It’s all about Balance!

Good Health has a lot to do with maintaining balance: the right balance of work & play; the right dietary balance, and the right balance of hormones and nutrients. The endocrine system acts as a symphony: deficiency or excess of one hormone can throw the whole body off balance.

Female Hormonal Imbalance.

Around menopause, estrogen deficiency and imbalances between the sex hormones progesterone, testosterone, and DHEA, can result in vaginal dryness, urinary frequency, depression/difficulty coping, sleep disturbances, hot flashes, bone loss, memory lapses, loss of libido and abnormal facial hair.

A relative excess of estrogen ( estrogen dominance) may interfere with thyroid function, leading to weight gain, and can put women at higher risk of breast or uterine cancer. Weight gain, especially an increase in visceral or abdominal fat, in turn leads to insulin resistance; and high levels of insulin increase the inflammatory status of the body, predisposing to cardiovascular and circulatory problems, and end organ damage ( brain, kidney, eyes).

Sometimes it is the presence of abnormal metabolites of hormones, or a shift in the ratio of certain metabolites, that are the problem ; for example: shift in the ratio of certain estrogen metabolites has also been associated with a higher incidence of breast tissue proliferation and a heightened risk of cancer.

Precise measurements of hormones through blood, saliva and urinary testing, will enable the physician to correct these imbalances and improve symptoms and wellbeing.

Andropause

The male equivalent of menopause is associated with declining levels of testosterone, and manifests as apathy, depression, grumpiness, loss of drive, forgetfulness, abdominal fat, erectile dysfunction and loss of muscle & bone mass. Maintaining the correct balance between testosterone, and its metabolites - estradiol and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) – is critical to avoiding prostatic enlargement , loss of scalp hair and male breast enlargement.

Adrenal fatigue

Prolonged or repeated exposure to stress will deplete the cortisol reserves of the adrenal gland, leading to adrenal fatigue, with symptoms of insomnia, fatigue on waking, dizziness, allergies, lower resistance to infections, and a feeling of being burned out. Conventional medicine addresses only the extremes of adrenal dysfunction- Addison's and Cushing's syndrome; dismissing the oftentimes disabling symptoms of the more subtle adrenal insufficiency, as psychosomatic illness, depression, or "chronic fatigue syndrome".

Simple salivary testing of cortisol at different points in the day, by identifying derangements in the normal biorhythms, can identify the problem, indicating possible interventions.

At The Lazer Room, Dr. Hyland address the above conditions, and other hormonal imbalances, with a combination of lifestyle interventions, conventional pharmacology, herbal supplements and Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy.

Metabolic and Nutritional medicine

The gut and the immune system are intricately related: incomplete digestion and intestinal dysbiosis can result in functional bowel disorders; while exotoxins produced by altered bacterial flora increase gut permeability, allowing the passage of small peptides that activate the immune system ,predisposing to allergies and autoimmune disorders.

Deficiencies of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty and amino acids, or the presence of toxins, depletes cellular energy, by interfering with the proper function of the mitochondria - ultimately leading to chronic fatigue and general malaise.

At The Lazer Room we get precise measurements of basal metabolic rate, body composition analysis and cardiovascular fitness testing through Memorial University, and sophisticated micronutrient, metabolic and hormonal assays through labs in the USA and Canada.

Dr. Denise Hyland received her medical degree from UCD, Dublin Ireland; is a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, (A4M ) and of the Canadian Association of Aesthetic Medicine (CAAM.) She practised family medicine for 25 years in Ireland, NL and Australia, but since 2007 is devoted exclusively to the practice of Cosmetic and Anti-Aging Medicine.