The endocrine system:

Consider it the body's communication system, with endocrine glands sending messengers, in the form of hormone molecules, through the bloodstream to various organs, which the hormones then act upon.

When too many or too few messengers, or hormones, are sent into the bloodstream, the body reacts to the imbalance. A recently opened clinic in Solvang that specializes in hormone research and treatment is using advanced therapies to fix those imbalances and help people feel like themselves again.

According to Kathy Simpson, research director of the Hormone Resource Center, hormone imbalances have been linked to various health problems - breast cancer, Alzheimer's disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease.

But, more commonly, people with hormone imbalances just don't feel good. Therefore, too often, the symptoms of hormone imbalance are brushed off as a normal part of the aging process.

Furthermore, when people do seek treatment for their imbalances, they find few fixes. Traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT), for example, commonly prescribed for menopausal women, comes with its own risk factors and side effects that can leave patients feeling worse than when they started.

Reese Banta is one such patient. Banta underwent a radical hysterectomy 10 years ago, at age 34, because her doctor at the time suspected ovarian cancer. At the same time, lesions were found throughout her liver. HRT - often estrogen products made from horse urine and molecularly altered progesterone - was suggested for her after the hysterectomy, but her options were minimal because most HRT had adverse effects on the liver.

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After reacting badly to HRT, Banta decided to stop treatment.

“I was desperate,” she said. She began trying to balance her own hormones through nutrition and natural progesterone, which is available over-the-counter. Although she thought she felt better, she had no doctor to do blood tests that could actually show her what her hormone levels were.

Dr. Barney Van Valin, the doctor on staff at the Hormone Resource Center, is well versed in traditional HRT, as he practiced traditional medicine most of his career. He admitted that he often resisted prescribing HRT because his patients didn't usually like the results.

At the urging of Simpson, who was well versed in hormone research and had scientific evidence to back up her theories on treatment, he began to prescribe “bioidenticals” to some patients, and said he quickly realized they didn't just treat the symptoms, but actually fixed the imbalances.

The hormone molecule in a bioidentical acts exactly like the molecules produced by the body, and unlike synthetic chemicals, bioidenticals function naturally in the body. Therefore, bioidenticals can be measured in the blood, so Van Valin can test where hormone levels are at any given time.

Hormone replacement therapy, on the other hand, treats symptoms of hormone imbalance, but does not actually change hormone levels.

“I've been missing the boat all this time,” Van Valin remembered thinking. That realization drove his participation at the Hormone Resource Center.

Patients like Banta begin with a pile of paperwork that documents medical history and includes a detailed symptom questionnaire. Blood tests come next. The Hormone Resource Center's tests include checking the thyroid and adrenal glands, cortisol levels and ovarian function.

“It's kind of like the old days of doing medicine,” said Van Valin of their insistence on learning everything they can about a patient's medical history and symptoms before beginning to treat the root cause with bioidenticals.

According to Simpson, hormone imbalance is possible in women or men of any age, and is increasingly prevalent in women in their 30s dealing with “perimenopause,” a term coined to describe women experiencing symptoms commonly associated with menopause - lack of libido, hot flashes, moodiness, depression or anxiety - at a young age.

“My passion in this world is to get out to women that this is not something that happens at 50,” said Simpson.

Indeed, Banta was actually introduced to the Hormone Resource Center when she took her 17-year-old daughter, Tasia, there when it opened in June.

Tasia had been taking birth control pills to regulate her periods, but the side effects of the pills were as bad as the symptoms.

“She was frantic,” said Banta.

Van Valin, who had previously been the Banta's family doctor, suggested having Tasia's hormone levels checked so they could balance them, rather than continuing to medicate with the birth control pills.

“I didn't realize they actually could really do that,” said Banta. “It completely brought her back to the happy kid she was.”

The Hormone Resource Center also treats men, who also suffer from hormone imbalances. A questionnaire geared toward them allows them to indicate whether they've had symptoms related to hormone imbalances: lowered libido, muscle tone loss, energy loss, increased pain, depression and brain fog. And Van Valin administers tests to measure testosterone, thyroid, adrenals and even estrogen and progesterone, which are also found in men.

Like women, many men believe aches and pains come as a natural part of aging.

“But really it doesn't,” said Van Valin.

“It's really, really profound in terms of quality-of-life issues,” said Simpson.

For Banta, that proved true. When Van Valin tested her, he discovered she had a severe thyroid problem, which could be related to her liver issues and could have been the reason for her surgery 10 years ago.

“It's just completely flipped my life around,” she said. “I felt like I had emerged.”

In retrospect, Banta realized she had indications of a thyroid disorder - no hair on her arms, dry skin - but she had attributed the symptoms to a normal aging process.

“I'm just really aging,” she said. “I just figured that's what's going on.”

In fact, Simpson and Van Valin have discovered that many of their patients also suffer from a malfunctioning thyroid, usually blamed on genetics or environmental factors.

Classic symptoms of low thyroid include hair loss, weight gain and even brain fog. Some researchers have linked low thyroid to children suffering from ADHD and autism.

The Hormone Resource Center gives three tests for thyroid, which makes their testing more thorough than that done by most doctors, said Simpson.

In the United States, typical estimates of the number of people with low thyroid range from 5 percent to 40 percent, said Simpson. She added that one Belgian endocrinologist estimates as high as 80 percent of all people suffer from low thyroid.

Simpson said she believes that of the people who seek treatment at the Hormone Resource Center, 80 percent have low thyroid, many of whom were previously unaware of it.

And, she said, thyroid deficiency is almost always linked to low estrogen and progesterone. The thyroid has receptors in ovaries, so when they shut down during menopause, the thyroid is affected.

Simpson's passion for the field comes from firsthand experience. A former executive in the biotech industry, she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Simpson disagreed with the MS diagnosis and began to research, starting with the knowledge that all of her symptoms were related to the endocrine system.

She eventually discovered that she suffered from “multiple hormonal deficiencies,” not multiple sclerosis, which she then was able to control with bioidenticals. She acknowledges that her connections in the medical industry made a correct diagnosis and course of treatment possible, and today she's made it her goal to get the word out.

“I think almost every disease in the body has a root cause of endocrine system,” said Simpson. “But we're very hormone-centric here” at the Hormone Resource Center.

In addition to opening the center in June 2006, she recently published “The Perimenopause & Menopause Workbook: A Comprehensive, Personalized Guide to Hormone Health for Women,” co-authored with Dale Bredesen, chief executive officer of the Buck Institute for Age Research.

The Hormone Resource Center's specialization in hormone health and Simpson's ability to focus on research, along with their association with Bredesen and the Buck Institute, has brought patients from around California - San Francisco, Ojai, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Lompoc, Santa Maria and San Diego - to Solvang to seek treatment.

For an appointment, call the Hormone Resource Center at 693-8700. To learn more about Simpson's research and her book, visit www.hormoneresource.com.

Emily Welly can be reached at 739-2220 or ewelly@santamaria times.com.