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2010/08/11
Published
Obesity, weight gain and weight management is about more than calories taken in and energy expenditure out. The balance of our hormones forms the energetic template and structure around which our body rebuilds itself. The purpose of this article is to give you a beginning perspective on how our hormones form this template around which our body structures its metabolism and form.
The main hormonal players in the obesity game are:
1)Â Â Â Â thyroid hormone: T3 aka triiodothyronine
2)Â Â Â Â growth hormone
3)Â Â Â Â sex hormones: estrogen/testosterone
4)Â Â Â Â adrenal hormone: cortisol
5)Â Â Â Â leptin
6)Â Â Â Â gherlin
THYROID HORMONE:
The active hormone of the thyroid is T3 called triiodothyronine. The pituitary excretes thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) which stimulates the thyroid to make T3 from thyroxine (T4). Traditionally doctors would take a blood test for your TSH, T4 and T3 levels. If TSH was elevated, then it indicated the body’s attempt to stimulate the thyroid to make more T3.
It has only been in the last year that free T3 levels are now being tested routinely by astute doctors and heal care providers. What is free T3? It is T3 that is not bound by anti-bodies. It has been discovered that individuals with autoimmune inflammatory conditions such as chronic fatigue, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, allergies, arthritic conditions, environmental sensitivities, food sensitivities, irritable bowel, and other immune driven conditions will develop an immune sensitivity to their own thyroid hormone. Many times this is a temporary condition that resolves once the underlying immune sensitivities are brought under control and resolved. However, sometimes they become a full blown auto-immune attack against the thyroid gland itself and not just against the thyroid hormone. These individuals will go on to develop Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or Wilson’s syndrome. Therefore, adding free T3 to one’s blood test helps the medical practitioner to determine how much T3 is available for you to use as you can only use T3 that is unbound (unattached to an antibody). With the addition of testing for free T3 one can now find effective low thyroid hormone levels when total T3 looks normal!
Why is thyroid hormone implicated in obesity and weight gain? T3 controls your body’s energy metabolism called your basal metabolic rate. It controls your rate of protein synthesis which has a direct impact on your body’s ability to maintain your muscle mass. It also plays a crucial role in your sugar metabolism by controlling the rate in which glycogen is broken down into glucose and it boosts the effect of insulin. Without this useful hormone you are more likely to become insulin resistant and develop Syndrome X, from it. T3 also directly affects your heart, controlling its force and rate of contraction and your oxygenation as a result. It’s hard to feel like moving your body when you heart is feeling sluggish!
GROWTH HORMONE:
Human growth hormone (HGH) is considered a master hormone because it affects all areas of our body. When we are young, in our early 20’s we have the highest level of growth hormone and as a result we look pretty good! By the time we reach our 40’s our levels of HGH have declined significantly. Research has observed that along with the steady decline in growth hormone we see a steady loss of muscle mass, decreased in energy as a result and increase fat mass. Stimulating the pituitary gland in the brain to synthesize HGH causes an increase in muscle mass back to one’s prime age and loss of fat mass. Studies are confirming that individuals suffering from obesity have lower than normal HGH levels.
The metabolic effects of HGH involve protein, fat and sugar metabolism. HGH increases the uptake of amino acids by the body helping it to build muscle. It also enhances the usage of fat, stimulating the breakdown of triglycerides. Therefore, it helps us have better cholesterol levels and fat metabolism. HGH is also crucial in sugar metabolism because it boosts the liver’s ability of the liver to make glucose. However, a side effect of injectable HGH is secretion of excessive insulin and the development of insulin resistance! There is a huge difference between taking supplements to stimulate the synthesis of HGH and taking HGH directly (which is known to cause side effects of hypertension, joint pains, insulin resistance and heart problems).
SEX HORMONES AND OBESITY:
For women the onset of menopause results in perplexing weight gain. Research has discovered that the loss of estrogen receptors (ER-alpha receptors) in the brain, in particular your hypothalamus caused a chain reaction of metabolic effects that result in increased appetite, increased insulin resistance and increase abdominal fat! These receptors control hunger, thirst and temperature! Loss of these receptors in rats resulted in increased insulin resistance and immediate weight gain, especially belly fat and increased appetite! (American Chemical Society 2007, August 20, Revealing Estrogen’s Secret Role in Obesity.)
Men approaching middle age can also become hormonally imbalanced and their testosterone synthesis can divert to a higher level of estrogen synthesis. Its effect is to increase fat retention especially in the breasts of men.
With increases in fat retention, fat cells store estrogen! This makes the problem worse because it isn’t the level of estrogen that keeps us slim but our usage of it. Too much stored estrogen in tissues makes our body resistant to using estrogen and we become “estrogen dominant”, and store estrogen. This increases fat storage and our risk for estrogen dominant cancers in both men and women. When estrogen is able to enter our cells (because the cells are not resistant to absorbing estrogen) it helps to control appetite. (Yale University, Jan. 4, 2007, Estrogen Curbs Appetite in Same Way as the Hormone Leptin.)
Obese men have lower testosterone levels and obese girls and women have higher testosterone levels. Testosterone is necessary to maintain muscle mass. It has not been conclusively determined to date whether this apparent imbalance of testosterone in obese individuals comes from the gradual onset of obesity or whether the imbalance of the hormone itself induces metabolic imbalances that fuels obesity. Like estrogen, both factors are probably true.
EXCESSIVE CORTISOL:
Cortisol is produced by our adrenal glands located above our kidneys. When we are under stress or while we are fighting off infection, our body increases our cortisol to stimulate the body to ramp up its sugar metabolism and immune action. The problem arises when stress or infection becomes chronic and the body becomes resistant to the stimulating effects of cortisol. Insulin resistance and immune fatigue will result, stimulating fat storage, especially belly fat.
