Hormones Simplified!

The topic of hormones can get very complicated.  So WE are going to keep this simple.  Here is a very basic definition of hormones that you can understand:

Hormones are chemical messengers in the body that cause other organs to do specific tasks.  Even more simply put, they are like email messages in the body.  When an ‘email’ is sent it goes to a specific ‘person’.  That person acts on what is contained in the email and a job gets done.

All the hormone organs, called endocrine glands, have to work together to get all the jobs done.  You can think of these organs and glands as instruments in an orchestra that all have to play their parts to make the beautiful symphony!  Here are the basic ‘instruments’ for this analogy: pineal, thyroid, parathyroid, heart, pancreas, adrenals, ovaries, testes.  Every orchestra has to have a conductor and the pituitary fills this role.  It is often called the ‘master hormone gland.’  It sends signals out to all the other glands giving them instructions.  But what is an orchestra without the written music to play??  The hypothalamus sits right above the pituitary in the brain and sends instructions to the pituitary.  It acts kind of like the composer.  A good composer is going to listen to the music and make changes as necessary to result in beautiful music.

Ok, so let’s see what might happen if someone doesn’t do their job:  so the flute section completely missed where they were supposed to play because the conductor didn’t signal them correctly.  A string player was used to listening for the flutes and missed their part as well.  Another player had not practiced very much and didn’t know the part and threw off their entire section!  The composer didn’t finish the French horn part and so they didn’t play at all!

If we now look at this with the endocrine organs it might look like this:  the pituitary is not doing its job correctly and so the thyroid doesn’t get the appropriate messages to complete its task and this could result in ‘hypothyroid’ symptoms.  Another example might be that the hypothalamus is not able to do its job and so the appropriate signals are not sent to the Pituitary and then that has a domino effect on all the other endocrine organs.

Because the hormones are so intertwined with each other it is actually possible to have an endocrine organ that we are attributing symptoms to but it is not the one that needs to be treated!  How many times have you heard someone say they had thyroid problems?  There are so many!  If it really is the thyroid, then treatment targeting the thyroid will provide long lasting relief.  If it is NOT really the thyroid, then the person will get either an okay response or none at all with treatment of the thyroid AND they won’t be able to go off the treatment protocol!

One of the most common complaints that I see in my office is fatigue and patients often come in saying that have thyroid or adrenal issues.  What I do is find out ‘who’ the actual problem is, not just try and silence the ‘squeaky wheel.’

My final point to discuss on hormones is who needs to have them checked.  Remember the definition above….”Hormones are chemical messengers in the body that cause other organs to do specific tasks.”  This goes way beyond just sex hormones.  This affects EVERYONE at ANY AGE.  Obviously, anyone who feels like hormones are an issue needs to have them checked but also children!  I have had several children improve leaps and bounds after we started addressing the hormone imbalance that was effecting everything from physical health complaints to hyperactivity!

Did you like this article?  Do you have a question or topic that you would like to have Dr. Smith cover? Please let her know! You can simply comment below.