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More Common In Women

More Common In Women

About 80% of Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome sufferers are women. Over the years, working with thousands of patients, I have developed a certain perspective on the functioning of the human body. Of course, the human body is a complex and wondrous system. It has been discussed in previous chapters how the thyroid hormones, female hormones, and adrenal systems can be interrelated. I believe, of course, that nutrition, exercise, and environmental conditions also affect the functioning of the overall system. As mentioned previously, I picture these different influences and systems to be related like many different ropes tied to a single ring with pressure being exerted on the ring by the ropes in many different directions. The position of the ring, depends on the amount of tension in each of the ropes. So that if one rope develops an unusually large amount of tension, it can pull the ring out of position, thereby affecting the rest of the ropes as well. Depending on the various tensions in the rope, I believe the system can sometimes get “out of balance.”

It seems that there are some people whose body is more flexible or adaptive than others with their “ring” being capable of a wider range of “positions.” Sometimes this flexibility or adaptiveness can be quite important. The survival of the species may even depend on it.

Of course, tremendous system changes are required in the process of menstruation, ovulation, conception, pregnancy, delivery, and returning to normal after pregnancy. I remember being astounded in medical school when we first studied the physiological changes that take place in a women’s body as she is carrying a child, even in terms of the values of blood tests, heart rate, respirations, glucose metabolism, hemoglobin levels, etc. It was amazing that these great changes could even be compatible with life. I have heard it said that there are three types of people in the world, men, women, and pregnant women. I can see the meaning of this statement, because the difference between a woman and a pregnant woman does almost seem to be as great as the difference between a man and a woman. Not in any derogatory sense, but I do remember thinking that the difference between a woman and a pregnant woman seemed to be as great as the difference between two different species. It was eye-opening, because again, in many ways pregnant women look much like non-pregnant women in that they have two eyes, hair, teeth, skin, arms, legs; and in that they walk, talk, and function in a way that is quite similar to non-pregnant women. But if one wanted to compare the “position of the ring” of a woman during pregnancy as compared to that same woman prior to pregnancy, I think that most people would be extremely surprised by the huge difference. The difference would be due to the change in “tensions” in the many different factors that affect the function of the body including the amount of blood pumped per minute by the body, calories consumed, materials produced, oxygen consumed, carbon dioxide produced, female hormones, thyroid hormones, adrenal hormones, dietary intake, exercise, stress levels, etc. So it is not hard to imagine that the total body system of a pregnant woman can sometimes be “out of bounds” as compared to when she is not pregnant. Women demonstrate amazing hormonal and physical flexibility through the miracle of pregnancy.

Men do not as often demonstrate such great flexibility. Indeed, they may not have such flexibility. As we noted previously in the discussion of hereditary predisposition towards Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome, some people are more flexible or adaptive than others and can more easily enter into the conservation mode in response to prevailing conditions. I feel that women naturally have a greater degree of flexibility and adaptiveness than men. It stands to reason that the more readily one can get “out of bounds,” the more readily one can stay “out of bounds.” So I feel that women are more likely to get out of bounds and stay out of bounds than men because they can (that is, they are more flexible). However, under periods of severe stress, since Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome is nothing more than an aberration of an inherent stress/starvation coping mechanism and since this coping mechanism is present in every human’s body, anyone can, under severe enough circumstances, develop Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome. It can affect men and women of all ages and from all walks of life. It can happen to anyone. Careful histories should be taken in all patients. Even though the condition and symptoms tend to worsen in a step-wise fashion after subsequent stresses, the condition can sometimes worsen in one step and stay persistently low at that level, neither getting better nor getting worse even for years. In such cases the symptoms can be shown to be related when they resolve together in a group with the WT3 protocol.