Fertility Hormones: which to test + what they all mean

Blood work is a valuable tool to quantify hormone levels and fertility markers, which together give insight as to how our ovaries are functioning and the quality of the eggs they contain. If you are currently trying to conceive or thinking about getting pregnant in the next few years, testing your hormones can give you a lot of helpful information that will assist you in making informed decisions about your family planning.

If you’re new to learning about these hormones then all the abbreviations and numbers are enough to leave you feeling dizzy, but I’m going to explain what they mean for your health and fertility, and let you know exactly how you can test them yourself.

Fertility, Hormonal ImbalancesJacqueline GabardyFebruary 28, 2019AMH, FSH, hormones, blood work, fertility, infertility, ovarian reserve

Holistic Migraine Remedies

Let's face it, migraines suck, and sometimes medication simply doesn't do much to take the edge off. Or for some medication for migraines isn't even an option. So then what?

Sometimes holistic treatments are the only options that actually offer up relief because they can address the root of the issue rather than just treating it like a symptom. In fact, many of my patients who respond well to acupuncture don't respond as well to any other treatment method. For their sake, thank goodness these holistic remedies exist!

Holistic Postpartum Care

If you're gearing up for a new baby in your life or you've just welcomed a new addition to your family, then you've probably already done all the research about cribs and carseats, taken the baby care classes, and set up the nursery. Even with all this research, however, caring for yourself in the postpartum period may still leave you with a lot of questions.

If that's the case, I'm glad you're reading, because supporting women during the postpartum period is literally my job. The months following birth are a sensitive time, during which women need plenty of support to properly recover, but in most cases a few simple adjustments are all that's needed to help a new mom to recover quickly.

PostpartumJacqueline GabardyFebruary 6, 2018postpartum, hormonal imbalance, hormones, PPD

Let's Talk About Vaginal Dryness

There's pretty much no topic off limits in my clinic, and believe it or not, vaginal dryness is a common topic I discuss with my patients. Women of all ages complain of it, and for lots of different reasons. There's no one-size-fits-all treatment that works, but luckily, some basic understanding of your hormones and how they effect the body usually helps to get to the bottom of why you're experiencing this discomfort.

10 Other Reasons Birth Control is Used

In honor of last week's news that Trump is rolling back employer requirements for birth control coverage, I want to share some of the other reasons birth control gets used besides just preventing pregnancy.

To be clear, I believe that women should have affordable and easy access to birth control no matter why they choose to take it. But it truly enrages me to hear so many arguments against coverage made on the basis that it is simply used when women want to be promiscuous, thus they should learn to "control themselves" or "settle down and have a family."

These arguments are made by ignorant men who will never be at risk of experiencing some of the painful and/or dangerous conditions that birth control can help to manage or treat. Denying women access to medication that can reduce pain, save money, prevent surgery, and in some cases can even be life saving, is truly cruel, inhumane, and totally fucking sexist.

So let's talk about it. Let's make them impossible to ignore. Let's teach men and children about these conditions. Let's de-stigmatize birth control coverage for every woman whose life depends on it. It's our right.

PMS Sucks! How to Treat it Naturally

While there are phases of the menstrual cycle when our hormones can leave us feel energized, confident, and cheerful, there are also phases of our cycles that may cause us feeling depleted, irritable, and self conscious. The premenstrual phase (the one and a half to two week period prior to bleeding) is most notorious for these feelings, the dreaded PMS.

Premenstrual Syndrome can look very different for different women, but the most common symptoms are emotional changes, mood swings, general irritability, anxiety, or sensitivity, breast tenderness, digestive upset, food cravings, headaches, or acne. While one woman may complain of one or two of these symptoms, some women can attest to nearly every annoying symptom on that list.

But PMS isn't something we're sentenced to as women, in fact there are a number of things you can do to balance your hormones naturally and start feeling better!

Hormonal Headaches: why you get them and how to not

Headaches and migraines can pop up at different phases of the menstrual cycle or during other hormonal shifts, such as pregnancy or menopause. They can cause a mild annoyance or ruin your whole damn day. It makes sense that hormonal changes can cause uterine pain and sore breasts, but how can hormones make your head hurt?

Hormones are signaling molecules released by the endocrine system, they travel through the blood stream and they can effect tissues all over the body, some more than others. Not only can deviations in hormones cause pain, they can also cause changes to mood, mental focus, skin, and digestion.

Hormones getting you down? How to eat to restore balance

Guest post by Miriam Jacobson, MS, RD, CNS, CDN of everybodybliss.com

Brain fog, bloating, PMS and erratic mood swings are signs that you might be struggling with a hormonal imbalance. Despite what your doctor said, these symptoms are not ‘normal’ and there are ways that you can eat to help balance your hormones naturally.

Western medicine often focuses on how to eliminate symptoms, which is why you might walk out of your doctors’ office with a birth control prescription after complaining about your lady problems. Although every body is different, birth control tends to mask many hormonal problems without addressing the root cause.

As a functional nutritionist, I seek out the underlying causes of these symptoms and work with foods and nutrients to help restore optimal health.

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