LEPTIN:
Leptin is a relatively newly discovered hormone, in 1994. This hormone is found in direct proportion to the level of body fat we have. This mean the fatter we get the more leptin we make. It is made in white fat, brown fat, breast tissue, bone marrow, the pituitary, the liver, ovaries, muscles and the stomach.
So called â€normal’ levels of leptin help our body to control our appetite by acting on our brain, in particular the hypothalamus to inhibit our appetite. Compounding the excessive production of leptin by the above tissues is the fact that the very act of eating food stimulates our body to make more leptin. Add this fact to the fact that as we gain more fat cells, the secretion of leptin increases and we develop resistance to any excessive hormone secretion, including leptin. Leptin resistance causes us to have increased appetite because the hormone becomes ineffective!
GHRELIN:
Ghrelin is a hormone secreted by the empty stomach. Its function is to stimulate hunger. If we skip a meal, especially breakfast we end up making more ghrelin overall. The result is that when we do eat the synthesis of ghrelin declines but our overall level of ghrelin is higher contributing to night time hunger!
Another function of ghrelin is to increase the volume of food we want to eat and to increase out fat mass! As you can see, if you wait too long to eat and get too hungry, you will make more ghrelin and then you will overeat. The food you do eat will then be stimulated to fat storage because of this hormone. Balance is everything, so don’t ignore hunger and don’t skip breakfast!
DOPAMINE:
Dopamine is a brain chemical, a neurotransmitter that is linked to our ability to maintain focus, and produce feelings of satisfaction and pleasure. It also plays a part in our body’s metabolism. Studies have found a link between low dopamine receptors in the brain and obesity. With increases in obesity (increases in BMI) they found fewer dopamine receptors! Fewer receptors mean that you are more likely to eat more to try to stimulate the dopamine “pleasure” circuits and can become addicted to food just like drugs and other compulsive behaviors. What has not been determined is whether the reduction in dopamine receptors is a cause or consequence of obesity.
Drugs that increase dopamine receptor sensitivity are highly addictive and become less effective over time. What has been shown to increase dopamine receptor sensitivity and release is exercise! (Brookhaven National Laboratory Feb.6, 2001, Scientist Find Link Between Dopamine and Obesity)
With all the above hormones, there are complex regulatory mechanisms that cause each hormone to interact not just with our brain but with other tissues in our body and other hormones. Correcting imbalances is a complex picture that involves balancing all one’s hormones with proper lifestyle, stress reduction, supplementation and diet.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
2010/06/27
Published
The incidences of breast cancer have not declined despite routine mammogram testing and the increasing trend to use natural compounded hormones. One of the reasons is  doctors who prescribe hormone replacement therapy, whether natural or synthetic hormones, do not follow up and continue to monitor their patient’s hormone levels! Failing to watch your body’s reaction and accumulation of hormones in response to therapy can be deadly and lead you directly to the development of uterine and breast cancer as a result of elevated estrogen! In most cases there are no warning symptoms until you develop that lump in your breast or end up in your gynecologist office complaining of uterine bleeding, a warning sign for cancer in post-menopausal women! Don’t let you or your doctor’s apathy cause you to develop an estrogen based cancer. Â
How Often Should I Have My Hormones Tested?
Your prescribing doctor should test their patients’ hormone levels regularly. Failing to do so can push their patients to the development of breast and uterine cancer. However, rather than blame, take responsibility in directing your care because assuming you are fine because the doctor assumes you are fine can result with an unpleasant surprise a year or more down the line!
At the beginning of any hormone therapy program, you should be tested within the first 60-90 days to determine how your body is reacting to the hormones. You cannot tell by how you feel! Thereafter, to be proactive get tested every 3 months if there is a history of cancer in the family, or if you have allergies, chronic fatigue, lyme disease, eczema, dysbiosis, or any other chronic inflammatory condition because it means that your liver detoxification pathways do not work their best. Adding any hormone therapy to a body that suffers chronic inflammation can easily result in estrogen dominance when your liver detoxification pathways are not properly supported with the extra load of exogenous hormones. If you are not suffering from any type of chronic inflammatory condition and your 3 month lab test after starting hormone therapy showed optimal ranges, then your next test could safely be put off for 4 months, but no longer.
If your doctor won’t run a test or he/she minimizes the need for testing then there is an affordable test you can obtain and do from home through www.immunematrix.com (Extended Postmenopause Panel – Diagnos-Techs, Inc./saliva SKU: SKU16269). The results take 2 weeks to come in and can then be communicated to your prescribing doctor to adjust your hormone dosages. You can also contact Diagnos-Techs, Inc. (http://www.diagnostechs.com) and look up a referral for a doctor affiliated with this laboratory in your area, who will then be familiar with this type of testing.
Testing within the first 3 months of starting a hormone program allows you to catch elevated estrogens, progesterone and testosterone before they increase your risk of cancer. Immune Matrix has seen cases in which a patient was only tested once in the year by a famous physician (too busy to follow up with all their patients, and the patient presumed by this doctor’s fame that they were covered) and that woman went on to develop estrogen based breast cancer by the end of the year as a result of elevated estrogens! Immune Matrix makes it a point of testing any patient on hormone therapy for this very reason. Make sure you don’t slip through the cracks with your doctor. Become educated and know your hormone levels. It’s easy to do.
The expanded Postmenopausal Hormone panel by Diagnos-Techs, Inc. offered online by Immune Matrix tests via saliva for: DHEA, Testosterone, Estrone, Estradiol, Estriol, and Progesterone and based on the ratio of the hormones, it calculates your Breast and Uterine Proliferation Index or risk! This is why this test is so valuable! The chart below is an example of the index you will receive and it is diagnostic for estrogen dominance. The chart also explains your risk factor for breast or uterine cancer.
