Consuming Gluten While Having Celiac Disease Could Lead To Early Menopause

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Celiac disease, which occurs when your body cannot tolerate a protein called gluten found in products containing wheat, barley and rye, most often causes gastrointestinal disturbances and abdominal pain. However, the condition also can cause severe nutritional deficiencies that have a wide-ranging effect on the rest of your body, including on your hormones. Because of this, women with celiac disease suffer from early menopause more frequently. They also suffer from related infertility. If you have celiac disease, you may be able to protect yourself against early menopause by following a gluten-free diet strictly.

Incidence 
Approximately one in 100 Americans has celiac disease, but because people with the condition may not notice symptoms for years, the majority of those people don't know they have it. When you have celiac disease, consuming gluten-containing grains causes an immune system reaction that destroys the lining of your small intestines. Your intestinal lining helps you absorb nutrients from your food, and once it's destroyed, you often become malnourished. Because your reproductive system relies on vitamins and other nutrients to function, it often can't function properly in people with celiac disease. In many cases, women with undiagnosed celiac disease have undiagnosed amenorrhea, or missing periods. This can lead to early menopause.

Menopause
Menopause -- when you stop having periods and lose the ability to bear children -- normally occurs between the ages of 45 and 55, with an average age of 51. When you enter menopause, your body's production of the female hormones estrogen and progesterone slows dramatically, and your ovaries stop producing monthly eggs. Women with celiac disease suffer from premature menopause, with menopause occurring prior to age 40, more often than other women, especially if they continue to consume gluten. Even if they don't enter menopause before age 40, their periods end earlier, on average, than those of non-celiac women.

Research
In a study published in 2010 in the medical journal "BMC Gastroenterology," researchers looked at reproductive life disorders in 62 Italian women with celiac disease, including the age of menopause when compared to control subjects. Two-thirds of those women reported menstrual cycle disorders, and many said that they had experienced those menstrual problems before gastrointestinal symptoms appeared. In addition, many reported experiencing menopause at an earlier age than the control group.

Considerations
In many cases, menstrual cycle disorders correct themselves once you receive a celiac diagnosis and begin following the gluten-free diet. In addition, following a gluten-free diet may help protect you from early menopause. If you've already gone through menopause, it's possible but unlikely that you'll begin menstruating again once you get diagnosed and stop consuming gluten. In all cases, though, you need to adhere to the diet strictly; cheating, even occasionally, causes ongoing inflammation and damage in your small intestines, which can lead to continuing nutritional deficiencies and place you at risk for additional medical conditions, including osteoporosis.

www.sottopelletherapy.com/doctors/enrique-jacome-md

A Woman's Helping Hand As She Ages

Dr. Gino Tutera

As a woman’s body ages, it can often use some extra help. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is an excellent choice to help provide assistance as Mother Nature comes a calling later in life. Our advanced hormone replacement therapy using pellet implantation has been around for over seventy-five years. It is a safe, effective and convenient. No more need to remember a gel or cream that can be dangerously transferred from you to your loved ones, such as children or even your pets. The best part is you also won’t have to remember a hormone pill every day.

Our pellet implants deliver a low dosage of hormones to your body 24/7. The body determines how much or how little hormones you need and when you need it. A pellet can last from three to six months, a far cry from the frequent daily application of estrogen creams or gels. Our qualified physicians use an exact science to determine how much hormones your body will need to function at its top level.

Beyond menopausal symptoms, hormonal imbalance in a women will upset the normal functions of many internal organs. This imbalance sets the stage for many aging-related diseases. With our over twenty years of experience, we have seen many patients with a variety of symptoms. We work tirelessly to find solutions that women need to achieve hormonal balance & live fulfilling lives. Just because you are getting a bit older but that doesn't mean you need to lose your youthful spirit. We want to see you age graciously and comfortably. 

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Does Menopause Cause Anxiety?

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Which came first – the hormonal imbalance or the anxiety? Sounds a lot like the chicken and the egg question, doesn’t it? While many different conditions can trigger anxiety, recent studies indicate that stress goes hand in hand with menopause and andropause.

Panic attacks often strike perimenopausal women the hardest as their hormonal changes fluctuate dramatically. But other factors can contribute to the anxiety generally associated with menopause.

Depression, poor concentration, muscle tension, irritability, fatigue, insomnia and sleep disorders are all anxiety-related and symptomatic of menopause. However, many women wonder if their life circumstances or their hormones are to blame.

