Here’s the thing about hormone imbalances…They are sneaky little bastards sometimes. Why, you ask? Because we often don’t know they are there at all, or they give us vague symptoms that we can easily write off as being stressed, tired, busy, hungry, thirsty…female. They’re all the things we’ve come to accept as “normal” or just a part of getting older. Here are some of the things I’m talking about:

  • Weight gain
  • Fatigue
  • Insomnia
  • Indigestion
  • Irritability
  • Headaches
  • Muscle pain
  • Dizziness

I can attest to this more than anyone. There were so many things that I was experiencing that I didn’t even count as symptoms. I would often feel dizzy, get terrible brain fog (Like, “are my synapses even firing today?” kind of brain fog), my body would hurt all over for no apparent reason, and I would get so tired in the afternoon that it felt like if I didn’t lay down immediately, I would certainly die. Okay, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic because lying down wasn’t always an option, and I’m still here, so I guess it wasn’t that bad.  But you get what I’m saying, right? 

Here’s the funny part… I 100% attributed all of my symptoms to dehydration. Which would be a totally viable explanation if I wasn’t already drinking a TON of water (with added electrolytes, no less).  It never crossed my mind to explore other causes, and certainly not my hormones, because my periods were like clockwork, and PMS wasn’t really a thing (at that time, anyway!)

The thing I think many women (myself included) forget is that hormones are involved in a lot more than our periods.

Truly, they are responsible for telling all parts of our body what to do, when to do it, and for how long. They communicate with every organ, tissue, and cell, upregulating and downregulating functions to keep the body in balance. When we look at it this way I think a better question is:  How could they not impact the way we feel?

Although annoying, the symptoms of hormone imbalance probably aren’t enough to stop you from doing your daily activities, but they definitely warrant your attention. Think of your body as an infant child. It doesn’t cry just to cry (at least for the most part).  It cries because there’s something causing discomfort or because it needs something. Do you know what happens when you ignore a crying baby? The crying gets louder and louder until you can’t take it anymore! The same thing happens to those nagging little symptoms. They cry louder, get worse, and turn into bigger problems.

You know your body better than anybody else, and if you are feeling “off” don’t ignore it.

Seek out a professional (*cough* me) to help you get to the bottom of your symptoms and get you back to feeling like yourself.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20 and with age comes wisdom, but I only wish someone would’ve told me to have my hormones checked back then. To be fair, though, I didn’t really tell anyone about my symptoms because…dehydration.