Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
Do you have chronic fatigue, insomnia, hot flashes, night sweats, low libido, PMS, anxiety, mood swings, fibromyalgia, fibrocystic breasts, urinary incontinence, decreased muscle strength, or erectile dysfunction? If you answered yes to any of these questions ask you provider if your hormone levels need to be checked.
Bioidentical hormones are so named because their molecular structures are identical to those produced by the body. These hormones fit their own receptor sites and their metabolites are not foreign to the human body as are conventional drugs. The doctor prescribes dosage, concentration or quantity of hormones customized for the individual as no two people’s needs are the same. Most are plant derived and are made by special compounding pharmacies.
BENEFITS OF BIOIDENTICAL HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPY FOR MEN AND WOMEN
Women
Women approaching menopause, post-menopausal women, and those who have had hysterectomies, often suffer from a variety of problems due to the disruption of female hormone levels. Symptoms like hot flashes, fatigue, arthritis like aches and pains, memory loss, and irritability are disruptive to daily living but can be through Bioidentical Replacement Therapy.
Men
Men approaching middle age may experience symptoms of hormonal depletion (andropuase). Abdominal obesity, decreasing muscle mass, energy decline, and loss of libido may be treated with hormone replacement therapy.
Andropause, the male equivalent of menopause, is real although more subtle than menopause. It is the process of male aging that starts at around 30 years of age and remains until the end of our life. It is marked by the slowing down of all hormones in the male body and therefore a slowing of all global capacities. While estrogen levels in women decline after menopause just the opposite occurs in men who experience rising estrogen as well as SHBG (sex hormone bind king globulin). Increased abdominal fat and shrinking of muscle mass correlates with the decreasing testosterone levels and rising estrogen levels, a l hall mark of hormonal imbalance. These limit the amount and effectiveness of testosterone, a vital hormone.
The loss of testosterone as with HGH contributes to the familiar “pot belly” and declining muscle tone in middle-age men. Energy levels inevitably drop, as well as motivation, and fat mass increases. Cardiac output declines, lung capacity decreases and other organ functions diminish. Also, loss of feeling of well-being sometimes manifests as depression and lack of motivation, which is a common psychological complication of hormonal imbalance. Many other diseases that middle-age men begin experiencing attributed to decreasing hormone levels are abdominal weight gain, prostate and heart disease, elevated cholesterol, and angina.
The steady decline in hormone levels in males manifests as inhibition of physical, sexual and cognitive function, waning interest in sex, difficulty in having and maintaining an erection, decreased sexual satisfaction, as well as fatigue, irritability, aches and pains, and stiffness.
“I’ve suffered from migraines for years. As I started into perimenopause and suffered hot flashes and mood swings, the hormone therapy has helped all of my symptoms.”
“I no longer have night sweats or mood swings after receiving hormone treatment at Crossroads. It has worked wonders for me.”