In traumatic stress or chronic everyday stress what happens is cortisol keeps getting pumped out, keeps getting pumped out and when cortisol
goes up, cortisol is manufactured from one of our key reproductive hormones, our mother hormone called progesterone. So consider progesterone. Pro-gestation. You know, it is to support fertility,
progesterone is predominant in the second half of our menstrual cycle, post ovulation, so it’s kind of the hormone that makes the bed, essentially, in the uterus for the embryo to implant so
that’s progesterone.
Cortisol is made from progesterone, downstream from progesterone. Hence, when
we have to make cortisol, progesterone goes down. With that all the other hormones that are
downstream from there including estrogen DHEA and testosterone are reproductive hormones or
hormones of sexual desire or hormones of fertility or hormones, you know, of pregnancy. So all of those get depleted to sacrifice to make this life-saving hormone cortisol. But when cortisol is going on for
too long you get this significant depletion and in my case it becomes infertility. So I always say and
teach this and I’ve taught residents and other physicians worldwide but the
eyes don’t see what the mind doesn’t know.