an important role in a woman’s life. Hormones are
working to full capacity when a girl begins to menstruate, each
time she menstruates, during pregnancy and when a woman is
enduring menopause. Some women report that pregnancy causes
their eczema to flare-up, while other women see a great deal of
improvement in their skin condition.
The human endocrine system consists of both
hormone-manufacturing tissues and organs. Hormones are natural
chemicals produced in one place, secreted into the bloodstream,
then used by specific other target organs and systems. It is the
hormones that enable the target organs to do their work. Some of
the organ systems use hormones as well as their own internal
control systems. Aging and body changes occur in the management
of the systems are managed. Unfortunately, some tissues have a
habit of developing decreased sensitivity to the individual
hormone that controls them.
As time progresses and a woman ages and goes through different
stages in her life, the hormone blood levels change. Some
increase while others decrease and still other see no change.
Hormones commonly metabolize at a very slow rate. The
hormone-manufacturing organs in the body are, in many cases,
controlled by yet other hormones. Aging and reproductive cycle
changes play a role in all of this. To use an example,
endocrine tissues very often produce a decreased amount of
hormone in middle age as compared with how much it produced
when the individual was younger, but in other incidences it
might produce the same quantity over the years but do so at a
much decreased rate of speed.
For eczema sufferers, a good rule of thumb is to not begin any
new types of therapies for your condition while you are
enduring a hormonal change. For example, do not begin
ultraviolet therapy, topical immunomodulators or steroid creams
while waiting for your menstrual cycle because hormonal changes
could wreak havoc with your desired results. It is best to wait
until a few weeks after menstruation is passed.
Pregnancy in particular causes hormones to enter a state of
flux. A woman’s heart sees a great increase in the volume of
blood when she is pregnant and this increase in both blood and
hormone production can bring about skin changes. These changes
are not standard across all women. Some women’s eczema skin
becomes flakier, drier and itchier while others find that their
natural oil level is plentiful. It is extremely important to
continue with regular visits to your doctor or dermatologist
during pregnancy to keep abreast of your skin changes, whether
it be improvements or increased breakouts.
Menopause causes great hormone changes and eczema-prone skin
needs some extra tender loving care. However, when it comes to
eczema, is not as common in women of menopausal age. Atopic
eczema is very rare in menopausal women whereas varicose and
discoid eczema are increasely common among this age group.
After the end of menopause many women have lesser amounts of
the hormones estrogen, estradiol and prolactin.
About The Author: Mary Brown contributes to several web sites,
most recently http://parip.com and http://fotid.com
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