hormones and rheumatoid arthritis

[dianne-sunshinecoast]

hi all- i was wondering if anyone knows if there is a connection , as well as other causes, with imbalance of hormones with rheumatoid arthritis? ..kind regards ..di. i heard from alady the other day who said years ago she heard of of a doctor who always tested your hormone levels if rheumatoid was suspected?

[Maz]

@dianne-sunshinecoast wrote:

hi all- i was wondering if anyone knows if there is a connection , as well as other causes, with imbalance of hormones with rheumatoid arthritis? ..kind regards ..di. i heard from alady the other day who said years ago she heard of of a doctor who always tested your hormone levels if rheumatoid was suspected?

Yes, most definitely. Commonly, there are overlaps with other “autoimmune diseases,” like thyroid disease. The endocrine system was once described to me as a ‘finely tuned orchestra’ and when one endocrine (instrument) was knocked out of balance, the whole orchestra sounds bad. One thing about hormones is that they are steroidal in nature…and, when ovarian hormones are out of whack, such as post-partum when the highly elevated hormones of pregnancy crash, some amount of natural immune-suppression is lost. This maternal immune suppression is important in pregnancy to prevent fetal rejection. Many women develop RA post-partum, but also during menopause when hormones are fluctuating erratically.

Clearly, if the thyroid is knocked out and goes hypo (which can mimic symptoms of RA), then re-balancing the thyroid with replacement thyroid hormone is essential to maintain metabolic health (heart,bones, etc). Adrenals can also be shot, especially if prednisone has been used and caused these glands to shut down. There is some debate about whether replacing ovarian hormones with HRT is beneficial, especially in peri-menopausal or menopausal women, as bugs are generally lipid-lovin’ (lipid replacement is thought to feed bio-films in which the bugs hole up and cell-wall-less organisms, in particular, require lipids to maintain their outer lipid layer) and just enjoy the immune-suppression. Dr. K., a leading LLMD, has this to say about hormone replacement therapy:

http://www.betterhealthguy.com/joomla/blog/242-a-deep-look-beyond-lyme

Hormones

* People with untreated infections don’t generally do well with hormone therapy.
* The body is adaptive. Microbes are using the hormones. The body down-regulates the hormone production in order to protect itself against the microbes.
* The addition of supplemental hormones may strengthen the microbes.
* Hormone therapy feels good at first, but long term, the bugs benefit more.

If you click on the following link (first in list, called “Newtown Rotary Club), you can also listen to another LLMD talk about how hormones are affected by chronic infection with Lyme….can’t remember how far into the video he talks about hormones, but don’t think it’s too far in:

http://www.lymeresourcemedical.com/resources.php

[dianne-sunshinecoast]

thank you maz, i will look up those threads as well , when i get my head back 🙄 . kind regards ..di.

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