The Body

I've been seeing a new doctor. She's an N.D. or Naturopathic Doctor and specializes in the area of hormones. I've never seen an ND before and I was really nervous at first. But she's been treating me for hormone imbalance and as she explained to me the connections between stress, cortisol, progesterone and women's issues (for lack of a better term), I was simply amazed. How did I not know all this before? How are there complete gaps in my knowledge of basic human body function? And more importantly, why do my doctors not know anything about this either? It's almost twilight zone-esque sometimes.

So here's the run down as I understand it. Feel free to add or correct if I'm not completely getting it right. I'm not a doctor and like I already admitted I am learning most of this for the first time!

Stress uses a hormone called cortisol. You may already know that Adrenaline is a stress hormone, but it only deals in the short term, giving you an "adrenaline rush." But cortisol is responsible for long-term stress management. Too much or too little cortisol can lead to side effects. (ie: too little can lead to fatigue, too much can lead to anxiety and panic attacks) Ok. are we good so far? Cortisol is actually made from progesterone. So when your body is under stress for long periods of time, it will eventually run out of cortisol and have to make more-- taking from the progesterone supply in your body. Well each person's body needs a certain amount of progesterone to function smoothly. For women especially, a lot of "issues" come from imbalance between progesterone and estrogen, as these two increase/decrease in various parts of your cycle. (As a side note, many people are already high on estrogens because of the environmental estrogen and phytoestrogens... compounds in plastics, refined sugars, processed foods, and even petroleum-based lotions and soaps!) And progesterone... did you know that it is manufactured in the body from cholesterol stores?? Goodness! I didn't catch whether it came from HDL or LDL cholesterol, so sorry about that. Maybe someone can leave a comment and fill me in.

Isn't all that fascinating? Ok, so maybe it's more interesting to me right now because it's actually HELPFUL to me as I get all this worked out. But to see the indirect correlation between stress and hormones was really pivotal in my understanding of how things are (or aren't) working in my body.

And to think that God worked these systems out in our human bodies... can you believe it? What complexities! Scripture tells us "do not fear," "don't be anxious," etc, and with good reason! If we harbor those things long-term we can really get out of balance! It's also a good reminder to be getting Sabbath Rest and to guard that time/energy. It's so easy to work, work, work in North American culture without taking the time to recharge. It's good to think about which activities are restful (as in not requiring much energy-- ie: watching a movie) and which activities are actually life-giving (as in adding more energy--ie: taking a nap or reading Scripture).

I wonder if this topic will be as much of an encouragement to anyone else as it has been to me...

-JLR