A chat for Valentine's Day about our bodies, our hormones and staying healthy for the one's you love.

1. 23/02/2012
HAPPY SEXY
HORMONES
BY
MORWENNA GIVEN
BA MA (OXON) BSC M.OHA BHG RH
MEDICAL HERBALIST
WW.MEDICUSHERBIS.COM
1
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2. 2 23/02/2012
Who am I?
oI am a Medical Herbalist
practising in downtown Toronto
treating a variety of disease
and specialising in cancer and
pre cancerous conditions. Most
of which start with hormone
imbalances
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HOW AM I TRAINED?
 I did 6 years of training in University, Hospital
and Clinic settings
 Training in the Western bio-chemical physician
model ( like an MD )
 Additional training in pharmacology,
biochemistry, phytochemistry, to treat
medical conditions with plant medicine and
to work with conventional drugs/MD’s
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WHAT IS A MEDICAL
HERBALIST?
 We use a wholistic approach to disease
 A specialist in the use of medicinal plants
to resolve disease
 Practice is based on internationally
accepted scientific evidence
 We can treat in combination with
orthodox drugs
 We treat individually & compound
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EVIDENCE BASE
 MD’s and Medical Herbalists apply their
skills using the same internationally
accepted evidence base
 Composed of peer reviewed journals,
trials, studies, observation, in vivo and in
vitro evidence most of which can be
found on the database known as
Pubmed.
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 My patient contract contains the words:
 “I may recommend walks, movies, laughter as well as
specific herbs and nutritional therapies. “
 This is apparently now acceptable - It is evidence
based!!!
 “ Laughter & therapy could go a long way for the heart” European Society of Cardiology 20ll study on
endothelial function & laughter
 ©

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HOMEOSTASIS
 Thisis the term for the body to be in
perfect equilibrium to undertake its
functions.
 UNHAPPY Hormones indicate the body is
not in equilibrium – whatever the cause
A herbalist always approaches resolving
disease by considering homeostasis
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WHAT IS A HORMONE
A substance produced in the body from a
gland
 Thyroid e.g. TSH
 They are broadly divided into 2 groups –
fat or water soluble
 And carried to other parts of the body to
elicit a response from a tissue, structure or
chemical receptor e.g. T4

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WHERE DO WE FIND THEM ?
 Hormones are found in :
 Brain & HPA & Pineal glands
 Thyroid/parathyroid/kidney
 Adrenal glands/pancreas/liver
 Ovaries/breast/uterus
 Prostate/breast
 Fat
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EACH LOCATION
HAS AN ACTION
 Pineal gland stores and releases
melatonin
 The Adrenal gland syntheses and releases
cortisol, oestrogen
 The parathyroid gland stores and releases
calcitonin
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THYROID
 This is one of the most important glands
 In Ontario subclinical hypothyroidism is endemic
 Affects all metabolic functions
 Affects the liver, immunity, sex hormones, energy
hormones, bone health
 Principal hormones are TSH, free T3 free T4
 Thyroid peroxidase
 No conventional treatment for subclinical disorder
 But I have lots of plants for this problem
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LIVER
 The most important organ of the body
 It makes cholesterol and other hormones
 Itclears and breaks down for removal
steroid hormones. (sexual and energy)
 Liver health is the key to happy hormones
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13. 13 23/02/2012
7 AGES OF MAN
 Hormones change as we change
 Men every 24hrs in women every 28 days
 If music be the food of love play on
 12th Night & Apologies to Shakespeare!
 And change again as we age
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14. 14 23/02/2012
Which ones change?
 Hormones that do not tend to change
significantly with age are:
 TSH, Cortisol, Insulin, Oestrogen in men,
 Unless
there is a lifestyle or disease
problem
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15. 15 23/02/2012
Hormones that change
 With age are:
 ACTH, FSH, SHBG, DHEA
 - the sexy hormones
 Adrenaline/noradrenaline, parathyroid,
ANP, digestive hormones, melatonin
 - The energy hormones
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FEED BACK LOOP
 Hormones operate in a feedback loop
mechanism
 Problems occur when this feed back loop
is altered/inhibited in any way.
 And creates disease
 Known as the endocrine axes =
endocrinology
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FEMALE CYCLE
Feed back loop
HPA
hcg
THYROID
PROGE
STERON
E
OESTRO
GEN
FSH/LH
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WORK IN PARTNERSHIP
 hormones do not work in isolation
 They respond to other physiological
signals
 The whole body is a jigsaw of
interconnectedness and when one
aspect is out sync then it causes dis-ease
 Adequate levels of zinc, selenium,
chromium
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CONSEQUENCES OF
UNHAPPY HORMONES
 Cancer – chronic endocrine disease
 Diabetes – insulin resistance
 Cushings - stress
 Hashimoto’s , Graves (thyroid)
 Infertility, women’s problems PMS etc.,
PCOS
 Osteoporosis,
 Insomnia
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CANCER
 The most common cancers, breast,
prostate are hormone driven
 The next most common cancers
colon/lung and driven secondarily by
hormones
 The approach of cut, burn, poison cannot
control hormones and does not address
the cause of the cancer.
 Plants can!!
©

