This is the story of three glands: the thyroid, the ovaries, and the pancreas. These glands are part of the endocrine system, and are the major contributors to women’s menopausal symptoms: hot flashes, night sweats, irritability and moodiness. These are symptoms of a hormonal imbalance, oftentimes affecting all ages of women who come into my Evergreen acupuncture office. The three glands affect each other, they mimic each other, and they can all be out of balance at the same time.
The Thyroid Gland
The first gland is the thyroid, a small butterfly-shaped gland in the front of the neck. It sits just below the Adam’s apple. The thyroid takes iodine from the food you eat and produces thyroid hormones. Thyroid hormones regulate your metabolism and impact other processes in the body.
The major thyroid hormones are T4 (thyroxine) and T3 (triiodothyronine). When T4 is released from the thyroid gland, some of it is converted into T3, which is the active hormone that affects your body’s cellular metabolism along with other functions.
The standard drug to treat a thyroid imbalance is thyroxine. This is not an overly toxic drug, although it shuts down the thyroid’s production of hormones because it replaces T4. Some patients have been able to reduce the dosage of their thyroxine drugs after treatment, or get off completely.
My thyroid treatment protocol usually starts with increasing the body’s ability to absorb iodine, which stimulates the thyroid. Sodium is one of the attackers of the thyroid, and it also causes high blood pressure when out of balance. By balancing both iodine and sodium, the thyroid gland is stimulated.
The Ovary Glands
The ovaries are two oval-shaped glands about the size of a large grape. They sit on opposite sides of the uterus.
Menopause is defined as the end of fertility when estrogen levels rapidly decline. The decrease in estrogen causes symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, moodiness, irritability, vaginal dryness, loss of bladder control, insomnia, loss of libido, weight gain, anxiety and depression. Hot flashes and night sweats are often an imbalance of estrogen and progesterone.
Some of my menopausal patients are coming in with estrogen and progesterone hormone replacement therapy drugs prescribed by their doctor. (Evidence shows that these drugs can cause cancer.) My treatment protocol strives to get them off these hormone replacement drugs by balancing their hormones. Estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone and estradiol are the main hormones involved in balancing the ovaries. After treatment, the typical outcome is they are no longer having symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats. However, sometimes the symptoms don’t go away because it’s not just estrogen and progesterone that are out of balance, and with a follow up treatment, symptoms usually go away.
The Pancreas
The pancreas is an abdominal gland. Its two main functions are to help with digestion (exocrine) and to regulate blood sugar (endocrine). It is located behind the stomach in the upper left abdomen. The pancreas releases digestive enzymes to break down fats and sugars. The pancreas also releases two hormones, insulin and glucagon directly into the bloodstream. Insulin lowers the body’s blood sugar levels and glucagon raises blood sugar levels. Maintaining proper blood sugar levels is the key for overall health.
I treat many people who are hypoglycemic, which is an inability to properly metabolize sugars and is a precursor to diabetes. Sugar is one of the main culprits in hormonal imbalance. My treatment protocol is to balance the blood sugar, insulin, glucagon, pancreatic beta cells and chromium.
The 3 Glands are Connected
The story of these three glands – the thyroid, ovaries and pancreas is that they are connected through the endocrine system, and have a huge impact on menopausal women. An imbalance in any one or all of these glands can cause hormonal imbalance. It’s not uncommon for all three to be out of balance. Finding the root cause of the imbalance and treating the root cause is the basis of the treatment protocol.
Treatment Protocol
Through applied kinesiology testing, we find the underlying cause of the hormonal symptoms, and we treat the underlying cause. NAET acupuncture is a drug-free, non-invasive natural solution to alleviate symptoms of hormonal imbalance.
Not only is NAET acupuncture a great solution to identify and treat environmental and food allergies, but it is also the best way to ease the symptoms brought on by perimenopause and menopause. NAET acupuncture treatments help the body to better absorb and utilize hormones, and the treatment protocol balances the hormones which eliminates the symptoms.
At my Evergreen acupuncture office, I see hundreds of women with perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms who have tried every drug and supplement on the market, but could not find any symptom relief. My goal at Bear Creek Healing Arts is to find the underlying cause of each symptom and use NAET acupuncture to treat and eliminate the root cause. Most patients who complete the hormonal imbalance treatment protocol have reported back that their symptoms vanished. Contact me at Bear Creek Healing Arts today for Evergreen acupuncture and NAET acupuncture treatments.