Fatigue

Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of hormonal imbalance, affecting perhaps 80% of women. Of course, fatigue is a well known result of menopausal symptoms (such as hot flashes and night sweats) that disrupt sleep. Other causes of fatigue are adrenal exhaustion due to stress, poor diet choices and poor thyroid function.

Many women have 2 or 3 of these energy zapping factors going on simultaneously.  Furthermore, all of these conditions are hormonally influenced in some way, resulting in stress, food cravings and reduced thyroid function.

Prolonged stress forces the adrenal glands to overproduce the hormone cortisol, leading to adrenal exhaustion and resulting in reduced cortisol with debilitating fatigue not alleviated by sleep.  Women with chronic fatigue syndrome have been found to have reduced cortisol levels and other hormone imbalances. 

Cortisol is also essential in controlling proper glucose levels and breaking down fat for energy. With a lifetime of poor nutritional habits, many women approach menopause and find they have become increasingly sugar intolerant or insulin resistant. Insulin resistance disrupts fat metabolism and women unavoidably gain weight, especially around the mid-section. Afternoon fatigue, caffeine and carbohydrate cravings are all early indicators of insulin resistance.  Frequently, women unwittingly exacerbate their condition by fighting weight gain with low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets.  When the cells won't absorb the extra glucose from carbohydrates, the liver has to convert it into fat. Fat cells are loaded with glucose receptors, so this becomes a vicious cycle. Ironically, fat cells are actually "starved" for glucose, so women feel exhausted and tend to eat carbohydrate-heavy foods in search of energy.

These extra fat cells also produce estrogen. This contributes to estrogen dominance that causes so many symptoms during the early stages of menopause (perimenopause), as well as thyroid dysfunction.

Fatigue robs women of the energy needed to keep up with the demands of modern life.  An effective treatment for fatigue must address the connection of hormonal imbalance.  Natural hormone replacement therapy offers a safe and effective solution to persistent fatigue.