On the surface a quilt seems a random collection of parts to make a comforter. That is what the undiscerning eye sees. But at its core, the assembled parts begin to act in unison to do something that no single part can do. In concert, Nature only uses the finest threads to weave her patterns, so each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry. These random musings are coming from future blogs in the Quilt. Enjoy!
If diet and lifestyle changes, supplementation or BHRT (bioidentical hormone replacement therapy) haven’t taken you to optimal, listen to the replay of this community-wide introduction to Healing Your Hormones with Dr. Tim Jackson!
Two years ago I gave you the Hormone 101: Clinical thoughts revealed blog post. That was a small dose of reality at the beginning of this journey. There was some foundational hormone biochemistry there given to you in simple terms. Most people jumped all over the free T3 link to pregnenolone in the post. They thought that "their cure" for hypothyroidism and/or chronic pregnenolone steal syndrome was increasing free T3 or just lowering reverse T3 to raise pregnenolone. So what was not observed? A trip down memory lane for the hormone cascade Leptin resistance occurs first in the brain. Then insulin resistance happens soon their after in the liver, gut, and peripheral tissues. This eventually leads to adrenal resistance. This resistance occurs at the PVN in the brain. (Brain Gut 16: Adrenal Fatigue Rx) It does not happen in the adrenal gland. What happens is that the outflow from our sympathetic system in the brainstem overwhelms the parasympathetic nervous system. This increase in overall cortisol initially, is the stress hormone that allows for fight or flight syndrome (life or death). As this condition persists chronically over time, cortisol levels decrease and flatline on adrenal stress index testing.
Who is Gretchen? She is a women I met at Mark's Daily Apple monster thread two years ago. When we first met she wanted no part of the idea that maybe she was missing more pieces to the puzzle then she knew. I told her back then, if she began to test herself she would learn more about herself than she could ever imagine and it would happen fast. If you read the thread here, you will see where she began her journey. This blog is where her journey has brought her in her battle to reclaim optimal. She is also featured in my latest book on amazon, The Epi-Paleo Prescription and you can read her initial six months into this journey there with 3 other of my members. Gretchen has a blog too. She is a pretty amazing person with an amazing family and story. Here is how her journey began as written and told by award winning author Colleen Coble in my book: Gretchen stared at the piece of paper in her hand. The word medically discharged wavered in her vision, and she wheezed through the airways constricted by asthma. Her head was pounding, and her heart rate fluttered even faster than the pulse of pain in her head. It was the end of her military career. Even though she’d known it was coming, seeing it in black and white made her want to sink to the floor and bury her head in her head in her hands.
This blog post was created for my members who just heard my webinar on bioidentical and synthetic hormone replacement. It is specifically designed to further our discussions in that talk. DHEA has been an enigma to the public and to most physicians. I never once heard about this hormone in four years of medical school, seven years of residency or in any endocrinology lecture from my training. The general public did not learn about DHEA until 1996, when its benefits were mentioned in the media and several popular books that showed up on daytime TV shows. Most in mainstream medicine continued to ignore the science these books contained because they were not found in the usual ways via journals and continuing education classes. You actually had to be on the lookout for this information. With a busy medical practice, this is no easy task. DHEA became credible to the medical establishment when the New York Academy of Sciences published a book called DHEA and Aging. That book provided scientific validation for the many life-extending effects of DHEA.