The Power of Balance
Hormones are messenger molecules that direct the intricate workings of our bodies.
Great vitality comes from the balance of hormones as they adapt to the daily needs of our body, our age and our gender. Estrogens, Progesterones, Testosterones, DHEA, Cortisol, insulin and Thyroid are hormones native to the human body in men, women, and children. These sex, energy and metabolism hormones nurture mood, muscle and bone strength, fertility, growth and development, sexuality, confidence, and cognitive function.
Hormones can be gracefully in tune, or painfully out of tune.
"Each individual has the power to improve their hormone balance through lifestyle choices. Our mission is to discover and implement, with you, the best actions to accomplish this healing process."
Your Tool Box
~ We all have a complex series of genes enabling us to create hormones that can adapt to our needs.
~ Each of us has a unique combination of hormone genes and body chemistry.
~ Our hormone genes “listen” to our actions and respond to our environment.
~ We build hormones daily from the nutrients we choose to eat.
~ Our lifestyle sends signals that direct our hormone function through our physical activity, our social interactions, our thoughts and our sleep patterns.
~ Our hormones do respond to positive messages from our environment, including love and kindness, sunshine, available food, quietness.
~ Our hormones also respond to negative messages from our environment: noise, pollution, toxicants, low nutrition foods, inactivity, loneliness, stress.
Carrie Ingrisano, MS, FNP, has decades of experience dealing with hormone balance and bio identical hormone replacement therapies.
Neurotransmitters - The "mood hormones"
Our moods and cognitive function are supported by a complex
combination of hormones and neurotransmitters, and are influenced by the health of our body chemistry. For example, a good percentage of the neurotransmitter "serotonin" is created in our gut which explains why the health of your digestive tract, and the foods that you eat, profoundly affect mood and energy.
Our life experiences and stress levels, and how we perceive and manage them, plays an important role. It is important to know that toxins and heavy metals can "block" healthy neurotransmitter function and create or add to problems of depression and anxiety. Here's how we can help:
Comprehensive hormone testing
Genetic screening to identify special nutritional needs
Urine Testing for neurotransmitters
Anti inflammatory Lifestyle
Stress management techniques
Hormone replacement therapies
When Hormones Tip toward Illness
When hormones are out of balance for a period of time, disease states can begin to develop in the body. Each person will respond in a different way. Imbalances might cause fatigue, irregular periods, skin and hair changes, pain and inflammation, depression or anxiety, frequent infections, even cancer.
We can help with:
~ PMS (pre menstrual stress syndrome)
~ PMDD (pre menstrual dysphoric "depressive" disorder)
~ Heavy and irregular periods / fibroids
~ Low testosterone levels
~ Poor fertility
~ Loss of sexual interest and response
~ Hypothyroidism / Auto immune thyroid disease
~ Adrenal imbalances / Adrenal "fatigue"
~ Obesity / Insulin resistance
Optimum Energy and Dynamic Health
First, it is important to understand that hormones function together in concert rather than as a solo act. It is useful to measure all categories of hormones when looking at a hormone imbalance.
Blood testing tells us about the levels of available hormones floating "in storage" in your blood stream.
Saliva testing helps us understand the level and impact of hormones as they work in your body tissues.
Urine testing gives us information about how well your body is able to detox and eliminate hormones and neurotransmitters after they are used.
A thorough physical exam helps us to see how your hormone balance at work in your body. And hearing your history and symptoms illuminates the impact of your particular hormone balance in your day to day life.
Bio Identical Hormone Replacement therapy, prescription and herbal therapies are customized to your body chemistry and needs. These therapies can be useful in short term and as maintenance therapies to reduce symptoms and to maximize energy, vitality and sexual health.
IV nutritional and chelation therapies may be useful to fuel and strengthen the system, or free the body of toxicants that are blocking hormone function. Chelation therapy improves blood flow, and removing heavy metals can result in profound improvement in depression and anxiety.
Hormone imbalances respond remarkably well to lifestyle changes including improved nutrients, water, rest, exercise, love and peacefulness. Using a functional medicine approach, we will work in partnership with each client to discover the cause of imbalances in the body, and to map out the lifestyle changes and medical interventions needed to restore optimum energy and dynamic health.