Looking at the chart above, this particular patient had not been tested by her prescribing doctor after having been put on hormone therapy. Her DHEA was elevated at 25 when it should not have exceeded 10ng/ml. Her testosterone was elevated at 32 when it should not have exceeded 20pg/ml! Her estrone was greater than 100 and it should not have exceeded 64 pg/ml! Her Estradiol was 66 and it should not have exceeded 13pg/ml! Her estriol was in excess of 100 when it should not have been in excess of 38pg/ml! And her progesterone was greater than 2000, and it should not have exceeded 300pg/ml! This is why this patient was found to be estrogen dominant with no apparent signs but fatigue (caused by excessive progesterone). If she stayed on the hormone replacement program her doctor prescribed, her risk for breast cancer and uterine cancer would be greatly enhanced!
Another major problem with most hormone replacement therapy is the use of transdermal progesterone. Time and again Immune Matrix finds that the hormone is stored in fat tissue. This causes elevated progesterone levels which do not respond to PTA (pituitary-adrenal-thyroid) feedback loop, frankly because the hormone is locked in a fat cell. Excessive progesterone makes you sluggish and tired! This patient went to another doctor who gave her B12 shots for fatigue. This helped but this patient needed to get rid of the cause, excessive progesterone. This patient also needed to detoxify her excessive estrogen and testosterone and DHEA by proper methylation support for her liver until her hormone levels optimized. Thereafter, her progesterone should be changed to sublingual where it will not be stored by fat cells! The dosages of her other hormones will have to be adjusted and then she will have to be retested in 60 and no more than 90 days to make sure she stays in the optimal range. This is the best way to prevent the development of estrogen based cancers while on hormone therapy.
Another simple test that can be done is to have a blood test that checks your hormone levels and also tests LH (leutinizing hormone). LH increases as the pituitary senses estrogen dominance from the drop in bio-available progesterone. Remember that as women age, their failure to ovulate means they fail to make progesterone. Progesterone allows a woman’s cells to use estrogens. This is one main reason why breast and uterine cancers rise sharply in menopausal women, because their lack of synthesis of progesterone causes the estrogen to go unopposed by progesterone, thus they become estrogen dominant. Excessive estrogen irritates the cells of the breast and uterus and can cause proliferation of cancer cells as a result. If your LH is elevated, you need to be on an oral progesterone, preferably sublingual and you need more of it. As your progesterone levels optimize, your LH levels will drop to normal values.
Take the time to double check your hormone levels. Do not assume from your doctor’s verbal assurances unverified by lab work, or based on your doctor’s demeanor of authority over you, or based upon their reputation in the community that your doctor has you covered without verification with proper lab testing. And without proper lab testing you cannot know if your hormone therapy is throwing your hormone levels out of balance. The risk of not knowing can cause you to silently become estrogen dominant and lead you into a cancer diagnosis. This mistake can cost you your life!
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
2010/04/03
Published
In Part A we looked at how low melatonin impacts multiple systems in the body. Low melatonin has been implicated in weakening adrenal function and therefore immune system function. This has an impact on all inflammatory and autoimmune conditions such as eczema, allergies, seasonal affective disorder, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue, and chronic viral infections to name a few. All these conditions can suffer insomnia. And melatonin deficiency can aggravate other symptoms associated with each condition because of its ability to affect multiple metabolic pathways in the body from the brain, the immune system, the bones, our hormones, to every cell in our body!
COULD MY PRESCRIPTION DRUG BE BLOCKING MY MELATONIN?
Antidepressants and psychotropic drugs are known to impact the synthesis or release of melatonin. Beta blockers used for blood pressure regulation and some drugs used for schizophrenic patients also inhibit melatonin synthesis. Over the counter NSAIDS such as aspirin, ibuprofen, indomethacin and acetaminophen also decrease melatonin production. Your doctor’s recommendation to take a baby aspirin daily can have a significant impact on causing your insomnia! If you are on any of these products you must have your melatonin levels checked.
MELATONIN AND FREE RADICALS
We have all heard about free radicals. They are formed as a byproduct of our digestion. Some foods cause more free radicals, especially chemically processed, food additive based, and burnt or BBQ food. Environmental toxins and heavy metals, mercury off-gas from our teeth also increase the amount and damage of free radicals to our body. Melatonin is water and fat soluble and therefore can combat free radicals in both the fluid compartments of the body and in our fat cells.
Melatonin freely crosses the blood brain barrier and can fight free radicals in our brain! Studies have shown melatonin to be MORE powerful than glutathione, or vitamin E. One study showed melatonin to be 500 times more efficient at protecting cells from radiation than DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide)!
IS MELATONIN CANCER PROTECTIVE?
The study of hormonal dependent cancers suggests increased survival time and quality of life for brain metastases from solid cancer tumors, and some lung and breast cancers. Melatonin helps to block estrogen’s irritating action on the cells, a lead cause of hormone related cancers. There have been studies showing an inverse correlation between melatonin levels and the growth of estrogen dominant cancers. When melatonin was used with tamoxifen, there was marked inhibition of breast cancer growth than with tamoxifen alone. Some of the positive anti-cancer effects also stem from melatonin’s effect upon the immune system.
FIND OUT YOUR MELATONIN LEVELS
A saliva test can be ordered online at www.immunematrix.com that will test melatonin levels at four distinct times of the day. This will give you much needed information on the level of melatonin and whether you are having a circadian rhythm problem.
ARE HIGH MELATONIN LEVELS BAD?
Elevated melatonin levels are common is seasonal affective disorders (SAD). Using a light box in the morning helps to reset our body’s circadian rhythm and has been proven to result in lowering levels of elevated melatonin. Exercising in the evening also helps to inhibit melatonin levels. Exercise also increases endorphins in the brain promoting the positive “feel good” feelings we need to combat the chemistry of depression.
