Women’s Hormones in Illinois
Menopause is a process most women have already learned about and dealt with as part of aging. In menopause, the female body goes through deep changes involving the cessation of ovarian function and quick decline in hormone production: specifically estrogen and progesterone. But though women are familiar with menopause, many are unaware that menopause-like symptoms actually start years before it occurs, and the first effects of age-related hormone change can begin in the mid-thirties. The period in which minor, insidious symptoms of hormone loss begin to occur is perimenopause.
Hormone Decline In Women: Perimenopause and Menopause
The medical community has come to think that women’s hormone levels begin to drop earlier than ever before. Women as young as even thirty have reported symptoms of hormone decline. There are various reasons for this, some of which are non-hormone-related lifestyle changes that affect many women in society. These include:
- Less exercise and poor diet. It’s a well-established fact that a good diet and lots of exercise preclude hormone problems, and the recent spike in obesity levels among women has also led to hormone loss.
- Chronic stress. The stress of modern life itself can have adverse health effects. Scientists now understand that a stressful lifestyle has important effects on hormone levels, including adrenal fatigue, cortisol imbalance, and thyroid hormone deficiencies.
- Widespread exposure to xenoestrogens. This problem often doesn’t receive the attention it deserves. Lots of common chemicals in our environment have a biologically similar effect to estrogen, causing hormone imbalance. These chemicals include plastics and other products made from hydrocarbons or petroleum products, which are bioactive. Pesticides and hormones that are used to produce our food, including animal and plant products, are other culprits.
TGiven all these issues, it’s no surprise that women are reporting hormone imbalance sooner and sooner, even though women in past generations may have only experienced perimenopause years later in their lives.
But today’s women don’t have to accept that hormone loss will strike them, unavoidably, at a young age. Symptoms of hormone imbalance are treatable, safely and effectively. The secret is bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, or BHRT, which brings levels of key hormones up to the peaks of a woman’s youth. This lessens symptoms of hormone loss, like weight gain and low libido, and in the long term reduces risk of serious lifestyle diseases like heart disease and diabetes—even hormone-mediated diseases like breast cancer.
What is Female Hormone Imbalance?
Traditional medicine still misunderstands and misrepresents perimenopause and menopause. It’s common for women to think that these processes involve estrogen and progesterone production slowly declining until eventually they reach low levels, which ends menstruation and stops ovarian function.
This is an incomplete version of the true story. Estrogen and progesterone work in tandem in a woman’s body to create secondary female characteristics and oversee cycles of ovulation and menstruation. In particular, levels of these hormones change with regard to the menstrual cycle, and each also plays a pivotal role in pregnancy. When they drop too much, it creates hormone imbalance.
What happens during perimenopause is a change in this normal movement of hormone levels. Instead of a slow, steady decline, levels of critical female hormones begin to change dramatically, with too much of one followed by too much of the other. It is this disordered change that creates symptoms of hormone imbalance, including the normal symptoms associated with menopause:
- Weight gain
- Hot flashes
- Night sweats
- Mood changes
Perimenopause can last for decades before menopause itself actually begins. In the United States, a typical woman experiences menopause around age fifty-one, although it often onsets earlier. Hormone imbalance itself affects somewhere around fifty million American women. When menopause itself begins, estrogen and progesterone levels start to fall, and the negative effects of perimenopause intensify.
These age-related changes are far from the only causes of female hormone imbalance, though. There are many other physiological reasons, including:
- An imbalance of testosterone, which is vital for women as well as men
- Thyroid issues, including hypothyroidism
- Adrenal fatigue
- Deficiency in DHEA
- Imbalance in human growth hormone (HGH)
- Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
- Pregnenolone deficiency
- Vitamin D deficiency
Bioidentical Hormone Therapy for Illinois Women
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can rectify the problems caused by hormone imbalance. An exhaustive program of BHRT is designed to remedy hormone imbalance and bring natural hormones to optimum levels, thereby reducing negative symptoms.
The process begins with a diagnosis of a woman’s hormone levels. Deficiency in many hormones can cause problems, including:
- Thyroid hormone
- Human growth hormone
- Vitamin D (technically a pro-hormone)
Your experienced Genemedics physician will use these results to tailor a program of hormone replacement therapy for your body. Correctly administered BHRT can lead to a world of benefits, including:
- Weight loss
- Improved muscle tone
- More energy
- Improved sex drive and libido
- Better orgasms
- Greater strength
- Firmer, younger-looking skin
- Improved mood
- Improved concentration
- Better sleep
- Better memory
- More productive workouts
- Reduced hot flashes
- Eliminate night sweats
- Fewer urinary tract infections
- Improved cholesterol profiles
- Reduced risk of heart disease
- Improved bone strength and density
All doctors employed by Genemedics are experienced at designing hormone replacement programs. Thousands of women have already fought the effects of perimenopause by working with our licensed physicians, all of whom have trained for thousands of hours to safely administer hormone replacement therapy. If you think you may suffer from hormone imbalance, call our clinic in Illinois today to set up an initial consultation.