Incapacitating hormone balance by smoking

May 29, 2017

Incapacitating hormone balance by smoking

Incapacitating hormone balance by smoking: Nicotine irritability

There is no doubt that nicotine is harmful to human health. Everybody knows this. However, what many women may not know is that besides all the risk like heart complications, lung conditions, several cancers and osteoporosis, cigarette smoking is also incapacitating hormone balance. Many women are the concern with other problems like how cigarette affects their beauty, fatigue and nutrient depletion because that is what can be physically seen outright. All that has been mention are closely associated with cigarette smoking but for the purpose of this article, we want to look at how nicotine causes hormone imbalances. According to experts from AWAREmed Health and Wellness Resource Center, several research has established that premenopausal women who smoke have the higher risk of infertility, complications during the menstrual cycle and even get into early menopause. Besides that, it is also becoming evident that cigarette smoking also affects menopausal hormones.

Incapacitating hormone balance by smoking: Why you need to quit smoking

What is stated above is just a drop in the ocean when it comes to the risks associated with smoking. Therefore the evidence of how bad smoking is to your health is very overwhelming. And just a quick reminder, your consistent morning cough should alert you of the damage smoking is causing to your lungs. Remember that every stick of cigarette robes you off the much-needed energy in your body’s daily needs.

Quitting smoking will, therefore, enable you to keep your hormones well balanced. And when this is achieved, you will experience more mood stability and put to check your weight. Remember that even using nicotine patches and gum instead of smoking will help, because the chemicals added to cigarette tobacco and created by burning tobacco are thought to be those responsible for most of the negative side effects. In other words, it’s not the nicotine itself that’s so very harmful, it’s the delivery system. You can choose today to be free from all these challenges by calling doctor Dalal Akoury MD for a more professional direction about all the addictive elements of cigarette smoking and how it sabotages hormone balance.

Incapacitating hormone balance by smoking: Menopausal women

In menopausal women, cigarette smoking raises adrenal hormones such as cortisol (a stress hormone), and androgens (male hormones) such as androstenedione and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). Chronically high cortisol levels create unstable blood sugar, which in turn causes high blood glucose and insulin which stimulates the ovaries to produce androgens. It, therefore, means that in a menopausal woman, the ovaries have slackened in the production of estrogen and progesterone, nonetheless, the production of androgens can continue well into her eighties. Androgens without the balance of estrogen and progesterone are the source of much-dreaded hair loss and whiskers in older women and cigarette smoking magnifies these effects.

Quitting smoking, combined with strategies to balance hormones such as bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT), stress management, exercise, and reduction of sugar and refined carbohydrates, has dramatic potential to improve overall health, stabilize mood, increase energy, increase weight loss and improve sleep and that explains why you need to quit smoking now if not immediately.

Incapacitating hormone balance by smoking: Nicotine irritability

Sex Addiction Stress, and Stress

May 25, 2015

Stress, Sex And Addiction: Roles Of Corticotrophin Releasing Factor, Oxytocin And Arginine- Vasopressin In Sex Addiction Stress.

Sex Addiction Stress

Stress sensitivity and sex are predictive factors for the development of neuropsychiatric conditions. it has been thought stresses are the sole cause for addiction but this isn’t true since triggers can also cause relapse to drug use. Sex Addiction Stress and stress involve similar pathways.

The development and clinical course of addiction-related disorders do appear to involve neuroadaptations within neurocircuitries that modulate stress responses and are influenced by several neuropeptides. These include corticotropin-releasing factor, the prototypic member of this class, as well as oxytocin and arginine-vasopressin that play important roles in affiliative behaviors. Interestingly, these peptides function to balance emotional behavior, with sexual dimorphism in the oxytocin/arginine-vasopressin systems, a fact that might play an important role in the differential responses of women and men to stressful stimuli and the specific sex-based prevalence of certain addictive disorders.

Stress and Sex Addiction Stress

Stress generally is defined as any stimulus that challenges physiological homeostasis—that is, which alters the balance or equilibrium of the normal physiological state of the organism.

Individuals exposed to chronic stress exhibit a higher propensity to become addicts. Stress-induced relapse is also higher in addicts. In general, there is a higher prevalence of addiction in patients diagnosed with anxiety disorders and depression. Additionally, childhood trauma is associated with increased vulnerability to addiction. Exposure to high peer deviance in childhood and adolescence is among the strongest known risk factors for drug use and drug abuse. Interestingly, a very recent study has found that individuals with increased risks of drug addiction because of parental divorce or genetic liability are more sensitive to the pathogenic effects of peer deviance.