Melatonin can also become elevated with L-tryptophan supplementation. Some drugs increase melatonin: MAO inhibitors, desipramine, and fluvoxamine. Marijuana will increase melatonin and also kill mitochrondria, the cells that make our energy molecule, ATP!
Avoid foods high in melatonin to decrease high melatonin levels such as: oats, corn, rice, ginger, tomatoes, bananas, barley, spirulina, soybean, cottage cheese, chicken livers, pumpkin seeds, turkey, chicken, almonds, peanuts, brewer’s yeast, ice cream, yogurt.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO INCREASE LOW MELATONIN LEVELS:
A)Â Â Â Find out what your bedtime neurotransmitter levels are. A urine neurotransmitter panel test can be ordered online at www.immunematrix.com. If you are low in serotonin, then begin supplementation with L-tryptophan before bed (500-1000mg), and 3mg melatonin. (Take niacinamide, B6, calcium and magnesium earlier in the day to support melatonin production)
B)Â Â Â Â Dim the lights as the evening progresses. Extended light at night inhibits your circadian rhythm and will inhibit the onset of melatonin production.
C)   Sleep in pitch darkness. Turn off all night lights, digital alarm clock lights and have the curtains block out night lights and moonlight. Even a minute amount of light from an alarm clock will affect and block your pineal gland’s production of melatonin synthesis while you sleep because it blocks the conversion of serotonin. Melatonin can only be made by your body during darkness. Studies have shown that one hour of light at midnight dropped in direct proportion to the intensity of the light!
D)   Unplug all electrical appliances in your bedroom. This means use only battery operated alarm clocks. The reason for this is that electromagnetic energy disrupts pineal function and synthesis of melatonin. Living near power lines, having computers plugged in one’s bedroom, wireless internet, TV, stereo, even if they are not on, all run current through the walls of your room.
E)Â Â Â Â Do not exercise at night, as this reduces the synthesis of melatonin.
F)Â Â Â Â Daily morning walks of one hour were shown to be twice as effective as low dose artificial light therapy in relieving SAD, seasonal affective disorder.
G)Â Â Â Keep your bedroom cool! Falling body temperatures induce sleep, while a rise in body temperature (seen in ovulation, hot flashes or warmer rooms) provokes wakefulness.
H)Â Â Â If you are unable to fall asleep until the early morning hours, taking melatonin before bed nonetheless and using a light box in the morning when you awake will help to reset your sleep rhythm.
I)Â Â Â Â Â Â If you cannot stay asleep long enough, then taking melatonin can increase sleep duration as well. Smaller doses of melatonin were proven just as effective as larger doses in inducing and sustaining sleep.
J)Â Â Â Â Â Â Check your supplements and make sure that those containing B vitamins are not taken past 3:00 p.m. Large doses of B12 can also inhibit melatonin levels. If you are prescribed B12 injections, discuss with your health care provider the need to determine your melatonin levels and make supplement adjustment to prevent the inhibition of melatonin synthesis.
K)Â Â Â Have your salivary cortisol levels checked to make sure elevated cortisol levels in the afternoon and evening hours are not interfering with melatonin synthesis. A salivary cortisol kit can be ordered online at www.immunematrix.com.Â
As you can see, there is a lot that you can do independently to optimize your melatonin levels and improve all chronic symptoms and optimize your health. Knowledge is power, but only if you use it. Find out what your melatonin levels are and take charge of your health.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/04/01
Published
Melatonin is a modulator of our biorhythms, hormonal function, neurological function, behavioral function and many metabolic functions. Melatonin affects physical and psychological disorders such as insomnia, stress, delayed sleep, PMS, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), depression, infertility, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, immune disordersS, cardiovascular disease, menstrual irregularities, MS (multiple sclerosis), osteoporosis, hot flashes and menopause and cancer risk. It regulates body temperature, our sleep-wake cycle, female reproductive hormones, mood, immune health, bone resorption and declines with age!
Melatonin is secreted by the pineal gland found in the center of our brain. It is a hormone that crosses the blood-brain barrier and travels to all parts of the body. Its synthesis is affected by light and dark, length of day, body temperature, artificial lights, electromagnetic energy, exercise, and our aging bodies decrease in metabolic function.
An excess or deficiency of this hormone can cause problems with our immune system, cardiovascular system, neurological system, skeletal system, and sexual hormone system. It affects the rate at which we age and can propel us to an earlier demise from cancer, reduce the quality of our life, and predispose us to cancer and other immune, and degenerative conditions.
IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN CHRONIC INFLAMMATION & MELATONIN?
Any type of chronic inflammation will weaken your adrenal glands over time. The adrenal glands are part of the HPA axis, hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. These three glands are linked in a key communication network, synchronizing hormonal function. What affects one gland impacts the other glands, resulting in a weakening of the immune system, thyroid hormones, sex hormones and brain chemistry. Conditions such as chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, arthritis, osteoporosis, lupus, menopause, seasonal affective disorder, depression, acid reflux, autism, eczema, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, lyme disease, chronic viral infections such as Epstein Barr, as well as chronic work, relationship, and emotional stress all weaken the adrenal glands and the HPA axis, resulting in reduced melatonin synthesis.
Individuals suffering chronic inflammatory conditions often report less than optimal sleep length, quality and pattern. Women are particularly susceptible to lower serotonin levels, a key neurotransmitter that helps women feel happy, and calm. With age serotonin levels decrease and women are more sensitive to this decrease. A decrease in serotonin means a decrease in melatonin synthesis because serotonin is needed for melatonin synthesis! Individuals suffering from chronic inflammation also tend to have weak or diseased mitochondria, the only cells in our body that make ATP, the energy molecule we live on! ATP is needed to make melatonin. Individuals suffering chronic fatigue suffer low energy because of low ATP synthesis as one type of metabolic impairment and will suffer low melatonin synthesis as a result! It becomes a chain reaction!
