Hello Everyone! First, I just want to say I am excited and thankful for the opportunity to start contributing to the EmpowHER community and to help readers on their health journey. I look forward to sharing and learning from you as well. That said, I figured I would jump right into a subject I know many deal with on a daily basis.
Did you wake up this morning in the middle of a steam bath? Were your pajamas drenched with sweat? Welcome to the world of night sweats, and for others, hot flashes!
“What is going on, Dr. Bob?”
I would like to refer you to the second edition of my “Drugless Guide to Balancing Female Hormones” so you can get an in-depth understanding of the “nuts and bolts” of the physiology. Your hypothalamus, the CEO of your body, is doing what it can to have the pituitary in your brain to get your ovaries to secrete hormones. The pituitary continues to work hard and can become irritated, or even swollen, creating a huge surge of hormone fluctuations, resulting in a blood vessel response and a temperature surge as it attempts to make progesterone to balance your natural (or even synthetic) estrogens.
Women who experience menses issues throughout their lives are the ones who usually have more challenges with hot flashes than those who have been conscious of what they put in and on their bodies. I have discovered that women who eat sugar have adrenal glands that are exhausted and unable to produce enough progesterone and estrogen to solve all the hormonal requirements. The adrenal glands are located on top of each kidney and are your backup hormone pump, making female and male hormones. We, as a society, live in a sea of estrogen. Estrogen is everywhere -- in the food we eat, the water we drink, and the grass we walk on. The synthetic estrogens really confuse the entire body and are one of the many reasons I would suggest avoiding putting on anything onto your skin that is not pure.
You want a balance between progesterone and estrogen. When you have too much synthetic estrogen, it is quite possible that your pituitary is doing what it can to have the ovaries make more progesterone to balance the estrogen out. This is the reason it becomes so active and swollen, resulting in the spikes of body temperatures.
A lack of iodine is another hot flash ‘signal’. The thyroid gland and cells of the body require an adequate supply of iodine and iodide to function properly. I encourage our patients to take up to twelve milligrams of iodine everyday. I would suggest that you start slow, but be consistent. Iodine in nature has to battle with bromine, fluorine, and chlorine, so you may notice a rash, headache, or nausea if you begin to dump toxins. The iodine is actually causing these elements to leave -- causing body signals similar to an allergic response.
The iodine helps fuel the thyroid that has a direct impact on some of you who experience hot flashes. If you have a low thyroid and are taking prescription medications for your thyroid and you have hot flashes, you may want to have your urine iodine levels tested. You may also want to have your TSH, T3 and T4 levels assessed. If any of these are low or mid-line, it is an indicator to me that you need to supplement as suggested above.
I have had many women respond favorably by adding one tablespoon of flax oil every day to their diets (I recommend taking one tablespoon per one hundred pounds). The flax oil helps regulate the hormones in your body. Stop eating trans fat -- it confuses the natural oils in your body. Your hormonal system is dependent on an adequate supply of quality oils.
Are you beginning to see that hot flashes and night sweats can be directly linked to your choices? The reason many females have hot flashes is because of stress, either caused by food or emotions. Here are my Dr. Bob “Approved” takeaways:
- Avoid sugar
- Take up to twelve milligrams of iodine daily
- Take one tablespoon of flax oil per one hundred pounds
- Eliminate what you can from your life that is creating stress
For more information, visit us online, www.druglessdoctor.com, or come see us at The Drugless Doctors practice in Cleveland, Ohio.