The Science of Endocrine Distress

It's odd to talk about science, when, as a sufferer, I feel rather let down by the medical profession, so let me give you my summary in the absence of anything more substantial.

The causes are summarised as follows:

Stress: Adrenaline, cortisol, testosterone = constantly elevated

Stress: oestrogen, progesterone driven down

Diet: digestive hormones, thyroxine, insulin either elevated or severely restricted.

Exercise: adrenaline, cortisol, endorphins elevated,

Lack of Sleep: body unable to produce the balancing hormones to counteract

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Endocrine distress/meltdown

The effects of this “endocrine meltdown” are far reaching. This is because hormones don’t exist in isolation – human hormones exist in a complex network it is not possible to detach and treat one hormone without effect to the others. 

I realise that this is quite different approach to that taken by conventional medicine, which likes to compartmentalise problems as if they are parts to be fixed on an old car, but the body is one organism after all, and the organism must be treated as a whole rather than just trying to apply sticking plaster to the most obviously broken bits!

Above all else, the body likes balance, as a result an ailment in one area will destabilise the rest of the system.

With regard to the hormone (endocrine) system, if one of the hormones is inhibited, it affects all the others. Where there is a deficiency, other hormone levels reduce in order to try to bring the body back into balance. If there is too much of a particular hormone, the body will boost other levels. 

Some of the hormones are more important than others – these are called master hormones and include insulin, oestrogen, testosterone, progesterone. Given the profound effect of the behaviours on insulin and oestrogen described in other posts, it is easy to envisage the effects these have on the hormonal system as a whole. This is essentially where the problem starts.

Effects include:

• Low female sex hormone oestrogen
• Low progesterone
• High male sex hormone testosterone
• Very high insulin levels, especially after eating
• Compromised thyroid function
• Compromised pituitary function
• Excessive adrenal activity, especially at the wrong time of day (e.g. during the night)
• Abnormal leptin and ghrelin responses

It is these hormone imbalances which lead to the symptoms and physical effects experienced.