Gender Benders, Sperm Discount and Chemical Toxicity

I have heard a number of women mention that the younger men of today seem more feminine.  Is this perception, culture or environment?  The variables are too numerous to quantify. There is documentation that chemical toxicity mimics estrogen causing hormone havoc with gender bending effects. 

 The book, "Hormone Deception" by Lindsey Berskson, outlines an array of hormone disruptors that include wildlife/environmental gender problems.  Birds that bring pesticide contaminated food to their chicks created masculinized females that sing male mating songs.  Weird. 

In 1980 the Tower Chemical Company had a spill of DDT in Lake Apopka, Florida.  DDT is an insecticide in the biphenyl compound group that mimics estrogen.  Bisphenyls also include BPA and PCBs.  The result in alligator egg hatch was a change from 90 percent survival to 18 percent.  Male alligators were demasculinized with problems in reproduction including the absence of a phallus.  Remember most cities fogged the streets with DDT in the fifties and sixties. 

Another infamous biphenyl is Dethylstilbesterol (DES) that was given to pregnant women in the 1950's and 1960's.   The drug "designed" to increase the health of a baby caused miscarriages.  The result was devastating for some daughters that developed cancer.  There was also a study that found that forty two percent of DES exposed women had bisexual orientation verses 18 percent of their untreated DES sisters.

DES also caused men to experience low sperm count and problems with reproduction.  Other problems may include problems with the urinary tract, prostate, testicles, and enlargement of the breast.  There have also been some psychological effects including depression.   

It is interesting that during development, men require testosterone to develop their masculinity.  This testosterone converts to estrogen in the brain as an important part of their development.  So while men need testosterone, they also have a small amount of estrogen.

Biphenyl compounds are stored in fat cells and mimic estrogen creating a gender bending effect.  This is especially true if exposure takes place in the first trimester of pregnancy.  There is the possibility of hormone changes that happen during development.  Since these types of toxins are stored in fat, there is speculation that this problem has been passed down to subsequent generations.  This means that the baby boomers exposure to DDT and DES could produce gender problems for future generations.

Causes of Mental/Emotional Dis-ease: Depression, Anxiety, and Stress

While the mental emotional and spiritual can create disease, the opposite is also true.  There are physical situations that can create diseases of mental or emotional problems.  Heavy metals such as lead, arsenic, or mercury are well known for this.  Remember the Mad Hatter that got mercury poisoning from the making of felt hats.

Environmental toxins such as the pesticide DDT (see blog) mimics estrogen and can play hormone havoc.  The pharmaceutical product of the pre -1950’s diethylstilbesterol (DES), a synthetic estrogen, was given to mothers to aide in a healthier baby.  The female offspring receiving the drug in the first trimester suffered from a rare form of cancer, infertility, and an increased incident of lesbian or bisexual orientation.  Any health problem can bring on anxiety and depression.  These horrors of the past are not currently taught in medical or pharmacy schools so we will likely repeat these errors.

Steroids such as prednisone or food allergies that increase cortisol can lower the working threshold of neurotransmitters in the brain, which can contribute to panic attacks, emotional instability, and attention deficit.

Today, a common drug therapy (proton pump inhibitors) that prevents the stomach from creating acid for digestion is a potential setup for such brain problems.  Acid is needed to breakdown protein into small enough components to be absorbed and to create many of our brain chemicals, known as neurotransmitters.  Most of our neurotransmitters are created in the gut. 

Neurotransmitters control nerve conduction and are either excitatory or inhibitory. They either speed up nerve conduction or slow it down.  Epinephrine or adrenaline, known to be the “fight or flight” neurotransmitter is excitatory.  Serotonin and GABA are examples of inhibitory neurotransmitters.  Serotonin is associated with depression and GABA is associated with anxiety.

Common antidepressants allow the serotonin to remain available longer hence increasing the excretion in the urine, therefore actually contributing to its depletion.  Some targeted amino acid (protein) therapy works to help build such neurotransmitters.    This provides the building blocks (precursors) for the body to make it’s own neurotransmitters.  Natural Creations product Inhibitory Neurotransmitter is a helpful intervention for depression.

Gaba is another neurotransmitter that may be viewed as the brains natural tranquilizer.   The supplement approach is Gaba Calm which can be helpful in anxiety, panic attacks and sleep.   HPA Calm is helpful for high stress anxiety related to elevated cortisol and racing thoughts. 

Stay Well

Unnatural Summers of the Past

In the 1950’s and 60’s the summer was a wonderful time for a child to play.  Boys played the “Roly Poly” baseball game in the street.  Most homes did not have air conditioning.  Some had a television.  We lived in a small house with a now small fenced in backyard that as a child seemed huge.  In the evenings we had the fun of riding our bicycles in the street behind the “fog” truck.

The wisdom of the day was to use DDT to kill mosquitoes and other summer insects.  Perhaps DDT was not a poison then.  So the children got a weekly unhealthy dose of a fat-soluble insecticide that fell upon their skin, and filled their lungs.  Depending on the dose, such insecticides can be eliminated thru the healthy liver but are also stored in fat tissue.  Many could still have the residue of such product still in their fat tissue.  This storage of a toxin in the body could be viewed as a protection mechanism. 

Some individuals have difficulty reducing fat in the body.  We could speculate that even though there could be many reasons for this, it is possible that the body will not allow fat reduction because the body may not be able to handle the toxic load that may ensue.  One common principle of natural medicine is to detoxify.  How often does an individual reach a stuck point in their reduction program?  Some type of targeted detoxification program may help them to the next step.

As a child I loved to play in the woods and the creeks.  We would catch crawdads and salamanders, build dams and stick forts.  The problem was that I was extremely allergic to poison ivy.  It seemed all I had to do was look at it.  I became an expert on identifying this plant.  There are still memories of lying on a towel on the floor for my continuous application of calamine lotion.  It was a good thing that my father had a drug store.  I can say with confidence that I have had poison ivy on every part of my body.  This allergy continued until about 15 years ago when Dr. Hinze suggested a detoxification program with to eliminate toxins from fat tissue.  To my amazement, my allergy to poison ivy almost disappeared.  What was happening?  I suspected my body was overloaded with some toxin such as DDT.  It just could not handle another insult such as the oil in the poison ivy!

Spring and summer offers a wonderful opportunity to try new remedies.  A great remedy for poison ivy is Rhus toxicodendron 6C, a homeopathic made from poison ivy.  “Likes cures likes”.  Cort-sym Gel by Natural Creations is a wonderful homeopathic to put on poison ivy.  The name implies a similarity to hydrocortisone of which there is none in the product.  If you are exposed, some will wash with Fels-Napha soap that may help remove the plant oil from the skin.  If you get too much sun, try homeopathic Burn Repair Spray by Natural Creations.  A great insect bite remedy is Insect Bite Spray by Natural Creations.

Stay Well!