Stress and addiction are interconnected in several ways. For example, stressful life events may predispose individuals to engage in addictive behavior or relapse.

Sex Addiction Stress

Epidemiological studies have observed significant sex- specific differences among patients suffering from addiction and other neuropsychiatric disorders. The onset, severity, clinical course, and treatment response of anxiety disorders also differ significantly in women compared to men. Importantly, the sex bias in neuropsychiatric disorders, including post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), remains even after adjusting for the type of trauma, pre-existing psychiatric disorders, and sex differences in reporting. Several studies have found increased prevalence of depression in women. Similar sex differences exist for addictive disorders. For example, more adult males abuse addictive drugs than females across most drug classes, including alcohol, psychostimulants, and narcotics. However, women develop addiction more quickly. There are also critical differences in the way that illicit substances affect the two sexes.

Men and women also show different propensities to relapse, and are differentially affected by triggers for relapse to drug taking, putting women at greater risk for repeated relapses despite the higher prevalence of drug abuse in men. Interestingly, once the addiction cycle resumes, women show longer periods of drug use before their next quit attempt.

The sex differences may also be a result of hormonal and neural differences between men and women in relationship to their response to the addictive behavior.

Corticotropin-releasing factor and Sex addiction Stress.

CRF is a 41-amino acid-containing neuropeptide. CRF orchestrates the stress response by acting at the level of the pituitary to initiate the HPA axis response to stress, as well as centrally to modulate limbic and brain monoamine systems that are important in autonomic and behavioral components of the stress response. CRF causes its effects by stimulation of corticotropin-releasing factor 1 receptor (CRF1R) and CRF2R, and displays an 18-fold greater affinity for CRF1R than CRF2R.

Physiological responses to stress involve the release of CRF from the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus, followed by stimulation of ACTH release from the anterior pituitary. ACTH, in turn, stimulates the secretion of cortisol/corticosterone from the adrenal glands. In addition, CRF has an extensive extrahypothalamic influence across the corticostriatal-limbic regions, and plays a critical role in modulating subjective and behavioral stress responses. Central catecholamines, particularly noradrenaline and dopamine, are involved in modulating brain motivational pathways that are important in regulating distress, exerting cognitive and behavioral control, and tempering behavioral and cognitive responses critical for adaptation and homeostasis. The hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic CRF pathways and central catecholamines target brain motivational path- ways to critically affect adaptive and homeostatic processes. CRF dysregulation has been linked to the pathophysiology of mood and anxiety disorders. During stress, release of limbic CRF can modulate monoamine systems that have been implicated in mood and cognition. Although activation of both the HPA axis and central monoaminergic systems by CRF during acute stress is adaptive, the inappropriate or persistent activation of these systems can have adverse consequences leading to psychopathology.

Oxytocin and arginine-vasopressin in Sex addiction Stress

Sex addiction Stress and stress

Cells originating in the PVN have specific pathways that efficiently deliver OXY to other structures in the brain including the amygdala, BNST, septum, hippocampus, and NAc. OXY released by peripheral organs or by the posterior pituitary does not readily cross the blood–brain barrier, with only 1–2% crossing. In disparity, the local expression of OXY receptors is highly variable and explains differences in social attachment within and between species. OXY exerts anxiolytic and anti- depressive effects in various models.

OXY, in collaboration with hormone dopamine, is vital for pairing and bonding in prairie voles. When OXY is infused into the VTA, it increases dopaminergic activity in the NAc, and stimulation of oxytocinergic projections within the VTA increases extracellular DA within the NAc while concurrently inducing penile erection. OXY-induced dopaminergic release within the meso- limbic DA system may impact the attribution of incentive salience to a variety of social stimuli and ultimately influence an organism’s drive towards such objects thus causing addiction.

Sex Addiction Stress is a menace that should be fought by all means that is why we at Integrative Addiction Institute are committed to availing help to addicts and offering training to Health care providers in Integrative Addiction. Call on Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) today for assistance.

Stress And Sex Addiction Stress: Roles Of Corticotrophin Releasing Factor, Oxytocin And Arginine- Vasopressin In Sex Addiction.

