Medical professionals receive little or no training regarding women’s hormones. Herein lies the problem.
There are at least 96 research reports that come out every single day. Of those 96, a doctor is lucky to find time in the day to read one or two. In recent years, the powerful connection of hormones and the overall health and function of a woman’s body has been given slightly more attention than in the past. We still have far to go.
For the most part, women are barraged by misinformation in the media and inconsistency in the medical community. When I was suffering horribly from debilitating symptoms caused by my body’s hormonal imbalance, I was passed around from specialist to specialist, hoping for some miracle cure, but not receiving any solid answers. Doctors offered to treat my symptoms, but the root cause of those symptoms was left unaddressed. What I know now is that my symptoms are par for the course when it comes to perimenopause and menopause. But why didn't all those doctors know that??
Several years have passed since I had my hysterectomy and yet women are still faced with doctors who treat them for each individual symptom rather than the root cause: hormonal imbalance. I'm amazed when I visit online health forums and women are taking a slew of medications and alternative therapies for a long list of symptoms like hot flashes, joint pain, depression, dry eyes, etc. They're being loaded up with all kinds of "band-aids" when what they really need to do is have their hormone levels tested.