THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO
Women’s Hormone Health
The Complete Guide to Women’s
Hormone Health
You may not have heard of bioidentical hormones before now,
or you may be confused about the differences between “natural”
bioidentical hormones and “synthetic” non-bioidentical hormones,
such as Premarin and Prempro.
At Dr. Randolph’s Ageless & Wellness Medical Center, we do
our best to cut through the confusion and provide you with
information you need to make the best decisions for your optimal
health so you can get back to being the best you.
What Are the “Sex Hormones”?
Most people know that the sex hormones Women naturally produce 0.25 milligrams of
(estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) play testosterone daily, while men may produce 4 to 7
important roles in human reproduction. What milligrams - that’s ten to forty times the amount!
you may not know is that they also help regulate
many other functions in the body - from sleep
patterns, to your moods and memory, bone
growth, muscle strength, and much more.
Estrogen
The word “estrogen” is really shorthand for a
group of several different, but related hormones
ESTROGEN
that perform similar functions: Estrone (E1),
Estradiol (E2), and Estriol (E3). Estrogen circulates
through the bloodstream and fits estrogen
receptors throughout the body. In women, it
affects not only the breasts and uterus, but also
the brain, bones, liver, heart, and other tissues.
Progesterone
Progesterone promotes regular sleep patterns, PROGESTERONE
prevents bloating, maintains libido, fosters a
calming effect on the body, stimulates bone
building, and thickens the uterine lining to
promote the survival of a fertilized egg (ovum).
Although progesterone was discovered in the
early 1930s, our understanding of its equally
crucial role in the hormone story continues to
unfold through current research. Many common
hormone problems, such as PMS, irritability, and
TESTOSTERONE
weight gain, are actually related to progesterone.
Testosterone
Testosterone is the best-known sex hormone in
the group called “androgens”. We tend to think of
testosterone as the “male hormone”, and indeed
it is the primary hormone responsible for male
physical and sexual development.
However, women also require testosterone to
maintain healthy mood, sex drive, and muscles
and bones; the difference is in the quantity.
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How do Hormones Work?
Throughout your lifetime, your hormones have your body on “autopilot”. They act as chemical
messengers communicating to all the tissues in your body, including your brain, bones, heart, and more.
When hormone production is optimal and levels are balanced, you feel great, have plenty of energy,
easily maintain a healthy weight, desire and enjoy sex, and handle stress well. From your late teens to
early 30s, a woman’s ratio of sex hormones is usually optimal.
ESTROGEN
PROGESTERONE
The Seesaw Effect
As you get older, the amount of estrogen and progesterone your body produces can change from
month to month and year to year. Due to the influence of stress and “environmental estrogens”,
hormonal fluctuations can occur at any age. Even as early as a woman’s late 20s or early 30s.
When your progesterone gets low, that side of the seesaw hits the ground and negative symptoms
arise. For women, that typically means poor sleep, fatigue, anxiety, heavy periods, weight gain, uterine
fibroids, irritability, and even rage. The result of low progesterone is a condition called “estrogen
dominance”.
This is what happens when the progesterone side of the seesaw gets “stuck” on the ground: the estrogen
side is “elevated,” relatively speaking. This does not necessarily mean that your estrogen level is high —
it’s that your progesterone level is so low that estrogen effectively becomes “dominate.”
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Factors that Affect Hormone Balance
As you move past your 20s and into your 30s, condition of hypothyroidism. Because a primary
hormone imbalances and/or symptoms related to function of the thyroid is to run the body’s
stress, lack of sleep, synthetic birth control, and metabolism, hypothyroidism causes your body’s
other influences, can start to appear. Some young metabolism to slow down. The result: more
women may experience premenstrual syndrome, weight gain and a vicious cycle of ever-increasing
or PMS. Bloating, anxiety, irritability, back pain, estrogen dominance.
