Other Hormone Issues

The thyroid is a gland shaped much like this butterfly that is located in the front of the neck below the Adam’s apple (for a man). It is one of many important endocrine glands that manage the body’s hormone system. Hormones produced by the thyroid affect many body functions including lipid metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism, growth, the cardiovascular system and the reproductive system.

We all get tired from time to time, sometimes for more than a little while. But it’s worth taking action if you suffer from continual and severe lack of energy that has become a major constraint in your life and prevents you from doing what you need or would like to do. Many factors can contribute to or cause fatigue.

Hypothyroidism is the name given to a condition characterized by underfunction of the thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland located in the front of the neck below the Adam’s apple. Hormones produced by the thyroid affect many important body functions including lipid metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism, growth, the cardiovascular system and the reproductive system.

Migraine headaches are not rare: it’s estimated that 14-15% of the global population currently suffers from them, making migraines one of the top 10 reasons for doctor visits. Those of us who have actually suffered from migraines belong to an exclusive club-- one where life and the rest of the world stops while we have a headache.

When considering changes that need to be made in order to have a healthy lifestyle, nutrition, physical exercise and sufficient sleep are usually the first things that come to mind. But stress management can also play a critical role. This is because of the many ways that chronic stress undermines good health.

Hyperthyroidism is a set of conditions that result in overactivity of the thyroid, a butterfly-shaped gland located in the front of the neck below the Adam’s apple. This is the opposite of hypothyroidism (or thyroid underfunction), which is far more common. Hormones produced by the thyroid affect many important body functions including lipid metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism, growth, the cardiovascular system and the reproductive system.

60 to 80% of hyperthyroidism cases result from Grave’s disease, an auto-immune condition that tends to run in families, occurs more often in women and frequently peaks between 20 and 40 years of age.

About 30% of adults report insomnia at any one time, with 10% suffering from chronic insomnia. Women as well as people over 60 tend to be more affected. There can also be grave consequences, including a range of other chronic health conditions (such as diabetes, high blood pressure and weight gain), unproductive work lives, car accidents and fatalities. For these reasons, insomnia is considered a serious public health problem.

Sometimes called “andropause”, the question of whether men have a change of life similar to menopause for women has long been debated. While women experience age-related physical changes at a rather specific time (when ovarian function declines leading up to age 50), for men the shift occurs much more gradually. A reduction in testosterone production happens over many years as men age, and can result in diminished muscular strength, energy and libido, erectile dysfunction, depression, and even osteoporosis. The problem is that these symptoms are often not seen in men with low testosterone and may also be caused by other factors such as stress, illness, medications, obesity, psychiatric conditions, diabetes, high blood pressure or low thyroid levels.

The endocrine system consists of many glands distributed throughout the body, producing more than 50 hormones that are released into the bloodstream or the fluid surrounding cells. Receptors in various organs and tissues respond to these hormones in specific and vital ways that control metabolism, immunity, development and growth, reproduction and behavior.

Since the beginning of the industrial age in the nineteenth century and the dawn of industrial agriculture in the twentieth century, humans have manufactured thousands of chemicals that serve many purposes. The effects of these chemicals on human health were largely ignored until the 1960s. Yet since then, and despite a convincing body of research showing their negative effects on human health, little has been done to regulate or limit the production and distribution of these chemicals.

You might think chlamydia is a rare sexually transmitted disease (STD) that you don’t need to worry about. Or that it has minor symptoms. Both these assumptions are wrong. Turns out chlamydia is the most commonly reported STD. While both women and men can indeed be asymptomatic (without symptoms), chlamydia can cause serious problems such as infertility, painful urination, fever, genital discharges and pink-eye. Specifically in women, chlamydia can lead to ectopic pregnancy, pelvic inflammatory disease, vaginal bleeding, miscarriage, and the risk of passing the infection to an unborn baby who might develop pneumonia. In men, it can lead to swollen and painful testicles as well as arthritis.