Women’s Hormone Health in Elkhorn & Omaha

Women’s Hormonal Imbalance, an Overview

A hormone imbalance means your body is making too much or too little of one or more hormones. Hormones are chemical messengers. They travel through your blood and help run your metabolism, your sleep, your mood, and your monthly cycle. The Cleveland Clinic notes that scientists have found more than 50 of them in the human body. The Office on Women’s Health explains that estrogen and progesterone drive the menstrual cycle, which is part of why a hormone shift often shows up in your period first.

Women come to our Elkhorn office after being told their labs look fine. Some were put on birth control as teenagers for an irregular cycle and never found out why it was irregular. Others can’t point to one thing. They just know they don’t feel 100 percent, and that’s what brings them in. Many have also been told that cramping, bloating, and PMS are just part of being a woman. As Dr. Julie puts it, “Though it’s common, it’s not normal.”

Your hormones don’t work in isolation. Sleep, stress, food, and how hard you push your body all feed into them, and a thyroid or gut problem can look like a hormone problem from the outside. Nothing gets recommended here until we see your numbers.

Where are you right now?

Perimenopause & Menopause

Hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, low energy, or sleep that’s fallen apart.
Read more on how we support perimenopause and menopause.

Irregular Periods & Cycle Problems

Cycles that are irregular, missing, or won’t stop. Trouble getting back on track after birth control.

Planning a Pregnancy

Getting your body, and your partner’s, ready before you start trying.

Pregnant Now

Webster-certified chiropractic care for a more comfortable pregnancy.
Explore prenatal chiropractic care.

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What throws women’s hormones off?

These are the drivers we see most often.

Stress and Cortisol

We’re a very high-stress society. Most of us spend our days in “fight or flight” mode. That shows up in cortisol, your main stress hormone. When cortisol is off, your energy, sleep, and other hormones often follow.

Years on Birth Control

Ten to fifteen years ago, many teens were put on birth control for acne or irregular cycles. It can quiet the symptoms without ever finding the cause. Dr. Julie calls it a band-aid. Some women stop after many years and wait a long time for a normal cycle. One of our patients came off birth control after 14 years and still didn’t have a regular cycle almost a year later.

Pushing Your Body Too Hard

We see this in high school athletes and dancers. Some aren’t eating enough for how hard they train. Others are well fed but pushing to the extreme. Either way, it’s a lot of stress on the body, and the body starts shutting things down. Losing your period is often one of the first signs.

Sleep and Melatonin

Melatonin is the hormone that helps you fall asleep. Some women don’t make it at the right times of day. If it’s still high in the morning, you wake up groggy because your body thinks it’s not time to get up yet. Late workouts and screens at night can make it harder to produce melatonin when you need it.

Inflammation

Inflammation drives a lot of what we see. Food sensitivities and diet can keep it going. Sometimes what looks like a hormone problem also involves the thyroid, including Hashimoto’s.

Normal Life Changes

Hormone levels shift at every stage of life, from the teen years through pregnancy and into perimenopause. Each shift brings its own symptoms, and a shift that lands on top of high stress or poor sleep usually causes more trouble.

Most women have more than one of these going on. That’s why we test before we recommend anything. We won’t typically recommend hormone supplements until we’ve seen your results.

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How We Test Women’s Hormones

We start broad, then narrow in on what your symptoms point to.

Full Blood Panel
More than 90 markers, which is more than your typical practitioner would run. It includes inflammation markers, vitamin D, thyroid, and autoimmune markers.

Food Sensitivity Test
We run this on every functional medicine patient. Foods you eat every day, even healthy ones, can drive inflammation.

Saliva Hormone Test
If you have hormone symptoms, we recommend a saliva hormone test. It measures cortisol at four points in the day and melatonin at three, along with your sex hormones.

Why saliva? Saliva shows what’s getting into the tissues where the body’s going to use it, versus what’s floating around in the blood. There’s a place for both. We find it gives a better picture.

Some women choose to wait on this test for budget reasons. That’s your call. Just know the hormone side of your plan will be limited until we have those results.

Neurotransmitter Test
If anxiety, depression, or mood changes are part of the picture, we’ll run a urine test to see how your brain chemicals are doing. Sometimes we run it alongside the hormone test.

GI Stool Test
If you’re dealing with bloating, constipation, or diarrhea, this shows what’s happening in your gut.

Optimal ranges, not just “normal.” Standard lab ranges are wide. You usually have to fall outside them before anyone diagnoses you or prescribes something. We use narrower optimal ranges, so we can catch problems earlier and get you feeling your best.

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How We Help Balance Your Hormones Naturally

Your plan is built from your results. These are the tools we draw on:

• Functional medicine:
  A plan built from your labs. Dr. Julie spends about three hours creating each one, and no two patients get the same supplements.
• Targeted supplements:
  Chosen from your test results, not a one-size-fits-all list.
• Diet and lifestyle changes:
  An anti-inflammatory way of eating, and removing foods your test shows you’re sensitive to.
• Chiropractic care:
  Adjustments settle the nervous system down, which tends to help sleep and digestion.
• Sleep support:
  Habits that help you make melatonin at the right time: dimmer lights, fewer screens late, and workouts earlier in the day.
• Exercise that fits your cycle:
  Some stretches of your cycle are for pushing hard, and others are for backing off. We’ll show you how to time it.
• Acupuncture:
  Used alongside the rest of your plan for stress and sleep.
• Referrals when needed:
  If your labs show a possible red flag, we’ll refer you to an endocrinologist for a second opinion.

Not sure where to start? We’ll figure that out together. Most women use a mix of these.

Low Testosterone in Women

Testosterone matters for women too, and we see a lot of low testosterone in the women we test. We can usually get it up to where it needs to be with supplements.

Planning a Pregnancy? Start 6 to 12 Months Ahead

More women are coming in to get their bodies ready before trying to conceive. We recommend starting 6 to 12 months ahead, for both partners.

As Dr. Julie puts it, “A lot of the blame gets put on the female, but his part is important too.” Checking and supporting both of you gives you the best start. Once you’re pregnant, our pregnancy chiropractic care can help you stay comfortable. For your partner, see Men’s Health.

What to Expect

Your first appointment is a full hour. You’ll leave with lab orders, get your blood drawn at a local lab, and come back about two weeks later to go over your results and your plan.

How long until I feel better?
It depends on what we find, and on how much of the plan you’re able to follow. Some women respond quickly. One of our patients had gone more than two months without a cycle, and it returned soon after she started a couple of supplements. Long-standing issues like chronic fatigue can take a year or more. We track your progress and adjust as we go.

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Patient Reviews

“I have more energy, less fatigue, and feel more productive overall.”

Kim K., Google review

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