Quite often hormonal imbalances are treated with the use of hormones, either synthetic, bio-identical or natural. Patients are told that they are estrogen dominant or low on progesterone and bumping up the levels of the hormone on the low side can help correct the imbalance. Is it really the case?

Why bumping up the level of hormones can’t fix the hormonal imbalance?

Our hormones are just the messengers secreted by our glandular system. The glandular system consists of the pituitary gland, thyroid gland, parathyroid gland, thymus gland, sex glands (ovaries and testes), pancreas, hypothalamus, and adrenal glands. The hypothalamus acts as a master switchboard that sends messages to the pituitary gland; the pituitary gland, in turn, releases hormones that regulate body functions. Usually, our endocrine glands are linked to neural control centers by homeostatic feedback mechanisms. Most endocrine glands are under the control of negative feedback mechanisms. Negative feedback decreases the deviation from an ideal normal value and is important in maintaining homeostasis.

Negative feedback mechanisms act like a thermostat in the home. As the temperature rises (deviation from the ideal normal value), the thermostat detects the change and triggers the air-conditioning to turn on and cool the house. Once the temperature reaches its thermostat setting (ideal normal value), the air conditioning turns off. Similarly, in a steady balanced state, our glands signal back to the centers in the brain creating what is called a negative feedback loop. Any deviation from normality disrupts the communication of these glands and hormonal imbalance occurs. Now we know that the actual reason for our symptoms is glandular dysfunction so adding more hormones won’t fix the problem.

Bringing your hormones back into balance with homeopathy