8 Symptoms of a Hormone Imbalance

Are you gaining weight despite your efforts to eat less and exercise more? Is your sex drive nonexistent? These may be symptoms of a hormone imbalance.

Hormones are tiny chemicals that provide messages to your cells and organs so they know what to do. These chemicals affect and direct many bodily functions, including your metabolism, body temperature, and mood. 

A hormone imbalance disrupts these normal functions and affects your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. 

At Weston Medical Health & Wellness, our medical director, Dr. Andrea Bretal, specializes in hormone therapy. She knows how slight changes in hormone balance can lead to a range of symptoms you may dismiss as a normal part of aging. 

Here, she shares 8 symptoms that may signal a hormonal imbalance. If you see yourself in this list, perhaps it’s time to make an appointment at our office in Weston, Florida, to get things checked out. 

1. Feeling more tired than usual

Low energy and fatigue are common. But these symptoms usually have a known cause and resolve quickly. 

However, if you’re chronically tired — even after getting a good night’s rest — it may be related to your hormones. Your fatigue may be a sign that your estrogen, testosterone, or thyroid hormones are out of balance.

2. Growing waistline

Jokingly referred to as the “middle-age spread,” many people consider their growing waistline part of the normal aging process. Though that’s partly true, your extra abdominal fat increases your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is not a symptom you should take lightly.

Both men and women experience a decrease in production of their sex hormones as they get older. This includes testosterone in men and estrogen in women. These hormonal changes may be factors that contribute to your growing belly. 

As experts in weight loss, we include hormone testing for those who participate in our digital weight-loss program. Our customized hormone therapy helps our patients with a hormone imbalance reach their weight goals. 

3. Skin or hair problems

Dry skin and hair loss may also be symptoms of hormone imbalance. These problems may occur in men and women due to a decrease in their sex hormone levels. 

Itchy scaly skin is also a symptom of low thyroid hormone levels. 

4. Difficulty losing weight

Losing weight isn’t as simple as eating less and moving more. There are many factors that may affect your ability to reach your weight goals and stay there, including hormones.

Weight gain, loss of muscle mass, and difficulty losing weight are common symptoms of low estrogen and low testosterone levels. 

5. Trouble falling or staying asleep 

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder. Stress, eating too close to bedtime, and poor sleep habits are often blamed for this sleep problem. But insomnia may also be a symptom of an underlying health issue like a hormone imbalance.

Your poor sleep habits may also contribute to your chronic fatigue. 

6. Moodiness

Hormones regulate your mood. Changes in your blood hormone levels may have you feeling anxious one minute and sad the next. 

Your moodiness and hormone imbalance may also make you more irritable. 

7. Disinterest in sex

Given that testosterone and estrogen play a major role in reproduction, it may not come as too much of a surprise that low levels of these hormones may decrease your libiido. 

8. Hot flashes and night sweats

Hot flashes and night sweats affect up to 80% of women during menopause, according to Harvard Health Publishing. And these symptoms may last up to 11 years. Though not as common, some men may also experience hot flashes and night sweats from drops in male sex hormone levels.

We can’t stop the hormonal changes that occur as you get older, but our hormone therapy may help alleviate these symptoms.

To see if your symptoms are related to a hormone imbalance, call our office or request an appointment online today.