The Neurochemistry of Female Sex Addiction

May 3, 2015

The Neurochemistry of Female Sex Addiction

Female sex addiction Sex addiction is a problem that many people are battling with in the US and the world over. However in the past it was thought that men were the main victims of sex addiction but research has since proved that this is a lie as women are more prone to this vice as opposed to women. Another factor that makes women more of victims is the fact that generally society has always associated women who are addicted to sex as sluts while men who are addicted to sex are often thought as studs. The reality of the matter however is, both genders are at a loss when addicted but what makes it easier for men to find help is the fact that they are free and can express their problems when addressed by their therapists and this openness helps them find help. On the other hand, women afraid of all the negative tittles they will be associated are often afraid to open up and let the problem be known and this will manifest in various behavioral changes.

Orgasm and dopamine

Most people who engage in sex for recreational purposes are often in pursuit for the highest sexual climax otherwise known as orgasm. According Wilhelm Reich orgasm naturally helps in discharge of excess bio-energy with the additional liberation of feeling energy, and he also recognized the negative consequences of blocked sexual energies. However it’s quite unfortunate that in addition to exciting peaks, orgasms tend to produce powerful negative side-effects that are only now becoming better understood. This is due to predictable trends in hormonal activity which seem to be similar in all mammals to ensure certain evolutionary objectives, especially the wide mixing of gene pools and the safe raising of offspring. This is achieved with the following neurochemical changes.

As expected there are hormones that come to play; dopamine, the reward hormone; prolactin, the hormone of satiation; oxytocin, the cuddle hormone, and levels of androgen receptors, which all powerfully affect our mood, our desire for intimacy, our perception of our mate, as well as our susceptibility to addictive activities and substances. These hormones can also have different but generally related functions.

The levels of dopamine will abruptly fall and this will induce the usual withdrawal symptoms. The fall of dopamine is rather immediate in men while it takes time in women to occur. As the level of dopamine falls the level of prolactin will heighten and the androgen receptors fall after orgasm. Low testosterone in women is associated with irritability and anger. In sexually-satiated rats it has been shown that serotonin and endorphin levels also rise, and this also decreases dopamine and raises prolactin levels. Oxytocin levels fall after conventional orgasm but remaining in close contact may help to counter this drop and sustain oxytocin levels. It is the fall of dopamine to the lows that is associated with all the withdrawal effects and women, deprived of affection will engage in sex repeatedly to enjoy the magical bliss of dopamine heights during sex especially at orgasm. This is a ‘high’ that is often compared to the feeling those using drugs of pleasure often crave.

Apart from behavioral changes a female addict will suffer from disturbed hormone equilibrium that may last for a week or two, a period in which she will be battling these side effects; being more irritable, dissatisfied, and anxious or depressed. This is exactly the same process and length of time prolactin levels need to recover during withdrawal from cocaine.

Another stimulant that is involved in sex is the phenylethylamine (PEA). PEA is also present in cocoa and chocolate and elevates energy, mood and attention. PEA is produced in greater amounts when one is in love and when this stimulant is in low levels, a person will feel unhappy and deprived.

as mentioned in earlier article, most women get addicted to sex while in pursuit of love and affection, When a woman first fall in love she becomes bonded by rising PEA, oxytocin and dopamine levels .When she is are sexually aroused by close contact her dopamine level rises further and at the time of orgasm she will have a dopamine brainstorm which one researchers have compared to the effects of heroin on the brain. Dopamine is active in all addictions, even in people who have forgotten what sex is. Most of this activity is in the limbic system, the oldest part of the brain.

What causes addiction in women?

Female sex addiction The honest truth is that what causes sex addiction women is until now poorly understood but researchers have pointed fingers at childhood neglect or abuse, such as physical or emotional abandonment or other forms of trauma. Most of females who are sex addicts are reported to have experienced sex abuse as children. Early child abuse of nearly any kind can impair a child’s ability to bond in healthy ways as an adult, leading to chronic relationship intimacy issues that can eventually morph into sexual addiction.

Research suggests that there’s also a strong neurochemical component to both eating disorders and sexual addiction. One can become addicted to the potent neurochemical rush that occurs during an exciting sexual or romantic encounter. This neurobiological blend includes highly satisfying dopamine as well as adrenaline, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. Women suffering from emotional or psychological issues such as depression or anxiety and from childhood trauma or profound trauma as an adult can unconsciously use this neurochemical response to cope with stress and painful emotions. Compulsively reliving or re-enacting the pleasurable fantasies and experiences sets up an addictive cycle of using sex and sexual fantasies to control intensely painful emotions.

