The reality is: if you’re not sleeping well, you’re not going to feel well. And it won’t matter how many supplements I throw at you, you won’t feel better until you’re sleeping better.
Sleep is a major obstacle to cure.
You’re not sleeping and then your hormones go haywire (and vice versa, really - hormones gone wild? So might your sleep)!
Here are some questions I ask patients:
Are you having difficulty falling asleep?
Any difficulty staying asleep?
What keeps you up?
What wakes you up?
How easily can you fall back asleep?
Do you feel refreshed/rejuvenated after sleeping?
Quite honestly, 9/10 times I ask that last question - most people say no. Is this you? Why?
Working with sleep is multi-factorial and is way more than just trying melatonin. Melatonin will not solve all sleep woes - and if you’ve tried it without success, it probably wasn’t the right solution for you.
By addressing the cause of your sleep dysfunction, we can come up with solutions for a more effective, deeper, restful state of sleep.
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Pregnancy loss is a common concern I see in practice. And there are a number of factors that a Naturopathic Doctor will want to consider when working with individuals who are struggling with recurring pregnancy loss.
Melatonin is a ‘neurohormone’ which can be used to regulate sleep-wake cycles. Endogenous (what’s made in your body) melatonin is released by the pineal gland, found within the brain. Production and release of endogenous melatonin is activated by darkness and depressed by external/environmental light sources.
If you’re looking to get a better understanding of your cycle, and/or want to learn how to chart your cycle – this is worth the read. I don’t have a ton of time to walk patients through all of this during our visits, so this is the book I refer them to.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve excused yourself from exercise because of your period. The last time I did this, I pondered it. Would it make me feel better? Or would I actually just continue hanging out with Aunt Flow in misery?
Mittelschmerz – the lovely, weird name for the physical sensation experienced during or directly after the release of an egg from an ovary (ovulation). This pain is felt in the lower part of your abdomen and is often one-sided (but can alternate between sides, month-to-month). Some women will experience this ovulatory pain as a mild, dull, aching sensation and some women may even experience even greater discomfort. Some won’t experience it at all.
Androgens are often referred to as ‘male sex hormones,’ but they’re present in both men and women. When it comes to women, we hear the most about testosterone, DHEA-S and DHT.
Birth control is NOT the only option for painful (dysmenorrhea) and/or heavy periods (menorrhagia). And before jumping on a medication or supplement your HCP should always look into potential causes of extreme cramping – ie. endometriosis, fibroids, etc.
Prostaglandins are a major factor in menstrual cramps – once a month (when Aunt Flow comes to town) they cause uterine muscles to contract in order to release the uterine lining (endometrium). Prostaglandins aren’t bad (they are important for blood clots, inducing labour, etc.), but if certain prostaglandins are high in your cycle – this can predispose to more painful menstrual cramping.
I have seen great variation in the amount of time it takes for a woman’s period to return and regulate. To start, prolactin is the main hormone responsible for milk production. And when elevated (hence, for breastfeeding) it works to prevent ovulation.
Amenorrhea: the absence of your period.
And then amenorrhea is divided into 2 categories: primary and secondary.
We’re going to talk about secondary amenorrhea, which can be observed as: the absence of a period for 3 months in women who had previously had REGULAR cycles, or the absence of a period for 6 months in women who had already been experiencing IRREGULAR cycles.
I talk a lot about cortisol, but it doesn’t exist as a lonely hormone. If you look closely, you can see that the thyroid (see TSH, T4, T3 and rT3) and adrenal glands (ACTH, cortisol) are tightly connected. The (+) and (-) icons indicate positive and negative feedback throughout this entire axis – how fascinating.