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Hormones: Basics

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Hormones: Basics
Hormones: Basics

My friend said he is getting hormone shots.  Do I need them?

That is a loaded question because there isn’t just one hormone; your body makes tons of different kinds of hormones!  A hormone is any protein made in one place in your body, called a gland, that only works somewhere else in the body.  They’re like mail carriers.  For example, the thyroid gland makes a few different hormones, but the gland itself doesn’t do anything else.  It just sits there sending out mail.  The thyroid hormones (there are a few) hop a ride in the blood stream and drop off a message at the organ your thyroid is trying to talk to.  The organ hooks up with the hormone and then does whatever it was told to do by the thyroid gland.  Make sense?

Your body has tons of glands.  Glands, glands everywhere!  Sending out hormones.  For example, adrenaline goes from a gland on the kidney to lots of places making you feel pumped up.  Your brain releases a hormone to tell your thyroid to make, well, a different kind of thyroid hormone (that one’s weird).  Your pancreas makes insulin, which acts on cells to store or drop sugar/fat.  In fact, diabetes is usually caused by failures in the gland or end cells, not the messenger (insulin).  So many glands!  So many hormones!

And birth control pills.  They are just a combination of hormones that stop sperm from making it to the egg and the uterus from accepting an egg.  A gland in the brain sends hormones to tell the ovaries to release eggs and other hormones to make the uterus ready to hold that egg if it’s fertilized.  So, unlike some people think, birth control pills do not kill babies.  Once that egg meets sperm and attaches, a baby is coming no matter how long the mom takes the pills.

But what about those shots?  When people say “hormone shots”, they usually mean the sex hormone testosterone.  Testosterone is thought by a lot of guys to help them …. Perform sexually.  The evidence shows, though, that it is only good for increasing libido; it does nothing once things get going.  And, it only works if you’re actually low; taking more testosterone than your body needs does nothing.  So I hope your buddy got his levels checked before starting shots or else he’s just wasting a lot of money.

There you have it.  There are hundreds of hormones in your body, all going from one organ to another, doing different things, keeping you in balance.  So the next time someone says they’re getting hormones, ask them which ones.

If you want to talk about hormones (probably yours, not the science), come see me!  I’m here to help with whatever you need.  www.First-Priority-MC.com