"Preserved Through Motherhood" Part 7

Above Rubies article Preserved through Motherhood by Nancy Campbell. Continued...

Biodentical Hormones

Today many women are using biodentical hormones (not chemical HRT) to balance their hormones, to increase lacking libido, to feel good and to stop anti-aging. What are these hormones? They are the same hormones that increase amazingly in the pregnant woman-HCH (human growth hormone), estrogens, progesterone which increases one hundredfold and available testosterone which increases by 20 percent. Each time a woman becomes pregnant, she has all these benefits and the blessings continue throughout her life.

Progesterone

I'm sure you'll want to know just a few more plusses you receive from progesterone which jumps up 100 times when you are pregnant. Not only does it guard you from breast cancer, but it protects you from cardiac-related health problems and also promotes the function and maintenance of the brain. Progesterone helps alleviate anxiety and depression by increasing you reproduction of GABA (Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid), the neurotransmitter that causes you to feel calm and relaxed. GABA is often called the "sleep inducer"!

If all this is not enough, progesterone also improves the immune system, builds bones, improves hearing, protects from seizures and decreases allergies, irritable bowel syndrome, interstitial cystitis and water retention.

Multiple Sclerosis

Prolactin also spurs spontaneous production of myelin, a fatty substance that rebuilds a protective coating around nerve cells. This process can repair damaged nerve cells responsible for MS. A study at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute compared pregnant and non-pregnant mice of the same age group. They found that pregnant mice had twice as many myelin-producing cells as non-pregnant mice and they continued to generate new cells during pregnancy. This is another reason why MS usually goes into remission during pregnancy.

Diabetes

A diabetic mother who is breastfeeding her baby needs less insulin than a bottlefeeding mother.

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Seventy-five percent of women who have RA go into remission when pregnant.

Continued later...