nausea, cramping, and lethargy are some of the
most common PMS symptoms. Here are some Nutritional Deficiencies
common factors that can affect your hormone
The Standard American Diet (SAD), also known
levels:
as the “Western Pattern Diet”, is notoriously
deficient in nutrients. The “sad” fact is that typical
Stress Americans are not getting all the nutrients they
Stress – especially stress that is chronic and goes need from the foods they eat.
on for more than three months – triggers changes
in the strength and output of the adrenal glands. Research has linked nutrient
Short-term stress signals the adrenal glands deficiencies to a variety of health
to produce more of the hormone adrenaline concerns and conditions— your
to sustain us in an accident or emergency by
diet directly affects your hormone
signaling fat cells to quickly release energy. But
when we are under constant stress, the adrenal balance!
glands flood the body with extra cortisol to meet
Research has linked nutrient deficiencies to a
the extended demand.
variety of health concerns and conditions— your
When stress becomes “distress”, the body goes diet directly affects your hormone balance! Even
into overdrive; pumping out cortisol until the when you do your best to eat well, you may still
pump wears out. Other hormone imbalances may need to counteract the effects of processed foods
crop up, allergies and insomnia may get worse, and boost your hormone balance by including
you get impatient and irritable, and every cough vitamin supplementation to your daily regimen.
and flu bug seems to settle in you.
Environmental Estrogens
Weight Gain (Xenohormones)
When your estrogen and progesterone are not Living in the United States, we are exposed to
properly balanced due to age or other hormonal dozens of chemicals throughout our daily lives.
influences, you are predisposed at a cellular level
to gain weight. For women, weight gain tends to
occur around the waist, hips, buttocks, and thighs.
Fat cells actually produce estrogen, thereby
worsening a preexisting estrogen dominant
condition. Estrogen dominance also causes an
increase in thyroid-binding globulin, resulting in a
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Environmental Estrogens (Xenohormones)
When you think of “chemicals”, you probably
imagine a bubbling chemistry set, or spraying
your yard to eliminate weeds or pests.
Unfortunately, the effects of chemicals
exposure are much more pervasive than that.
Environmental estrogens can be found in many
items we are exposed to regularly:
• Dry cleaning chemicals
• Plastics
• Meat and dairy products from animals
injected with antibiotics or hormones
• Drinking water
• Cosmetics and personal care products
• Pesticides, herbicides, and industrial
chemicals
There are few, if any, studies on the combined
effects of common household chemical exposure
on our bodies over time, and every person is
exposed to different combinations. To support
better hormone balance, you can better inform
yourself about xenohormones and make some
lifestyle changes:
• Use glass or stainless steel water bottles.
• Don’t heat food in plastic containers in the
microwave.
• Check labels on cleaning products and
cosmetics to avoid parabens, phthalates
(artificial fragrances), and sulfates.
• Reduce chemical use in your home and yard
with organic plant-based sprays.
• Drink filtered water, and choose organic fruits
and vegetables when possible to reduce
pesticide exposure.
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Where do Hormones Go Wrong?
Estrogen Dominance
Estrogen is an important key to a woman’s
physical well-being; however, an overload of
estrogen is destructive, causing a cascade of
unpleasant symptoms and raising the risk of
life-threatening diseases.
As Dr. John Lee described the condition: “If
estrogen is dominant and progesterone deficient,
estrogen becomes toxic to the body.”. Untreated
estrogen dominance has been clinically-linked to
an increased risk of breast and uterine cancers,
osteoporosis, low thyroid output, and dementia.
Artificial Menopause
Approximately one in every four American
women will enter an abrupt, “artificial”
Menopause, as the result of a complete
hysterectomy. Many physicians commonly
recommend a hysterectomy for women who
have fibroid tumors, severe endometriosis,
cancer, and/or constant, heavy bleeding. A
“complete hysterectomy” is the surgical removal
of the entire reproductive tract, including the
uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries, whereas a
“partial hysterectomy” only removes the uterus.
Once a woman has had a complete
hysterectomy, her body will immediately enter
menopause regardless of her biological age; there
are no ovaries to produce any level of hormones.
