hello everyone and welcome back today i want to talk about high dhea s and pcos this is dr samina
mitha here naturopathic doctor and we're going to jump right into what is dheas so
this is a type of testosterone that is primarily produced from the adrenal glands in our bodies
this is a little gland that looks like a triangle um it looks like a triangle shape
actually and sits on top of the kidneys so this is where we actually make dheas so
since it's a type of testosterone this is where we kind of see those testosterone
driven like symptoms that are commonly seen in pcos like excessive hair growth excessive
hair loss and then also irregular cycles and acne so the s on the dheas is actually a sulfate
bounded molecule onto the dheas molecule and this is just means that it's sulfated
and refers to dheas and since this is a type of testosterone but it be it comes from the adrenal
glands what we often find is women who have pcos actually tend to produce higher amounts of
cortisol in response to environmental stressors and as cortisol rises so does that our adrenal
dheas or androgens so what we really want to focus in on when dheas is high is reducing any
type of stress that is present we often find that dheas is common in women with lean pcos and don't
have significant insulin resistance so it's really important to be assessing for that especially when
you know insulin resistance is not a big causing factor or if you're lean and have pcos
so as i said the first thing to really make sure that you're focusing in on is
lifestyle and making sure there's things that you're doing to really manage your
stress and anxiety if that's what you're really experiencing especially if you have high dhas
they actually did a small recent study with about 30 participants with mindfulness yoga three times
a week for one hour each and women with pcos actually showed to lower their free testosterone
and dhea levels so yoga is a really nice way to calm the nervous system
get some movement going and making sure that you know cortisol stays at a good state
some botanicals that we've seen that can work to reduce cortisol are things like rhodiola rhodiola
is a nice adaptogenic herb really great for somebody who is anxious and has also been shown
to reduce the cortisol responds to awakening so this is when we have this rising cortisol
30 to 40 minutes after waking up in the morning cortisol will tend to rise at this time but we
don't want it too high so rhodiola is a nice herb to like help calm that cortisol awakening response
lavender is a really nice one for anxiety
it actually has the ability to reduce cortisol as well in the blood
and reduce feelings of anxiety especially if it's actually inhaled so through even a diffuser
they've been shown to reduce cortisol levels along in the blood with anxiety patients
and then we have some supplements so l-theanine is a really great amino acid that comes from green
tea and black tea it's actually really nice to calm the nervous system down i always like
to think of this amino acid for somebody who has a busy brain constantly thinking planning
ruminating and it doesn't cause drowsiness um and it actually really helps the hpa axis this
is a hypothalamic pituitary adrenal access so the connection from our brains to our adrenal glands
melatonin is also one that actually can help reduce acth production in the brain
um and is a really great herb or sorry supplement to make sure that we can actually get good quality
sleep last but not least is resveratrol so resveratrol is this unique substance that's an
antioxidant and it comes from the skin of a grape and they've actually shown in the research that
1500 milligrams of respiratory over three months actually can help reduce dhea s levels
and the study actually mentioned a reduction in testosterone and insulin as well
so these are some things to consider when dheas is high ultimately the biggest thing you really
want to focus in on is stress management and this can come through lifestyle changes and
doing things that help to calm and relax your body lots of self-care especially when dhes is high so
whether that's drinking a tea listening to music watching tv doing something you
really love like a hobby taking a bath doing yoga like we mentioned meditating
uh regularly being more mindful throughout your day going for a walk exercising things like
that all of those can be really really helpful at calming dheas you really want to become intuitive
with your body knowing when you know stress kind of comes up what are some of the triggers
if it's work stress if it's family if it's financial stress what are some of the things
that are actually causing your stress and anxiety to you know activate and go up higher than
you would like it to be and then you know working on being more mindful throughout those moments
um doing some deep breathing taking a break things like that talking it out and potentially
even seeing a social worker or counselor somebody who you can trust um to open up to and talk to
so that you don't feel like you're alone in any of this hopefully this was helpful and if
you have any questions at all drop them in the comments below thanks for watching see you soon