Blog — hormone imbalance

By ZRT Laboratory Consultants.  Menopause can be a confusing time for many women and their families, and as a society we tend to steer away from having open, honest conversations about this very important transition in a woman’s life. At ZRT, we aim to change that and equip all women with the tools and resources necessary to maintain optimal health during their menopause transition and after. In this post, ZRT’s Clinical Consultants tackle the most commonly asked questions and misunderstandings about menopause from patients. What Age Does Menopause Occur? Menopause is defined as the natural absence of menstrual periods for...

By Dr Kate Placzek, ZRT Laboratory We love talking about the sun! We grumble about it being hidden away behind heavy rain clouds for months at a time in the winter; we delight in the first breakthrough rays in the spring, realizing our pagan longing for it, watching, as if for the first time, as everything around us wakes up from a deep slumber; we marvel at its delightful, almost intoxicating warmth in the early summer; and yes, we find it irritating when the temperature goes a dash over 80 degrees, or if stays too hot for too long into...

By Candace Burch, ZRT Laboratory If you cannot figure out why you are gaining weight or can no longer shed pounds easily like you used to – despite your best efforts to eat right, exercise, and take your vitamins every morning– you might be walking around with a hormone imbalance that has you hardwired to put on pounds. Even when we think we’re being healthy, hormonal triggers to unwanted weight gain are too often neglected or overlooked. Testing can help you find the answer. But in the meantime, let’s boil this down to the collective wisdom on eight big culprits...

Weight management is a topic that generates a lot of questions and hormone imbalance is one of them, so I've answered 10 of the most frequently asked questions that arise when patients start to think about getting tested. Let's jump in... 1. Why do postmenopausal women gain weight? What are the hormone imbalances that trigger this?Women of any age can have a hormone imbalance that causes them to gain, but those over 50 often find that the end of periods marks the beginning of weight problems. In the absence of ovulation, deficiencies of progesterone create a relative surplus of estrogen...

Most hormones are produced by a group of glands known collectively as the endocrine system. Even though these glands are located in various parts of the body, they are considered one system because of their similar functions and relationship to each other. Hormones are secreted into the bloodstream by these glands. From there, they travel to all parts of the body playing the role of chemical messengers turning specific target tissues on or off. Because they can’t be stored in the cells, hormones do their work as they pass through and then they’re gone. As a result, hormones must be...