Sue, a 47-year-old working mom, has a full share of anxiety between her job as an office manager and her duties at home. She often experiences extreme fatigue and finds it difficult to concentrate on her work. Despite her exhaustion, she has trouble falling asleep. She wakes throughout the night, wrought with tension, restlessness, nervous sweats and an inability to go back to sleep.

Sue wonders if it’s her anxiety from the job keeping her up at night or her hormones making her toss and turn. Maybe it’s the stress of college tuition costs for her three kids.

How can women know the difference between everyday anxiety and the menopausal kind? More importantly, what can they do to alleviate anxiety altogether?

Sue initially made some lifestyle changes… reducing her coffee intake, replacing sugars and junk food with healthier meals, taking a yoga class and walking more. She also started doing more relaxing things before bedtime, such as taking a hot scented bath instead of watching the news.

Still, the night sweats continued. That’s when she decided to have her hormone levels tested and try SottoPelle Therapy.

Sue’s lab tests showed that she was pre-menopausal and really low in estrogen and testosterone, an imbalance that leads to stress in the body, thyroid disorder and adrenal fatigue. She started sleeping better after taking bio-identical progesterone before bedtime and found that it alleviated her anxiety and calmed her nerves.

Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy helped Sue get through menopause naturally and safely, without the hot flashes, nervous jitters and tension that formerly kept her up all night and reaching for the caffeine all day.

Anxiety can also result when testosterone levels drop as men enter andropause. Balancing these hormones with pellet therapy effectively relieves the anxiety and irritability that often plagues men at this time.

To determine if your symptoms are due to the hormonal imbalances of menopause and andropause or a deeper emotional cause, and more information about SottoPelle Therapy, lab tests and hormone evaluations, visit http://www.sottopelletherapy.com/faqs/.  You can also take SottoPelle hormone self assessment.

www.sottopelletherapy.com/doctors/enrique-jacome-md

Sources

Bromberger JT, Kravitz HM, Chang YF, et al. Major depression during and after the menopausal transition: Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN). Psychol Med. Sep 2011;41(9):1879-88. [Medline].Steiner M, Dunn E, Born L. Hormones and mood: from menarche to menopause and beyond. J Affect Disord. Mar 2003;74(1):67-83. [Medline].

The Real Truth About Fatigue: Hormone Replacement Therapy May Be Your Answer

Dr. Enrique Jacome

Are you dragging and lagging throughout the day with constant fatigue? Have you lost your normal stamina and often run out of steam? Do simple tasks leave you feeling flat lined?

I hear this from my patients all the time and fatigue seems to be affecting everyone in some way these days. Pick up any national magazine and chances are you’ll find a headline boasting of some quick fix to “Fight Fatigue Now!”

While such debilitating fatigue can be due to dozens of causes, most doctors simply chalk it up to modern-day stress and tell patients to slow down and get more rest. Such good advice often fails to address the real root of the problem and offers no viable support to help men and women combat their fatigue.

Hormones play a major role how you feel throughout the day and fatigue often results when there is a hormonal balance. Think of your hormones like the remote control for your TV, enabling you to switch channels and adjust volume, brightness, picture quality and other important functions. Estrogen and testosterone act as biochemical messengers, communicating with each other to fine-tune your physiology and energy similar to the way your remote control changes the settings on your TV.

Fatigue hits women particularly hard, especially during menopause and perimenopause due to rapid decline of the female hormones. Men are dragging behind too as testosterone levels take the plunge, reducing their normal endurance and stamina.

How do you know if hormonal imbalances are to blame for your fatigue? Start with this simple list and see how many apply to you:

• Feel tired and dragging throughout the day beyond normal sleepiness
• Lack of energy
• Reduced drive and mental clarity
• Low stamina and endurance
• Lack of motivation to pursue normal activities
• Decreased sense of vitality and well-being

 If you checked off two or more of these, then you should consider taking a simple lab test to monitor your hormone levels and determine any imbalances. Natural bio-identical hormone replacement therapy [BHRT] helps many people to ward off fatigue and restore their normal energy levels.

Recent studies indicate that bio-identical hormone pellet therapy can boost energy levels and correct the hormonal imbalances that start to plague us in mid-life. Finding the right balance with natural hormone pellets customized to suit your unique physiology can make a life-altering difference in how you feel and function throughout the day.

SottoPelle® Therapy works naturally with your individual physiology to balance your hormones and fight fatigue without synthetic drugs or one-size-fits-all injections. For over 25 years it has helped thousands of men and women enjoy renewed vitality.

Take our simple hormone assessment here.

www.sottopelletherapy.com/doctors/enrique-jacome-md