SOME CONDITIONS ARE MORE SENSITIVE TO LOW MELATONIN
People suffering from depression and panic disorder have been shown to have significantly lower melatonin levels. In addition, they suffered from a delayed circadian rhythm. This means that the signal the body makes to start melatonin synthesis is off and occurs later than is should. Is it no wonder why these individuals cannot fall asleep or get into a deep sleep level? Geopathic stress caused by geomagnetic storms have also been shown to increase hospital admissions in those suffering from depression by as much as 36%! It was postulated that the earth’s electromagnetic rhythms can throw off our body’s circadian rhythm.
IS THERE A DIRECT LINK BETWEEN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS AND MELATONIN?
Multiple Sclerosis is the most common demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system with variations in clinical course among individuals. It has been found that declines of melatonin result in exacerbation of MS symptoms with some suggestion that remissions have resulted from melatonin’s stimulation of the immune system. Studies have confirmed a progressive decline in melatonin with the progression of the disease!
WHY THE SUDDEN CONCERN ABOUT OSTEOPOROSIS FOR MENOPAUSAL WOMEN?
Melatonin helps to regulate our calcium metabolism through its effect upon our aging and shrinking parathyroid gland. Melatonin is also needed for progesterone metabolism, which inhibits bone loss. Without ovulation, a woman cannot make progesterone. Thus the protective function that progesterone and melatonin has on bone resorption is lost. Anti-aging medicine is only now beginning to become appreciative and enthusiastic of the youth benefits of melatonin optimization, and its protective nature against osteoporosis and the development of “fatty bones”. This is just one amazing function of melatonin!
WHAT DOES MELATONIN DO FOR OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM?
Melatonin helps to modulate our body’s response to stress, acting as an anti-stress hormone through opoid receptors in the brain. Chronic stress weakens the immune system. It has been found that specific T helper lymphocytes (white blood cells) are positively affected by the immune boosting effects of melatonin.
WHAT CAN MELATONIN DO FOR YOUR HEART?
When melatonin decreases, our activity level at night increases in our nervous system. It’s called increased nighttime sympathetic activity from increased cortisol activity and norepinephrine. This causes the heart to continue beating just as hard and fast at night as it does during the day, not allowing it to rest. Therefore, low melatonin levels will wear out your heart faster over time.
Coronary heart disease patients have been shown to have melatonin levels 5 times lower than healthy heart individuals! Therefore, low melatonin will speed the development of coronary heart disease!
Melatonin has other heart benefits! It helps to fight “sticky blood” called platelet aggregation, the reason doctors try to put everyone on a daily aspirin! Sticky blood causes strokes, a leading killer. However, melatonin does not have the harmful side effects that aspirin does over time!
As you can now see, low melatonin does more than just affect your quality and quantity of sleep. Melatonin is fundamental for proper function of your adrenal, thyroid and pituitary hormones. It is at the core of many mechanisms of depression, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and a multitude of inflammatory conditions. Part B will discuss what you can do to rebalance multiple metabolic systems in the body by optimizing your melatonin.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/03/26
Published
Your adrenals are a pair of endocrine glands located on top of your kidneys and they produce cortisol and DHEA. The levels of cortisol throughout the day follow a specific rhythm which can become thrown off by insomnia, stress, chronic infection, inflammation and other hormonal imbalances. Proper levels of cortisol at key times of the day are essential for protein metabolism, sugar metabolism, blood sugar control, fat metabolism, maintenance of muscle tissues, heart function, and controlling inflammation. Irregular, low or elevated cortisol levels allow chronic infection to persist in the body, increase sugar cravings, weight gain, hair loss, and feelings of exhaustion and persistent fatigue.
HOW DOES STRESS AFFECT CORTISOL?
Stress elevates cortisol levels and when prolonged can cause impaired cortisol receptor sensitivity, leading to blood sugar irregularities such as insulin sensitivity, syndrome X, and slow non-symptomatic brain damage (hippocampus). Elevated cortisol levels over time lead to adrenal glad exhaustion.
Chronic stress throws off the feedback function between the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal glands, elevating cortisol levels until the adrenal gland goes into fatigue and then exhaustion. Elevated cortisol levels especially in the morning and before bed at night contribute to depression. A study performed in 1992 found approximately 60% of Schizophrenics with abnormal cortisol rhythm. (Neuropsychobiol 1992:25:1-7)
WHAT ARE LOW CORTISOL SYMPTOMS?
Low cortisol function can result in feeling weak, tired especially after meals, or simply exhaustion. Exercise makes the person feel more tired. There may be low grade nausea and lack of appetite in the morning. Constipation, or slow bowels, abdominal pains, diarrhea, or irritable bowel can be experienced. Cravings for salt are common as well as sugars especially during mid-afternoon when adrenal function first begins to become low. Postural dizziness may be accompanied by feelings of low blood sugar. Thinning of the hair, and hyper-pigmentation of the skin can result when cortisol levels stay chronically low. Insomnia, and excessive dreams or nightmares can result with prolonged REM stage sleep the result of low cortisol levels.
SYMPTOMS OF ELEVATED CORTISOL
Elevated cortisol can make a person feel hungry all the time or only late at night. You can feel wired and tired, unable to rest. Headaches become more common as well as elevated blood pressure. Anxiety can increase as can cravings for alcohol or smoking to calm the nervous system. Weight gain around the stomach can be seen. Aggressive behavior, increased frustration, short temper, and irritability are common. Increased risk of heart attack, myocardial hypertrophy and atherosclerosis driven by increased inflammation. Thyroid function can become suppressed and insulin resistance and syndrome X can develop. Low progesterone and certain estrogens in menstruating women can also result from elevated cortisol’s effect upon accelerated consumption of progesterone. Elevated cortisol also is a key factor in causing osteoporosis! It contributes to calcium mal-absorption.
