I went to a seminar this past weekend, hosted by my local organic grocery store. This seminar fills up really fast, I’ve been waiting for three months to attend.

The big reason for me participating was the subject matter, hormones. You always hear about women’s hormones, and rarely do you ever hear anything about male hormones. Of which, there are problems just like with women. I do not provide any specific information about problems with Males, since I am a Female that was my main area of interest.

In fact, many of the symptoms of a hormone problem mirror the side effects of antidepressants and other prescription medications. Such as, Headaches, Weight Gain, Bone Loss, Insomnia, Allergies, Infertility, Miscarriage, Lack of Motivation, No Libido, Depression, just to name a few.

After the seminar was over, I asked to be contacted for a hormone makeover. This will let me know if I am hormone deficient, which if this were a gambling situation, I’d bet my house on it.I took a lot of notes and wanted to share them here thinking it could possibly be useful to anyone who happens upon us.

As well to let others know there could be other options. I think too many times, Doctors are in a hurry to just hand us a pill to cure what ails us. Not because they don’t care but they are just as stressed as we are, and if you don’t specifically ask for more time with yoru doctor, you most likely will not get it.

The Doctor who did the seminar suggested that when you make an appointment with your Doctor, let the person know if you need more time than you usually get so it can be put into your Doctor’s schedule.

The following are some of the notes that I took, and if you think any of this might ring true, I urge you to do your own research, and talk with your Doctor. If you would like to peruse the website of the Doctor that led the seminar on Saturday, leave a comment and I will email it to you directly.

• Progesterone deficiency can cause miscarriages, anxiety, depression, mood swings and insomnia.

• Estrogen deficiency can cause foggy thinking, Carbohydrate cravings, poor/slow metabolism, dry skin, headaches. Estrogen helps to keep your cholesterol levels balanced.

• Testosterone deficiency effects every aspect of your cardiovascular, causes thin skin, muscle loss.

• Cortisol is often referred to as a stress hormone. It increases blood pressure, blood sugar, and has an immunosuppressive action. Explained, this cause sugar/salt cravings, and the cortisol gathers in the belly (belly tire) and blocks the other hormones that need to get to where they need to go causing fuzzy thinking and memory loss.

One thing the Doctor told us was the conventional way that women get hormone therapy is through prescriptions which can cause more problems than they fix. The man-made hormones that are prescribed are not a perfect match to our natural hormones, which is what causes the problems.

She noted that there is a natural plant that is almost a 99.9% match to our natural hormones, and you don’t take it as a pill but something you rub into your skin so that it goes directly into your bloodstream, and not your stomach (where the cortisol lives). In addition, she explained there are two different ways to measure your hormones, blood and saliva. The blood tests are very expensive, the saliva not as expensive but not covered by most insurance carriers either.

Once I’ve had the testing and can begin a treatment plan, I’ll update here with my experience and results.