Regrettably, too many physicians make the
mistake of prescribing “only estrogen”, but
estrogen alone is not enough. In fact, estrogen
prescribed without progesterone to balance it will
inevitably trigger “estrogen dominance”, along
with potential risks for breast cancer, low thyroid,
and other preventable diseases.
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What You Need to Know about Hormone Therapy
There are two main types of hormone attacks, and strokes associated with the synthetic
replacement therapy (HRT): synthetic hormones Premarin and Prempro.
hormone therapy and bioidentical hormone
replacement therapy. Bioidentical Hormone Replacement
Thanks in part to synthetic hormone therapy, HRT Therapy (BHRT)
has a complex reputation. Synthetic hormones Bioidentical hormones are derived from a plant
such as Premarin and Prempro have been shown molecule called “diosgenin” that is found in wild
to lead to risk of breast cancer, stroke, heart attack yam and soy and synthesized in a laboratory to
and more. Hormone therapy doesn’t have to be be identical to naturally produced hormones. The
dangerous however, there is a natural option that lab process ensures that these hormones have
can provide relief from symptoms of estrogen the exact molecular structure and duplicate the
dominance: bioidentical hormone replacement exact same functions as the hormones made by
therapy. your body. When you use bioidentical hormones,
the cells of your body recognize them as familiar
The Dangers of Synthetic Hormones and know how to put them to best use.
The landmark 2002 National Institutes of Health Bioidentical hormones are safe because, like
(NIH) Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study your own hormones, they fit perfectly into the
revealed “synthetic” hormones are a serious hormone receptor “locks” of the cells in the body
health risk. The study had menopausal women where they do their work. And because they have
take synthetic estrogen and progesterone, in an a 100 percent relative binding affinity (RBA) for
effort to curb the effects of menopause. your internal hormone receptor sites, they do not
trigger side effects.
“Relative binding affinity” Just as the key to your car fits perfectly into the
describes how hormones fit into ignition and sparks the engine when turned,
receptor sites (like a key fits into bioidentical hormones fit into your body’s
hormone receptor locks and spark exactly the
a lock). Synthetic progestins have
same response as the hormones produced in your
an RBA of only 78% ovaries, testes, adrenal glands, or hypothalamus.
“Relative binding affinity”, or RBA, describes how Medical research has shown that when BHRT
hormones fit into receptor sites (like a key fits is used to re-establish the body’s optimum
into a lock). Synthetic progestins have an RBA of hormone levels, positive effects happen at a
only 78%. Synthetic products are not the same cellular level. Which bioidentical hormones
as the hormones your body produces naturally. you need, and how much, will depend on your
Replacement hormones with a higher affinity fit individual body chemistry or physiology. The
into the “lock”, meaning that they are safer and objective of BHRT is to replace or rebalance
easier for your body to process. hormones that are deficient or in excess in order
to restore optimum hormone balance.
WHI’s study was concluded three years early
due to the increased risk of breast cancer, heart
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Help is Available
How do you know what type of supplementation
you need for natural symptom relief?
Dr. Randolph has created specific guidelines to help
you determine your individual supplementation
needs, depending on your age, menstrual history,
symptoms, and hormone test results.
All hormonal supplements offered by Dr. Randolph
are bioidentical formulations that duplicate the
natural physiology of hormones in the body.
Recommended supplements are based on specific
criteria, including: age range, life cycle, associated
hormone level shifts, resulting type of imbalance/
medical condition, and common symptoms.
Ingredients as listed are derived from natural and/or
plant-based substances.
Dr. Randolph is widely acknowledged as one of
our nation’s leading medical pioneers in the fields
of hormone health and optimal aging medicine.
A graduate of Louisiana State University School
of Medicine, Dr. Randolph is triple board-
certified: in Age Management Medicine by The
Age Management Medicine Foundation, by the
American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine,
and by the American College of Obstetrics
Meet and Gynecology. Dr. Randolph’s distinctive
expertise also derives from his training as a
Dr. Randolph
licensed compounding pharmacist specializing in
pharmacognosy (plant-based medicines).