CHRONIC FATIGUE AND CORTISOL, THE CART OR THE HORSE?
Over-secretion of cortisol in response to stress or infection will create symptoms of fatigue and exhaustion, depression, low blood pressure, weight loss, reactive hypoglycemia, and low buffer for stress. When chronic fatigue patients are tested, their salivary cortisol levels are often LOW, indicating mal-adaption phase, adrenal fatigue, or a stage of adrenal exhaustion. Persistent low cortisol levels significantly impairs immune system function such that many chronic fatigue patients show elevated immune titers to viral antigens such as Epstein Barr, cytomeg., echo virus, rocky mountain spotted fever, and coxsackie virus.Â
Does adrenal exhaustion cause chronic fatigue? The clinical picture of many patients suffering persistent exhaustion lasting six months or longer is one of increased extra cellular toxicity, impaired detoxification pathways, impaired cell membrane repair, chronic viral titers and intestinal dysbiosis. Chronic toxicity and infection wear the body down and wear down the adrenals. By the time a chronic fatigue patient suffers symptoms of sugar sensitivity, fatigue especially after eating a meal with carbohydrates, their cortisol function is already low. A vicious cycle begins and low cortisol from exhausted adrenal function then results in lowered immune function. The patient continues to deteriorate in energy, sugar metabolism, immune system function, digestion and hormone metabolism.
Simply giving such a patient cortisol can make the patient feel better for a SHORT time only. Some patients given cortisol will feel worse almost immediately. This is due to their immune system’s response to cortisol. Whenever the immune system is hyper-vigilant, it will develop a recognition to something. The development of immune recognition to one’s own cortisol is very common. One can also develop an immune recognition to metabolites that are involved in the synthesis of cortisol. Therefore, if one is then given additional cortisol to increase low cortisol levels, this can trigger an immune system activation and increase inflammation in the body, triggering more fatigue, body pains, low grade fevers and digestive symptoms. The other down side to taking cortisol is that it makes the body dependent upon receiving cortisol rather than making its own. Lastly, taking cortisol supplementation at the wrong time of day can actually make your cortisol levels more imbalanced!
In order to help the adrenals to manufacture cortisol, the underlying cause of adrenal exhaustion must be addressed. This means that titers for viral infection musts be reduced. Western medicine uses drugs to suppress viral action in the body. This does not eliminate the virus from the body. However, serial dilution homeopathics from a trained medical practitioner are very effective in helping the body eliminate virus. It can take 3-6 months but it addresses the cause of the problem. Eliminating chronic low grade bacterial infection in the digestive track such as clostridium, staph and all forms of strep are also essential. Eliminating candida and fungal strains in the digestive tract are also necessary.
During the phase of pathogen elimination, one may need to take cortisol as a “crutch” per se to boost one’s immune system function but only if one’s inflammation markers are carefully monitored. As the digestion of the patient improves, the patient will be able to take herbs that help the adrenals synthesize cortisol and assist in re-setting the glucocorticoid receptors in the brain and body. The patient should have their salivary cortisol levels re-tested every 60 days to make sure the therapy is effective and to prevent low cortisol levels from becoming elevated!
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
The first step is to determine your cortisol rhythm. A salivary cortisol test is essential and preferred over a blood test for cortisol. Saliva tests the unbound free form bio-available cortisol and tests it to the biorhythm of the day. Knowing what your cortisol level is at specific times of day is crucial to understanding when your blood sugar regulation is more at risk, why you are likely to feel fatigue, or hunger, and WHEN TO TAKE adrenal supporting supplements! You can do this test in your own home and mail the results out. A graph showing your cortisol rhythm will be prepared in two weeks by Diagnos-Techs. available online at www.immunematrix.com at their online store under Labs (Cortisol/Saliva Test – Diagnos-Techs,Inc. SKU: SKU16265). The cost of the lab includes a consultation with a medical health care practitioner from Immune Matrix.
The second step is to obtain information of the degree of dysbiosis from your digestive tract. This test will identify and quantify the good probiotics, the pathogenic bacteria, candida, yeast and fungi living in your digestive tract and test them for resistance to prescription and non-prescriptive agents to eliminate them. This test is available online at www.immunematrix.com at their online store under Labs (Microbiology Stool (Doctor’s Data) SKU: SKU16263. Immune Matrix is making these tests available online because of the depth of information it tells the patient and because many patients do not know a practitioner that can make such tests available to their patients.
The third step is to meet with your medical health care provider to have blood tests run for immune titers for suspected viral infections. Future articles will discuss what patients can do on their own to support proper immune function specifically addressed to fighting chronic viral infections.
Armed with the knowledge of what your cortisol values are throughout the day, the fourth step is to begin a course of therapy to strengthen your adrenals. Working with an experienced medical practitioner in this regard is essential. However, there is much you can do in your lifestyle to support improved adrenal function.
If you have low cortisol:
a)Â Â Â Â Â do not eat carbohydrates or high glycemic foods on an empty stomach
b)Â Â Â Â Â add a sugar digestive enzyme to your meals to improve your sugar metabolism
c)Â Â Â Â Â add BenaGene to each meal to improve insulin resistance
d)Â Â Â Â Â eat protein with each meal, and snack
e)Â Â Â Â Â do not skip breakfast, and include protein at breakfast
f)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Walking is the best exercise. If you are able to do more aerobic exercise, watch your fatigue level after your workout. If your fatigue does not resolve within 2 hours after a workout, then you have done too much and are at risk of weakening your adrenals from too strenuous exercise.
g)Â Â Â Â Â Go to bed at a regular time, no later than midnight.
h)Â Â Â Â Â Do not engage in mentally stimulating work an hour before bed. This means no internet surfing, video games, stressful tv shows, news etc before bed.
i)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Have a small protein snack 2 hrs before bed to help maintain your blood sugar while you sleep.
j)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Sleep in an entirely dark room, no night lights, no lights from alarm clock. This will help your body optimize melatonin, growth hormone and other essential hormone synthesis.
k)Â Â Â Â Â Manage your stress and remove yourself from stress for brief periods when you can, to preserve your cortisol levels.
l)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â When you feel yourself become fatigued, take a 15 minute timed break. Lay down on the floor with feet propped up on the chair. Close your eyes but do not let yourself rest longer than 15 minutes. This will help refresh your adrenals as if you had an extra hour of sleep in the day. Doing this when your cortisol function is the lowest in the day will help to regenerate them.