Finally, sex addiction is not a light matter. It’s a problem that is still holding many women captives .This problem needs to be treated effectively through integrative medicine. Dr. Dalal Akoury (MD) is an expert at this. Call her on (843) 213-1480 for help.

The Neurochemistry of Female Sex Addiction

Vitamin D as a Seasonal Stress Hormone

May 3, 2015

Vitamin D as A Kind of “Seasonal Stress Hormone,” Chronobiological Stress Hormones.

The benefits that a person can draw from vitamin D are too much to be listed. We know that one of the reasons that make people bask in the sun is to help in the synthesis of this crucial vitamin. Without this vitamin there are several ailments that a person is bound to suffer from. Basic knowledge of vitamin D is that it helps in strengthening bones of teeth but it has far more benefits that many people have never known of, one of its many benefits is that it is a chronobiological Stress Hormone

Vitamin D as a Chronobiological Stress Hormone

If you haven’t taken to basking in the sun seriously, it is time you need to begin doing so for as Alexander Wunsch has it, vitamin D is a kind of “seasonal stress hormone,” explaining that chronobiological stress hormones such as adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and adrenaline-cortisol hormone blends are what enable you to get up in the morning, and help regulate the blood sugar concentration in your body, just to name a couple of their functions. According to Wunsch, Vitamin D has greater importance that if the sun would stop shining then very many creatures will lose life.

the sun should shine but we have summer and winter among other crucial seasons, in these seasons the body ought to balance the thermal energy so as to ensure optimal health, during the summer the main focus of the body is to concentrate on cooling down the system while during the winter the focus of the body is to concentrate on heating the system. Therefore it is prudent for a person to bask in the sun during the summer, laying naked in the sun as that’s the best way to get more of the light, digest enough of the energy that is eventually is transformed into thermal energy.

As it has been taught, learnt and rehearsed, vitamin D has very vital functions for our health. There is need for this crucial hormone to ensure that our systems perform optimally. Our bodies are dependent on this crucial vitamin that is sourced from nature’s shine. The need for this crucial vitamin can’t be erased by the fact that some of us are not fortunate enough to live in areas where there is perpetual sunshine but are rather barred by cold weather from getting adequate sun exposure. it is therefore required of people in this areas to eat foods that are rich in Vitamin D to help in its supplementation but whenever there is a slight chance to bask in the sun, the chance should be utilized as the sun is the best source of vitamin D. in other scenarios when the lack of this vitamin may cause to even bigger health risks, it is advisable for the victim to seek Sun therapy.

Heliotherapy

Heliotherapy is a better idea to help equip the body impoverished of vitamin D. heliotherapy involves exposing oneself to sunlight or UV light from sources which are safe. exposure to sunlight may expose you to risk of skin cancer as have been taught but the intensity that cause cancer is rarely actualized, therefore it is prudent to say that the benefits that you can draw from basking in the sun far outweighs the risks. In the past before the risk of cancer began scaring us, the sun therapy was already being used to treat such diseases as rickets, tuberculosis and other diseases caused by vitamin D deficiency. Risk or no risk we need to accept the reality that we need sun at certain dosages and levels to ensure that our systems are working efficiently without flaws.

There is something that many people have never known; your capillaries are modified under the sun and that the skin is linked to the autonomic nervous system, vitamin D is also a seasonal stress hormone popularly known as a chronobiological stress hormone. This is a phenomenon that needs no rocket science to be proven; if you are keen you will realize that after basking in the sun your stress levels go down and this is not the only benefit, there is more you will gain when you look far beyond the UVB portion of the spectrum. The UVB helps in synthesis of vitamin D.

According to Wunsch the sun is a life giver; “We all should be aware of the fact that when the sun was to stop shining, nothing would be alive in two or three days on this planet,” Wunsch says.

“When we are eating, we are eating transformed light. We can prove this scientifically, as you know. I think even if we are not able to estimate the influence light has on our biological system as a whole, it starts on the single cell level and it ends in our consciousness, in our mental functions. Light is a symbol in our culture, which will always be our companion.” he concludes

From what we have gathered in research findings and the massive research work by Alexander wunsch we can conclude that vitamin D is a crucial part of our health and is also a therapy for seasonal stress. Basking in the sun helps relieve stress and therefore there is lots of reason in concluding that vitamin D, the sunshine hormone is seasonal stress hormone that everybody should consider supplementing.

