Got hormone issues?

Keeping our hormones in balance is one of our hardest jobs as women. Hormones fluctuate wildly throughout any given day, during every menstrual cycle and in every phase of a woman's life.

Although I feel incredibly well right now, I wonder sometimes about my last doctor's appointment when he told me that I have low blood pressure and have probably suffered from a stressed adrenal system for most of my life. Though not bothersome, I still sometimes deal with light-headedness, lack of energy and nervousness. Then recently, a friend of mine who has been trying to get pregnant started wondering whether her short periods and short luteal phase may point to a hormone imbalance or underlying reproductive "issue." I decided I needed to hit the books again.



I've spent the better part of Memorial Day revisiting one of the books that sealed my fate as a "Fertility Nut." When I began learning Fertility Awareness and researching progesterone cream and natural hormone balancing many years ago, I found out about this book by Dr. John Lee, written for women in the baby-making phase on the journey of motherhood: "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Premenopause: Balance Your Hormones and Your Life From Thirty to Fifty".



I already knew about him because he also wrote a book that changed the life of my mom, a breast cancer survivor of almost 15 years, called "What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Menopause."

Although Dr. Lee passed away in 2003, his work is still considered revolutionary and remains the best of the best when it comes to hormones and natural hormone balancing.



It is full of wonderful information, especially for women who are having hormone-related health issues (PCOS, PMS, miscarriage, weight gain, etc.) or trouble getting pregnant. I looked up his web site {www.johnleemd.com} and it is a wealth of information as well.

You can also look up your symptoms to see what hormonal issues may be to blame with this hormone balance test.

I checked off two symptoms in Symptom Group Six (unstable blood sugar and low blood pressure) and found this to be the culprit: "Cortisol deficiency: This is caused by tired adrenals, which is usually caused by chronic stress. If you're trying to juggle a job and a family, chances are good you have tired adrenals." Just as my doctor suspected. You can bet I'll be looking into this more now.

If you are having hormone-related symptoms, my suggestion for step #1 is to start charting your cycles using the Fertility Awareness Method.



Even if you eventually do any type of hormone testing, your charts will still give you valuable information to show your doctor and help guide your journey to balanced hormones. I would advise using Dr. Lee's symptom tracker along with your Fertility Awareness chart to help you keep track of symptom patterns. Or simply use his list of symptoms to mark your chart accordingly. You may be amazed at what you can learn and what connections can be made.

Please do let me know if you discover anything new about yourself using these resources...or if you have any questions.