Episode 56: Hormones: A Portal Into Our Stored Trauma with Dr. Aimie Apigian

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When Your Body Keeps Score Through Hormones

You know something feels off with your hormones but doctors tell you the tests are normal. You're exhausted, your cycles are irregular, your mood swings are intense, and you can't sleep properly. Medical professionals dismiss your concerns or prescribe hormones without investigating why the imbalance exists.

What if your hormonal issues aren't random but reflect stored trauma your body is trying to communicate about?

Your hormones reflect your stored trauma in measurable ways. When something feels off hormonally, it probably is, and you should trust that knowing. But most doctors give you the wrong advice about fixing it because they don't understand the trauma-hormone connection.

Today I break down how trauma affects women's hormones specifically, why certain life stages prepare you to deal with past trauma, and which two hormones actually matter most for trauma healing. They're not the ones you think or the ones doctors focus on.

Trusting Your Body's Hormonal Signals

If something feels off with your hormones, trust that perception because your body is communicating important information. When your hormones feel wrong, don't let anyone dismiss your experience as anxiety or aging. Your biology is telling you something significant about what's happening beneath the surface.

Most doctors approach hormones without considering trauma's role in endocrine dysfunction. They prescribe supplemental hormones without addressing what's driving the imbalance in the first place. This approach keeps you stuck in symptom management without ever reaching the root cause creating the hormonal chaos.

Understanding the Biology of Trauma® reveals why conventional hormone treatment often fails women. Your endocrine system holds trauma just like your nervous system does through mechanisms that affect hormone production, signaling, and metabolism. Unprocessed overwhelm shows up as hormonal dysfunction that hormone replacement alone can't fix.

Certain times in life create windows where your changing hormones make you more prepared to address past trauma. Puberty, pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause all involve significant hormonal shifts that can surface unresolved trauma. These aren't random times for emotional upheaval but biologically driven opportunities for healing.

Why "Estrogen Dominance" Misleads

The term "estrogen dominance" gets thrown around constantly in women's health circles. But it misses what's actually happening in your hormonal system and creates confusion about treatment. The real issue isn't estrogen levels being too high but rather the relationship between different hormones being disrupted by trauma.

I reveal which two hormones are really affecting you when trauma impacts your endocrine system. They're not estrogen and progesterone that everyone focuses on but rather cortisol and oxytocin. These two hormones reflect your trauma response directly and influence all your other hormones through cascading effects.

Cortisol dysregulation from chronic stress and unresolved trauma affects every other hormone in your body. When your cortisol pattern is disrupted through trauma, your sex hormones can't function properly regardless of their levels. Trying to balance estrogen and progesterone without addressing cortisol dysfunction misses the foundation.

Oxytocin deficiency from attachment trauma and disconnection affects bonding, trust, nervous system regulation, and inflammatory processes throughout your body. Low oxytocin creates vulnerability to other hormonal imbalances because this hormone supports your entire system's capacity to feel safe and connected.

How Trauma Lives in Your Endocrine System

Hormones serve as a portal into understanding your stored trauma when you know how to read the patterns. Your menstrual cycle, your specific symptoms, and your hormonal imbalances tell a story about what your body is holding. Each pattern reveals something about the trauma affecting your biology.

The biology of women's health makes female hormones more complex than male hormones naturally. More cyclical in nature, more responsive to stress and trauma, and more sensitive to environmental influences. This isn't weakness or female problems but biological reality that requires different understanding and treatment approaches.

Women's cyclical hormones create both vulnerability and opportunity around trauma. Vulnerability because hormonal fluctuations can trigger stored trauma responses. Opportunity because those same fluctuations create windows for processing and releasing what's been held in your system.

Perimenopause and menopause in particular represent major opportunities for trauma healing because the hormonal shifts force everything to the surface. Many women experience intensification of old trauma symptoms during this transition. This isn't random but your biology creating conditions where deep healing becomes possible if you understand what's happening.

Working With Hormones and Trauma Together

Understanding your hormonal patterns can reveal stored trauma that you might not have recognized otherwise. The timing of your symptoms, which phase of your cycle they worsen in, and how your body responds to stress all provide information about trauma's impact on your endocrine system.

Addressing trauma while supporting hormonal health creates better outcomes than treating either in isolation. When you work with your Biology of Trauma® through nervous system regulation and trauma processing while also supporting cortisol and oxytocin function, your other hormones often regulate themselves naturally.

The wrong medical advice treats hormones as separate from your nervous system and trauma history. The right approach recognizes that your endocrine and nervous systems communicate constantly and that trauma affects both simultaneously. Healing requires addressing the whole integrated system rather than just replacing deficient hormones.

Your hormones aren't failing randomly but responding to trauma signals your body continues receiving. When you address the stored trauma creating those signals, your hormones often improve dramatically without needing supplementation. This is healing rather than managing, addressing causes rather than suppressing symptoms.

Understanding hormones as a portal into stored trauma changes how you approach women's health issues completely. Instead of treating hormone imbalances as standalone problems requiring hormone replacement, you recognize them as communication about deeper trauma needing attention and resolution.

This Episode Is For:

✓ Women with hormonal issues that won't resolve with conventional treatment 

✓ Anyone told their hormone problems are just genetic or age-related 

✓ Practitioners working with women's health who need the trauma connection 

✓ Those in perimenopause experiencing intensified emotional symptoms 

✓ Anyone recognizing their cycle affects their trauma symptoms 

✓ Women ready to understand their hormones through the trauma lens

What You'll Learn

Listen to understand how trauma affects your hormones and why the two hormones that matter most for trauma healing aren't the ones doctors focus on. Discover why certain life stages create opportunities for trauma healing through hormonal shifts. Learn how to read your hormonal patterns as communication about stored trauma.

Your hormonal imbalances are your body trying to tell you about trauma it's still holding.

Listen to Episode 56 →

Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information shared reflects my clinical expertise and research, but every person's biology and healing journey is unique. Always consult with qualified healthcare providers before making changes to your treatment plan or starting new interventions. If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact emergency services or a crisis helpline immediately.

Join the Conversation

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this episode. What resonated with you? What questions came up?

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