hi everyone I'm dr. Samina and today we're gonna  be talking about all about testosterone how to  

know if you have high levels what it really  means for PCOS and how to naturally reduce it  

in your body based on some of the research  that we know with naturopathic medicine so  

today really I wanted to focus on the fact that  testosterone can be elevated in PCOS primarily  

in the adrenal glands but also can be elevated in  the ovaries as well so really it's about learning  

about where the testosterone is coming from and  then treating it based on lab results so the  

reason why testosterone is high in the blind  with PCOS is because oftentimes it comes from  

higher amounts of insulin in the blood insulin can  actually drive the production of testosterone so  

it's really important to get your insulin levels  tested and also check to see if you have insulin  

resistance this can be done with fasting insulin  and fasting glucose test also hba1c or an insulin  

glucose challenge test and once you know if  it says insulin is high maybe that's kind of  

what is driving that testosterone production  but also like testosterone can come from the  

adrenal glands and it's be high in the blood as  well so it's really important to test different  

types of testosterone that we know of the first  is free and total testosterone free testosterone  

is just testosterone molecules floating around  total testosterone includes testosterone free  

but also bound to a protein called sex hormone  binding globulin there's also testosterone that  

comes from the adrenal gland these are the glands  that sit on top of the kidneys they're small like  

triangle shaped gland that helps us to produce  our adrenaline so ignore epinephrine epinephrine  

and cortisol which is our stress hormone so  when testosterone is coming from the adrenal  

glands it's let's known as DHEA and this is the  testosterone that's primarily produced by the  

adrenal glands and there's a small amount produced  by the ovaries the the third one is interesting  

and I own this is a hormone that actually is  produced by half by the adrenal glands and half by  

the ovaries so you know what we're really trying  to figure out is where the testosterone is coming  

from and then based on that use that knowledge to  treat it and lastly in the last testosterone form  

is called DHT or dihydrotestosterone and this is  the most potent form of testosterone in the body  

it's actually produced from testosterone so when  we look at the hormone pathway it goes like DHA s  

creates interest and I own understand iron creates  testosterone and testosterone can creates DHT so  

and the conversion from testosterone to DHT uses  something called 5-alpha reductase and so when  

we talk about saw palmetto this is a very strong  herb that is referenced a lot in the literature in  

terms of reducing testosterone levels it actually  blocks 5-alpha reductase so this is where we see  

if DHT levels are high that it would work really  well signs of high testosterone so let me go back  

actually so different types of testosterone  we set free and total testosterone we said  

DHEA s and r s t and i own in DHT so these are  the labs you should consider running or asking  

your healthcare provider to run for you some of  the signs of high testosterone in PCOS include  

you know acne or along your jawline so this kind  of area deep cystic acne is very common on your  

chest on your back those are like some of the  locations where we see testosterone related acne  

hair growth so anywhere on your face your chest  your breast area your arms your legs hair loss  

it's also a common sign so any of these signs can  mean that you have high testosterone so an so it  

doesn't necessarily need that you have to have  high testosterone in your blood as long as you  

have these signs of high testosterone it means  that you do have testosterone that is elevated  

um so let's see here what I want to talk to you  about I just have a list and this is also on an  

article that I wrote about it's called tired of  being hairy all the time learn about top ten PCOS  

treatments for high androgens so this is on my  blog so you can read about it but I'm going to  

talk a little bit more in depth of some of these  herbs that can be really helpful so we have a  

conversation today a little bit about spearmint  tea on the group spare my tea has been researched  

in the literature to help reduce free and total  testosterone it was actually in the study they had  

three cups of test spearmint tea to help reduce  testosterone levels and I was daily and so you  

can put all three tea bags into one cup of tea  and drink that one cup or you can actually use  

3 cups and drink it throughout the day and also  some of the other herbs the two verbs that are  

used side by side or together are licorice and  white peeny these are Chinese medicine herbs  

and combined together it actually inhibits the  conversion from understand.i onto testosterone  

so this means less testosterone circulating in  the hair follicle so therefore there'd be less  

growth and also less hair loss because what  happens is testosterone goes into the follicle  

create sebum creates inflammation and that's  where we see hair growth or hair loss so yeah  

that's white peony and licorice so in the studies  it was a one to one ratio of white licorice and  

we're sorry white peony and licorice and that was  shown to help reduce testosterone levels and then  

when we talk about adrenal focused antigen so the  antigens that are coming from your adrenal glands  

where we produce cortisol that is really about  figuring how to reduce your stress levels so  

there's a few herbs few things you can do to help  reduce those levels the first one is that I want  

to talk about that's not on the blog is called  resveratrol so we're spiritual actually comes  

from the skin of a grape and this is a very potent  antioxidant and it's been shown in the research to  

help reduce DHA s which is really cool so if  that level is high in your blood reports then  

I'm considering respirator all as a supplement is  is would be good and then alpha amine is actually  

found in green tea so its main role is to help to  balance this HPA axis so HP accesses hypothalamus  

pituitary adrenal access so the connection between  the brain and the adrenal glands and it really  

actually it crosses the blood-brain barrier and  calms the nervous system down this is what I  

tell my patients all the time who like have these  racing thoughts worrying all the time it's really  

great and I'm using the nervous system or just  calming the nervous system down it won't give  

you lots of energy it doesn't have any green tea  and it is just an extract from green tea another  

one is phosphatidyl serine this helps to reduce  cortisol levels in the blood and so it can be  

really helpful if there's high stress like you're  feeling anxious all the time worried you waking up  

with like a heart that's racing phosphatidylserine  can also be helpful and then let's talk about cell  

Camaro so saw palmetto is one of the most you  know used treatments I would say in my world for  

reducing androgen levels or just aa strong it's  a very potent but it works it's kind of like the  

Buckley's for PCOS because it tastes horrible  if anyone's tried it in tincture form that's a  

liquid form so maybe capsules might be better  but basically what it does is it really helps  

to reduce testosterone levels and you know even  from my personal experience trying it I noticed  

that taking it daily I see less hair growth  and just overall just better feeling better  

because really what's happening is when there's  high testosterone it's actually blocking your  

estrogen production and when your estrogen is  low then that's when you know you kind of you  

don't feel as well you don't feel as confident  you know sexy like you don't feel as good when  

you don't have as much estrogen and so that's  why reducing testosterone almost helps us in  

PCOS because it allows estrogen to shine and  so saw palmetto can be really really helpful  

in a case like this I've used it for patients who  have here girls hair loss they're gonna acne but  

it really depends on kind of what your type of  the symptoms that you're experiencing and then  

using that to guide the treatment let me see if  there's anything else I wanted to talk about in  

terms of this testosterone is really one of the  key components of PCOS and so it's really about  

figuring out a do you have insulin resistance  that's driving testosterone production because  

if that's the case we need to really change how  you eat be if testosterone is high in the blood  

we need to figure out where it's coming from is it  from the adrenal glands where we produce cortisol  

or is it from the ovaries and if it's from the  adrenal glands and maybe we really need to give  

you botannical that help to reduce stress okay  so these are things like feening there were a  

spiritual hospital serine and any adaptogens these  are herbs and help us to adapt to stress so even  

the licorice would be good in this scenario or  if it's coming from the ovaries maybe beat you  

something like sapa meadow or white peeny that  can really have an effect on the ovaries so it's  

really about figuring out what's happening in  the body and then treating it based on that if  

you guys have any questions please please feel  free to put them in the comments and I'll be  

sure to answer them as soon as I can I hope this  was helpful and I'll see you next week take care