If you have elevated cortisol, you need to pay attention to what time of day the cortisol is elevated.
a)Â Â Â Â Â avoid eating carbohydrates during the elevated cortisol times of day and watch the amount of carbohydrates you are consuming, keeping it to the size of the palm of your hand
b)Â Â Â Â Â avoid stimulants like coffee, tea, chocolate, alcohol, during high cortisol times
c)Â Â Â Â Â monitor your stressors during that time of day when your cortisol is elevated to become aware of what is driving your cortisol
d)Â Â Â Â Â phosphotidylserine helps to detoxify excess cortisol, so taking it as a supplement at the time of day when your cortisol is elevated will help to bring it down, but only if you find the source of why your cortisol is elevated
e)Â Â Â Â Â at least one hour before bedtime avoid overstimulation by TV, family stress or exercise
f)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 2 hours before bedtime have a small protein snack
You can coach your adrenals back into balance. The more chronic your condition, the longer it can take but having a program guideline and getting your salivary cortisol levels checked every 60 days will keep you on target with your goal. Chronic infections complicate the regeneration of your cortisol rhythms, but to ignore your adrenal function during chronic infection is to risk lowered immune system function. The above information should give you adequate information to make well informed decisions about your adrenal function.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/02/27
Published
This article is a general guideline for those feeling chronic fatigue and not knowing whether they should look at thyroid function as a contributing cause. In the case of thyroid function we could be talking about the cart before the horse because with chronic infection or chronic stress, thyroid function can become inhibited. Therefore, just because your search may lead you to a positive finding of “low thyroid function”, does not mean you have found the cause of your chronic fatigue!
The thyroid, just like the adrenal glands can be the canary in the mine field. Their function starts becoming imbalanced as a consequence to chronic exposure to environmental toxins, heavy metals, molds toxins, silent bacterial infections in the gut, chronic undiagnosed viral infections, viral attack to the thyroid, lack of hormonal feedback support as in the Pituitary-Thyroid-Adrenal Axis, and auto-immune antibodies developed against your thyroid, as well as chronic stress!
It is highly advisable to know exactly what your thyroid is doing if you are feeling persistent fatigue. Have a blood test done that includes the following: TSH, free T3, reverse T3, thyroglobulins, T4. Many doctors unfortunately still do not test for free T3 and miss a majority of low thyroid conditions as a result. One can have normal values in everything and then find their free T3 is low, and thus they do not have sufficient unbound thyroid hormone to use. In addition, thyroglobulines are not routinely tested and if that were done, auto-immune thyroid conditions could be caught in their early stages and reversed before they become chronic Hashimotos.
When it comes to the thyroid and the adrenals, not all glands are created equal in our body and some are stronger and some are weaker just by nature. Under stress, one may become symptomatic first. Lets look at the correlations and bear in mind that these are very general guidelines only to help you evaluate the need for serum thyroid hormones and salivary cortisol biorhythm levels. Bear in mind also that if you do test for thyroid and adrenal and don’t test for the other, patients do better in therapy when treatment modalities include support both glands to optimize their levels. It is a common medial oversight for practitioners to treat the thyroid and ignore testing and treating the adrenals.
Weight gain: When the adrenals are involved the weight gain is generally first to the belly and hips, while with thyroid it is more generalized, and is hard to loose in both cases.
Eyes: When thyroid is involved one can see the eyes as full or puffy with or without bags, whereas with adrenal issues the eyes can be more sunken when severe, and may have dark circles, and more likely to suffer night blindness and sensitivity to bright light.
Eyebrows: With low thyroid function people tend to loose the outer third or half of their eyebrows, either totally or they get thin. This does not happen with adrenal issues.
Hair: The adrenals tend to make the hair thinner and dry, and sparse on the forearms and lower legs. The thyroid also can cause hair to fall out easily, with a tendency for coarseness and even change in color to the hair prematurely.
Nails: With thyroid issues the nails thicken; with adrenal issues they get thin and brittle and in both cases they break easily.
Skin: With thyroid issues wound healing is delayed, sometimes with easy bruising, and tendency for the skin to thicken not thin, and be oily with a tendency for fluid retention. With adrenal issues the skin tends to be dry, thin and collagen can become depleted leading to wrinkling of skin especially seen over finger pads, with dry skin and an inability to hold one’s water. In mixed thyroid and adrenal conditions you can see a combination of thin, dry, poor healing, bruising skin!
Ligaments: With thyroid issues you see a decrease in flexibility. Their pains tend to focus on joints, muscles and the lower extremities. With adrenal issues you tend to see lax or loose ligaments and very flexible people, those with flat feet, being double jointed and may suffer strains and sprains easier. They tend to suffer headaches, migraines, and carpal tunnel syndromes.
Temperature: Thyroid conditions tend to have stable but low temperatures, below 98.6. Adrenal conditions tend to have problems with regulating their temperatures, suffering when its hot and being too cold when its cold and can also have lower body temperature that fluctuates more often. Thyroid issues tend to tolerate heat over cold. Adrenal issues tend to tolerate cold over heat.
