Natural Hormone Replacement Therapy Safely Treats Menopause Symptoms
Menopause Symptoms Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help –
Menopause is the time in a woman’s life when her childbearing years come to an end. While the average age of menopause in the U.S. is age 51, the uncomfortable symptoms of menopause may actually start years before, as the ovaries begin to produce far fewer of the body’s “sex hormones”, including estrogen. This time period leading up to menopause is called perimenopause.
The sex hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, not only enable reproduction but also regulate almost every aspect of a woman’s body – from metabolism and weight gain to bone density and libido. Thus, the hormonal decline caused by perimenopause and menopause can cause widespread changes and unpleasant side effects in a woman’s body.
The symptoms and side effects of hormone decline due to menopause can include: hot flashes, sleep problems, decreased libido (sex drive), vaginal dryness, pain during intercourse, bladder leaks, weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, weakening bones (osteoporosis), and more.
But the good news is that replacing declining hormones with natural, FDA approved, BioTe hormone replacement therapy pellets can provide long-term relief from the painful and often troublesome symptoms of menopause. All without daily pills, messy gels and creams, unsightly patches, or painful shots!
In this article, the hormone replacement therapy specialists at Prosperity Health in Royal Oak, MI discuss the five most common symptoms of menopause and how hormone replacement therapy can help relieve them.
#1. Hormone Replacement Therapy Reduces Hot Flashes
No symptom is more universally associated with menopause than hot flashes. Medical experts, including those at the Mayo Clinic and Harvard, almost universally agree that the most effective treatment for hot flashes and severe night sweats associated with menopause is hormone replacement therapy.
Hot flashes, also referred to as hot flushes, are estimated to affect up to 75% of perimenopausal women. Hot flashes are a “vasomotor” reaction, meaning they are caused by a sudden dilation of the blood vessels. This increased blood flow can cause feelings of extreme heat and profuse sweating.
In a clinical trial involving 3,329 participants, hormone replacement therapy (estrogen alone or estrogen plus progestin) reduced women’s hot flashes by an amazing 75%!
#2. Hormone Replacement Therapy Combats Low Energy & Fatigue
Many women think that loss of energy is a natural part of aging – but this does not have to be the case. Testosterone, although thought of as a male hormone, plays an important role in increasing energy in both men and women. Testosterone helps the body produce proteins that help maintain muscle and energy. But low testosterone levels can cause debilitating fatigue and sometimes weakness.
Fatigue can also be attributable to deficiencies of thyroid hormones. The thyroid gland controls many aspects of metabolism and is therefore essential for maintaining energy levels. So, in addition to balancing a woman’s estrogen levels during menopause, it is also extremely important to run a complete hormone panel when doing her blood tests.
Hormone replacement therapy to restore a woman’s testosterone, estrogen, and thyroid levels can dramatically help renew energy and vitality.
# 3. Hormone Replacement Therapy Treats Vaginal Dryness & Painful Sex
After menopause, more than 50% of women will experience vaginal symptoms such as dryness, itching, and pain during intercourse. The most common underlying cause of vaginal dryness and painful sex is the drop in estrogen levels due to menopause.
Estrogen is the female “sex hormone” responsible for maintaining the thickness and health of the tissues of the vaginal wall, and for producing moisture for vaginal lubrication. However, as estrogen production declines during menopause, the walls of the vagina become thinner, lose their elasticity, and produce less lubricant. And sex starts to become less satisfyingly and even painful.
Hormone replacement therapy can help a woman’s body naturally rebuild thick, strong, elastic, and moist vaginal tissues, making sex enjoyable again!
#4. Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help Reverse Weight Gain
Hormonal drops and imbalances during menopause can also lead to weight gain in many ways, especially around the waist or abdomen.
If estrogen levels are low, metabolism slows down, which increases body fat storage. In addition, low estrogen levels can cause a decrease in the body’s ability to break down fat, which can also lead to fat accumulation, weight gain, and an increase in waist circumference or “belly fat”.
And if the levels of a woman’s androgens (male hormones) increase relative to declining female hormones, it increases here risk of obesity. Compounding the problem can be a drop in levels of the hormone leptin, which tells the brain to feel “full” after eating, which also happens during menopause. This means that women are actually hungrier during menopause, which causes them to consume more calories.
Additionally, estrogen deficiency reduces skeletal muscle mass and causes a reduction in muscle force in women. However, restoring hormonal balance with hormone replacement therapy can help perimenopausal and perimenopausal women reverse weight gain, build muscle, and reverse fat stores around the abdomen.
# 5. Hormone Replacement Therapy Prevents Osteoporosis
One of the many important functions of estrogen is to stimulate the activity of bone-producing cells. Therefore, as estrogen levels decline during menopause, bones lose density and become prone to fracture. In fact, 50% of women will break a bone in their lifetime due to osteoporosis. For women, the incidence of a broken bone due to osteoporosis is greater than that of heart attack, stroke and breast cancer combined!
However, many women do not even realize that they are suffering from osteoporosis until it is too late, and they have broken a bone.
The first FDA treatment approved to prevent osteoporosis was estrogen replacement therapy. And while there are now many new synthetic medications for osteoporosis, these drugs can come with harsh side effects. However, several recent clinical studies have demonstrated that estrogen replacement therapy is still the best, and most natural, method for preventing osteoporotic bone fractures.
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy prevents osteoporosis naturally by restoring the body’s estrogen levels – rather than introducing lab-created chemicals that come with harsh side effects. Hormone replacement therapy at Prosperity Health in Royal, Oak can help ensure that you are NOT in the 50% of women who will suffer a bone fracture due to osteoporosis.
Hormone Replacement Therapy for Menopause | Royal Oak
In addition to treating hot flashes, fatigue, painful intercourse, vaginal pain and dryness, weight gain, muscle loss, and osteoporosis hormone replacement therapy also helps prevent cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, Alzheimer’s’ disease, and many other serious illnesses associated with aging.
Dr. Nishath Hakim at Prosperity Health in Royal Oak offers BioTe bioidentical hormone replacement pellets for the safest, most consistent, 100% natural, and easiest-to-use form of hormone replacement. There are NO daily pills, messy creams or painful shots – and a single, in-office, time-released pellet insertion provides relief from menopause symptoms and protection from disease for 3 to 4 months!
If you are a woman in the Royal Oak area who is navigating the challenges of perimenopause or menopause symptoms, schedule a hormone replacement therapy consultation at Prosperity Health to see if BioTe HRT is right for you!
