Re: Hormones

 I know you believe in using herbs and other things to give the body what it needs to restore or rev up our glands to do their job like they should ... but if the glands are not up to par, such as after menopause, aren't we basically beating a dead or dying horse? Or does it depend on the glands?

Just because one is going through menopause or andropause, this does not mean the glands are up to par. The glands are merely changing as they are designed to do and are supposed to do again for very good reasons.

This hormonal 'orchestra' is a bit confusing. If we should leave well enough alone, does that apply to all the hormone producing glands in our body or just some of them? Should we try to rev up the adrenals and not worry about the ovaries or rev up the thyroid but not worry about ... whatever.

Are some glands [and use the word loosely here for lack of a more specific one...whatever is producing hormones!] supposed to slow as we age and if so, why shouldn't we let 'nature' take it's course and not fiddle with it?

I'm interested in the basic physical biological aspect of this, not the psychological or mental or emotion one...although I realize hormones affect all of this.

To really answer your whole post I think the easiest way is to address a comment you made in an earlier post. You mentioned many cultures not having a word for menopause. What this is really referring to is the fact that women in many cultures do not experience the menopausal symptoms that Western women do even though those cultures also go through menopause. They are not taking pharmaceutical drugs though to prevent what we consider menopausal symptoms because menopause is not a disease. Things they are doing though that contribute to their lack of menopausal symptoms include a diet rich in phytoestrogens, avoiding things that atrophy the adrenals like energy drinks and steroids, and leading more of a stress free lifestyle.

The glands can be maintained through the same means by Western women but as a society we tend to live on energy drinks including coffee and colas, steroid use is rather common (primarily pharmaceutical steroids), and we live by the clock which just further stresses people on top of the steroids and stimulants.

We also tend to be exposed to a large number of endocrine disruptors such as the hormones in meats and dairy as well as bisphenol in plastics, DDT, PCBs, dioxins, etc in our environment. These are also lacking or rare in many other societies.

So bottom line is that we are doing more to create our own hormone imbalances than we would see if the body was taken care of properly and not being exposed to all the exogenous hormones. This is why good diets and herbs to help support the endocrine system with a diet rich in phytoestrogens and with the use of hormone supporting herbs.