was totally wrong for their needs. So don’t guess, TEST!
A little bit about hormone testing: when testing sex hormones and/or cortisol (too much cortisol depletes your hormones over time and you may need to repair your adrenals along with your sex hormones) it’s best to use a spit or urine test. This, rather than blood levels, shows what is actually free, unbound and available for use in the body! You can usually get tests like this from people like me who are Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioners or through a Naturopath or Functional Medicine Doctor. It’s really helpful to have someone trained looking at your results and recommending what to take because it takes the guesswork out of it and puts you on the right track from the start. They can tell you what you need to take and for how long and when you should expect to see results.
Once you get your test results you’ll have options beyond just hormone replacement therapy. While that may be necessary for some, hormone replacement doesn’t coach your endocrine system back into producing a healthy amount of hormones itself, and that is the goal! Any of the abovementioned practitioners can help you with diet and lifestyle changes (hint: blood sugar balance helps EVERYTHING), nutritional supplements and botanical treatments for repairing your adrenals, ovaries, heart and soul!
Karly Nuttall, Licensed Midwife of the Birth Kweens Podcast