Dearest Reader,

This information is for educational purposes only and not intended to diagnose or highlight imperfections. You've likely landed here following your results of my quiz at YourHormoneQuiz.com. No matter what you discover in these results, you're beautiful and perfect as you are. You're good enough and trying hard enough. We're all unique and will experience hormonal shifts differently. This information is here to highlight that, despite what we've been told, we're not just little men — our bodies work differently — and if our hormones have us feeling less than our best, we absolutely can do something about it. My aim is to support and empower you on your journey, where you need and want it. Take what you need, leave what you don't. No judgement here, just good honest support.

XO, Laurie

High Testosterone

High testosterone might have you feeling motivated and in charge but also moody, irritable, or aggressive. You could be noticing acne, hair loss on your head but gaining it in unwanted places, changes in your libido or a deepening of your voice.

Cortisol, thyroid, and insulin hormones could also have a part to play.

Different ways our testosterone hormones get turned up:

High testosterone is multifactorial and women often arrive at it for multiple reasons, not just one. Some of these reasons could be:

• Taking DHEA or testosterone
• Taking steroid medications
• Low sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG)
• Poor diet, high in processed or packaged foods and low in nutrient density
• Inadequate diet for your body type, activity level or current hormone status
• Nutrient deficiencies
• PCOS
• Stress or adrenal disorders
• Inadequate sleep for body type, activity level or current hormone status
• Adrenal or ovarian tumor or inherited disorder (congenital adrenal hyperplasia)
• Sluggish liver clearance of testosterone
• Insulin resistance
• And more…

Aromatase is an enzyme that causes estrogen to be converted into testosterone. Aromatase is increased in the presence of insulin. Insulin is secreted by the pancreas in the presence of an increase in blood sugar levels. Too carb-heavy of a diet or diets that spike your insulin levels can cause hormone imbalance, albeit indirectly.

High testosterone might look like:

• Skin problems such as acne or greasy skin
• Infertility
• Thinning head hair or other hair loss
• Oily hair
• Rogue hair growth on face, arms, chest
• Skin tags
• Deepening voice
• Increased muscle mass
• Increased body odor
• An enlarged clitoris
• Ovarian cysts
• High blood pressure
• Blood sugar issues
• Prolonged period, often lasting longer than 5 days
• Or infrequent periods
• Trouble sleeping, falling asleep or staying asleep
• Depression or anxiety
• Infertility or miscarriage
• Insulin resistance and increased risk of type 2 diabetes
• (Enlarged prostate in men)

Testosterone imbalance will present itself differently in different women. You might find you have a few or many of the above symptoms while someone else could have completely different ones. We’re all wonderfully unique.

When testosterone goes high, it greatly impacts other hormones, including our sex hormone, our stress hormones as well as our hormones that control our metabolism. 

A few key roles of testosterone in our body:

• Helps maintenance and growth of bones
• Supports a healthy libido
• Helps balance body fat and build lean muscle
• Helps maintain vaginal health
• May support cardiovascular health

When testosterone goes high, it greatly impacts other hormones, including our sex hormone, our stress hormones as well as our hormones that control our metabolism.

What we can do about high testosterone

Getting to the root cause is essential. For many, this could mean dealing balancing blood sugar and insulin as well as stress.

Restoring balance of high testosterone most often requires reestablishing a strong foundation with a supportive diet and lifestyle for your body type, activity level, current hormone status and goals.

Reducing your total stress load is key while nourishing your neuroendocrine system with stress reducing and stress managing practices, such as improving sleep, optimizing nutrition and type of exercise, shifting mindset and unsupportive thought patterns, and sometimes targeted supplementation.

Not sure where to start?

Here are 3 easy and free ways you can get started right now:

1. Reduce or eliminate refined carbohydrates and work toward a blood-sugar balancing diet that’s lower in carbs.
2. Upgrade your sleep quality and quantity to match your stress levels and lifestyle, as well as syncing up your sleep and light exposure (especially blue light) with the daylight hours.
3. Book a call with me. See below.

Check out this post for even more ways to get your hormones back in harmony.

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, manage, or treat disease or serious conditions. Always check with your doctor before making any changes. It's important to consult a well-informed health practitioner for personal advice about your situation before relying on general information — we're all wonderfully unique.