Sweating: This is tricky because in the early stages affecting the glands, sweating may be excessive for adrenal issues but once they become chronic the patient tends to stop sweating. Thyroid issues can have a tendency to increased sweating.
Emotional Reactivity: Adrenal conditions tend to push the patient towards over-reactivity while the thyroid patient tends toward under-reactivity.
Immune Function: Adrenal conditions tend to push the immune system into a hyper-vigilant state resulting in allergies, food and environmental sensitivities, and auto-immune problems. As a result, adrenal conditions tend to make the patient more sensitive to drugs and supplements. Thyroid conditions tend towards the opposite, and as a result tend to suffer chronic infections such as sinus, bladder, skin and the like.
Sleep: If sleep is impacted, thyroid issues tend to cause a person to suffer from sleepiness, narcolepsy, sleep apnea or un-refreshed sleep in general. Adrenal issues tend to cause more often insomnia, the inability to fall asleep, to have night time munchies, to feel wired and tired and un-refreshed sleep as well.
Energy: A thyroid condition can make the patient feel sluggish, and have low motivation to do things. An adrenal condition can cause fatigue and sleepiness within an hour or two after a carbohydrate containing meal. It can cause the patient more likely to feel exhaustion with bouts of energy as in “wired and tired” where the patient can’t persevere, and recovery after exertion is delayed.
The Legs: If the patient suffers from edema in the legs it is more likely to be non-pitting edema for the thyroid condition, whereas with the adrenal condition the patient fatigues more from standing, walking is easier. But leg and body pains are common in both!
Blood pressure: The adrenal condition tends to have blood pressure that runs low 80/50 to 110/70 and tends to get light headed when getting up to stand from sitting or lying down. With thyroid conditions the blood pressure is normal to high and can have problems with regulating blood pressure on drugs.
Digestion: Mal-absorption is seen more often with those having adrenal problems over thyroid, and carbohydrate and salt cravings are common; whereas, fats are craved more with those challenged by thyroid issues. Food can pass through the bowels quicker with those that are adrenal challenged, while those suffering from thyroid issues can have a tendency for constipation.
Cholesterol: Adrenal issues can cause cholesterol to be low normal while thyroid issues can elevate cholesterol and have it be hard to manage without addressing the thyroid. The HDL tends to be higher with adrenal issues and lower with thyroid issues. The cholesterol/HDL ratio for adrenal issues tends to be higher at 4.0 + while with thyroid is is under 4.0 in general.
Serum Potassium: A blood potassium tends to be under 4.0 for thyroid issues and over 4.0 for adrenal issues.
Serum Sodium: A blood sodium level of over 140 is more common among thyroid issues and under 140 for adrenal issues.
DHEA: DHEA affects and is affected by adrenal issues.
Testosterone: This hormone will be affected in some cases with adrenal issues and will tend to be lower than normal.
Blood Type: Adrenal issues seen more in blood type A; thyroid is more Type O.
Platlets: Adrenal issues will see platlets under 200 and thyroid, over 300.
For access to salivary cortisol testing, go to the online store at www.ImmuneMatrix.com and order a Flex Matrix Cortisol kit. The price includes a consulation with a primary care provider to help guide you in your therapy options and from there you can obtain a requisition form to also have serum thyroid values tested. This is the best place to start to pin down what glands will need support while you then proceed to find the underlying cause(s) exhausting your thyroid/adrenals.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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2010/02/27
Published
HOW DO THE ADRENALS IMPACT CHRONIC FATIGUE?
Our body has a hormonal rhythm of cortisol that varies depending on the time of day. Too much cortisol and we feel wired and tired. Too little cortisol we feel low energy and listless.
Under acute stress, our body produces more cortisol to help us get through an acute stage of stress. If the stressor persists our adrenals continue to output extra cortisol. The problem with prolonged cortisol output is that it creates insulin resistance. You won’t become diabetic necessarily but you will begin to gain fat, especially around the middle and you will start to feel more tired after a carbohydrate containing meal. Some people feel so sleepy after eating carbohydrates that they have to take a nap!
Depending upon what time of day our cortisol stay high, we can suffer cravings for sweets in an effort to boost our low energy, followed by fatigue. Some turn to coffee to boost their energy, only to exhaust their adrenals eventually as the adrenals begin to fail to respond to the caffeine stimulus.
The flip side begins to occur as the adrenals become fatigued and lower cortisol output occurs during certain parts of the day. During those low cortisol episodes, we experience trouble with maintaining our blood sugars. We might not be hungry in the morning and can’t fall asleep without eating before bed! Low cortisol values also contribute to a weakened immune system, allowing low grade infections to become chronic.
HOW CAN I KNOW IF MY CORTISOL IS OFF?
The best way to determine where your cortisol values are during the day is to do a saliva test. There is a cortisol saliva test available online store at www.ImmuneMatrix.com
that includes a practitioner’s consult on the findings. It takes two weeks to get the test results and knowing what time of day one’s cortisol is high and/or low, as it can be both high and low in a day, is essential for boosting one’s immune system function, improving one’s blood sugar regulation and optimizing one’s energy in a natural manner.
HOW CAN THE TYPE OF FOOD I EAT AFFECT MY ADRENALS?
Those with low cortisol functions need to minimize carbohydrates. If you feel tired after a meal then you have eaten too much carbohydrates for your metabolism. One needs to eat more frequent and smaller meals and more protein as snacks to strengthen the adrenal glands.
Those with high cortisol values need to avoid stimulants such as coffee, coke and overstimulation during the times when the cortisol values are high. If the value is high before bed, one needs to avoid family arguments before bed, reduce time on the computer and TV before bed and begin to do relaxing things to calm the body. This takes time and lifestyle changes to make long term changes in one’s adrenal function.
Please note:
Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for the advice provided by your physician or other healthcare professional. You should not use the information on this site for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication or other treatment.
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