An expert has revealed the most frequent warning signs she sees in women battling hormonal disruptions. When your hormones fall out of balance, it can trigger a host of unpleasant consequences, from fatigue and weight changes to problematic skin or low spirits.
Hormones, which serve as the body’s chemical messengers created by endocrine glands, become disrupted when there’s too much or too little circulating in the bloodstream.
They’re vital for controlling numerous bodily processes including appetite and metabolism, sleep cycles, reproductive functions and sexual health, body temperature regulation, and mood.
Jaime, a clinical naturopath who shares expert advice and insights on TikTok via @nourishingapothecary, has recently discussed the « red flags » she notices in patients experiencing hormonal disruptions.
Her post was captioned: « Here are the big signs your hormones are out of balance from a naturopath. This is what I’m looking for. »
She said: « Some signs that you might have a hormonal imbalance and that is something that we need to address. So my name is Jaime, I’m a naturopath and homeopath focusing on women and family health.
« Now I get people say to me all the time ‘do I have a hormone imbalance’, ‘are my hormones out of whack’, ‘how do I know’, ‘do I test full bath’ right? These from my point of view often as a naturopath I don’t test. »
Jaime added: « The reason why I don’t test is because your symptoms are like giant red flags to me that your hormones are out of whack so I thought I would let you guys know what are some of the signs that I look for as a naturopath to tell me that your hormones are out of balance. »
The expert revealed telltale red flags, adding: « So one of them, really the most common kind of presentations of a hormonal imbalance is the high oestrogen and therefore low progesterone picture. What does this look like? High oestrogen picture is that before your period you get painful breasts, swollen breast, you get really bloated – really bloated or really fluidy – my clients will often say they get really fluidy. »
She stressed that these serve as illustrations rather than a complete checklist, noting: « Now you don’t have to have all of these by the way, I’m just giving you some examples. Getting headaches before or during your period, having issues with your sleep before or during your period. »
For clarity on further symptoms, she explained: « Then also looking at the heaviness of your period, if it’s really heavy really painful these are really big signs to me that you have that high oestrogen picture. Now let’s look at the low progesterone picture, this is where sometimes you might spot in around your ovulation and then it’s spotting in the lead up to or just be like in the days or like weeks leading up to your period or the few days before your period. »
She said: « This is a really big sign right so if you start your period by spotting in the days leading into it that’s low progesterone. Now the reason why we know that that’s low progesterone is because progesterone helps hold the blood in…so if you’re literally leaking blood you don’t have enough progesterone, right.
« This is when I then look at your whole case, all of your symptoms, everything that’s going on in your health, in your life your digestion, your sleep, your stress, your mental health – I look at everything.
« Then from there I put together a personalised treatment plan right so when you have symptoms that jump out at me like this. I don’t need to test because it’s so obvious to me because I’ve been doing this for so long and I know this, I know these signs. »
Signs of hormonal imbalances
According to hormonehealth.co.uk, these are the 10 signs of hormonal imbalance to look out for:
- Mood swings
- Heavy or painful periods
- Low libido
- Insomnia and poor-quality sleep
- Unexplained weight gain
- Skin problems
- Fertility problems
- Headaches
- Weak bones
- Vaginal dryness