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MALE VS FEMALE HORMONES
 OESTROGEN (3) PROGESTERONE
Fsh, Lh, prolactin, oxytocin, androgens
o TESTOSTERONE, OESTROGEN, Lh, Fsh,
androgens
©

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LIBIDO PCOS MENOPAUSE
 Problems
with these conditions can be
caused by hormones
 Libido– lack of LH, oestrogen
 PCOS – imbalance Fsh/LH, insulin
 Menopause – imbalance
oestrogen/progesterone
 ALL AFFECTED BY THYROID HORMONES

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BPH MALE INFERTILITY
ANDROPAUSE
 Benign Prostatic hyperplasia – DHT,
testosterone, oestrogen
 Infertility – LH, testosterone
 Andropause – all male hormones
 ALL AFFECTED BY THYROID HORMONES

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PLANTS
 A huge variety of plants have
applications for hormonal control – some
are Black cohorsh, Chaste berry, Dong
Quai, Red Clover, St John’s wort, Saw
palmetto, nettle each addressing various
aspects of the hormonal cycle with
different parts of the plant having a
specific effect
©

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26. 26 23/02/2012
Hormonal plants
 VITEX – Agnus Castus
 A member of the verbenaceae genus traditionally
used for menopause, fertility, dysmenorrhea, BPH,
cancer, hyperprolactaemia, PCOS, acne etc.
 It has the capacity to balance hormones at the
HPA, and is antimicrobial
 inhibits arachinadonic acid metabolism helps to
block tumour growth cox/lox pathways
 anti emetic effect thru blocking 5HTT receptors
 releases substance P potential use in anti
anxiolytic and anti inflammatory mechanisms


2009 Chen. Chinese double blind trial shows effectiveness in PMS use
2009 Mesaick. Casticin a potent anti inflammatory and immodulatory flavonoid
©
 BMJ. 2001 January 20; 322(7279): 134–137. PMCID: PMC26589
 Treatment for the premenstrual syndrome

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Synergy
 Plants have survived by
adapting to hostile
environments which has
resulted in the production
of secondary metabolites
which we use in plant
medicine.
 Plants when used
together have a greater
result than the sum of
their parts.
 Unlike conventional
medicine which is reliant
on a single
action/pathway Fitoterapia. 2011 Apr;82(3):474-80. Pharmacological
studies in an herbal drug combination of St. John's
although now some Wort (Hypericum perforatum)
recognition of multi drug and Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata): in vitro and
in vivo evidence of synergy between Hypericum and
therapies. © Passiflora . Fiebich BL et al . University of Freiburg Medical
School,

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STEROID HORMONES
 HORMONES: ARE STEROID COMPOUNDS
DERIVED INITIALLY FROM CHOLESTEROL.
 Progestins, corticosteroids, oestrogens,
androgens
 DRUGS SUCH AS STATINS & HRT interfere
with hormones and vitamin absorption
©

29. 29 23/02/2012
CHOLESTROL/STATINS
 An artificially low level of cholesterol in the
body can cause significant problems -
including diabetes; auto immune
conditions, raised pain levels
Happy hormones are hormones produced
in balanced quantities for their function in
the body
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Hormonal resolution
 The only solution that has successfully been
shown to support hormonal changes without
further issues is plants
 Synthetic hormones are not plants
 Dietary restriction. ( Fat is totally relevant)
 Drugs produce severe side effects in many
cases leading to further disease
 E.g. HRT, Avandia, statins, bisphosphonates
©

31. 31 23/02/2012
Hormonal plants
 Red Clover
A lovely sweet tasting plant which can be
used for both upper respiratory conditions
and women’s problems. Traditionally used
for skin complaints. Its phytoestrogens
have agonist and antagonist properties &
lymphatic actions
©

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CAUTIONS
 The compounds that I give do not come from
over the counter products
 Only registered herbalists may compound
and use these products which are made
under the same regulations as drugs
 If you self treat, you may cause further
problems
 Please do not confuse these plants/medicine
with supplements which by law cannot have
medically therapeutic effects.
©

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REFERENCES
 For a complete copy of all references used in
this presentation (@15 pages), please email:
mrsmg@sympatico.ca
 Please note that many peer reviewed articles
are based on supplements not whole plant
extracts e.g. Canmat 2009
 All reference material is available on
Pubmed/Science Direct
©

34. 34 23/02/2012
THANKYOU
Morwenna Given
Registered Medical Herbalist
www.medicusherbis.com ©