Vitamin D as A Kind of “Seasonal Stress Hormone,” Chronobiological Stress Hormones.

Dihydroepiandrosterone Replacement, DHEA -The Mother of All Hormones

January 27, 2015

Dihydroepiandrosterone Replacement, DHEA -The Mother of All Hormones)

Dihydroepiandrosterone or as commonly referred to as DHEA is the most abundant hormone that occurs naturally in the human body. It is referred to as the mother of all hormones because it is responsible for all metabolisms in the body. The hormone is manufactured in the brain and adrenal glands.

The levels of DHEA are highest in the fetus stage and continue to increase until a person is at the age of 30. Afterward, the level begins to drop rapidly as the person continues to age. This decline is the one that enhances the aging process. Studies show that by the time we are 70 the level of DHEA production reduces to around 10% less of what we used to produce when we were younger. The work of this hormone is to support as well as to regulate the functioning of other hormones in the immune system.

Dihydroepiandrosterone Replacement, DHEA

Given that DHEA is very critical for the normal functioning of other cells, if anything goes wrong with the hormone all other hormones are affected. If the level of DHEA declines, it means that its functions cease to balance. In this case, this imbalance brings about an imbalance of all other hormones like estrogen, progesterone, cortisol and testosterone. Hormonal imbalances lead to medical conditions like depression, low sex drive, and anxiety among others.

Facts about DHEA

DHEA is used by the body to produces sex hormones such as progesterone, testosterone, estrogen and cortisol. In addition to this, the hormone is also responsible in regulating the levels of insulin and cholesterol in the body. If the levels of insulin and cholesterol increase beyond normal, then there is bound to be inevitable damage in the body leading to health conditions like obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease. It also decreases the risk of cancer and diabetes in addition to enhancing the immune system. It also prevents the breast cancer in women in premenopausal stage and in men prostate cancer.

DHEA is probably the most important hormone in the body. It plays a crucial role in metabolism and is the foundation of sex hormones in both women and men. It is basically responsible for the normal functioning of our bodies. It is a precursor hormone which means that it is responsible for the production and normal functioning of other hormones in the body. It is surely the mother of all hormones because without it, the other hormones would be useless or they would not even exist.

DHEA is responsible for maintaining a balance in the metabolism process. It does this by enhancing loss of excess fats, increasing tissue mass, and enhancing formation of new bones as well as inhibiting their degeneration.

DHEA DHEA replacement therapy is performed on patients with low levels of the hormone. When this level declines as we have seen the balance of other hormones is offset. Mostly patients will come in with symptoms of hormonal imbalances. The test is performed by an expert who runs a couple of tests to find out the level of DHEA. When done correctly, the replacement therapy helps restore the hormonal imbalance and reverses symptoms associated with this condition. When combined with the right diet and regular exercises, DHEA is crucial in restoring hormonal balance.

It is also effective in reversing conditions caused by hormonal imbalances such as impaired memory and concentration ability, loss of lean muscles, depression and reduced focus which most people take as conditions associated with old age and therefore inevitable.

Factors that may cause DHEA levels to decline

Diet: First of all our diet plays a major role in our well-being. What you eat translates to the health of your body. Eating a balanced diet works miracles in preventing hormonal imbalances. Lack of exercise will also increase your chances or hormonal imbalance.

Toxics: toxic compounds such as pesticides and herbicides find their way into our body systems either through the food we eat or the water we drink. These compounds are known to offset hormonal imbalances like DHEA.

Stress: this is one of the major factors that may throw your hormones completely off balance. When DHEA is affected by stress that means that the production of cortisol that is supposed to help you deal with the situation is not produced efficiently.

Importance of adequate levels of DHEA

When the hormone DHEA is in adequate levels, it leads to restoration of lean muscles, improved memory, increased stamina, improves the fat ratio, increased testosterone levels, increased concentration and focus among others. All these functions make DHEA the ultimate mother of all hormones because it has direct effect on the production and functions of other hormones.

Find out more about DHEA by visiting www.awaremednetwork.com today. Get your healing through the expert advice of Dr. Akoury who has helped thousands of patients get back on their feet. She has years of experience in the field of medicine. AwareMed provides you with not only information about illnesses but we also help you solve them.

Dihydroepiandrosterone Replacement, DHEA -The Mother of All Hormones)

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