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Hormones and Related Problems
These are essentially two kinds of hormone therapy. One is through
the use of synthetic drugs that have been created to replace your natural
hormones.
This is hormone replacement- where your hormones are replaced with synthetic
substitutes. These drugs have recently been making headlines, as medical
researchers have again concluded that long-term use of synthetics can be
dangerous to a woman’s health. The instructions for these products have
always included warnings about health risks, including heart attack, stroke
and certain cancers. The recent news, however, is worded more strongly,
suggesting that women taking synthetics should not continue therapy over the
long term. Many women have been left wondering what to do next.
But there is another group of women that is breathing a collective sigh of
relief. They chose the other form of hormone therapy, the one that does not
cause an increased risk of heart attacks and cancer. The one that’s more
natural, tailored to the needs of your body, and far more effective in
relieving the side effects associated with menopause and other hormonal
symptoms such as pre-menstrual syndrome. They chose bio-identical hormone
replenishment over synthetic hormone replacement, and they’ll tell you it
was the right thing to do. If you suffer from side effects related to
hormone imbalance, hormone replenishment can provide tremendous, long-term
relief.
Hormones and Aging
For women, hormonal balance is always shifting. It is the relative levels of
many different hormones that cause the monthly changes that women
experience. This ebb and flow of normal hormone levels continues until women
approach menopause, the point in life when women no longer experience
regular menstrual cycles.
A normal menstrual cycle is an indication that your body is healthy, and
that hormone levels are changing, as they should. When monthly cycles become
irregular, or when other symptoms begin to appear, it is an indication that
your hormonal balance has become disrupted. PMS or premenstrual syndrome is
when a variety of hormone related symptoms occur in the week or two before
menstruation. The presence of PMS usually indicates an improper hormone
balance. A different condition is premenopause or perimenopause. This
condition is used to describe the phase before menopause in which hormone
levels are transitioning due to the stopping of monthly menstrual cycles.
Premenopause is marked by host of symptoms, and usually begins years before
menopause officially starts. At this time hormone levels are once again
changing and may become unbalanced. Beyond hot flashes, night sweats and
irregular moods, medical researchers have linked hormone imbalance to a
number of disease, including heart disease, osteoporosis, and possibly
mental impairment. Diet, lifestyle choices, stress, medications and
environment can also magnify the negative effects of hormone imbalance.
Symptoms of Imbalance
Depression and irritability
Hot Flashes
Night sweats
Reduced libido
Irregular periods
Cramping and bloating
Cravings, especially for sugars or starches Vaginal dryness Anxiety Headache
Forgetfulness Irregular sleep
Bio-Identical Hormone Replenishment Therapy: BHRT
Bio-identical hormone replenishment is truly that: a protocol that
replenishes the hormones you’ve lost with hormones that are identical, ones
that look and act the same way inside your body. Derived from wild yams and
other plants, bio-identical hormones are molecular replicas of the ones that
have powered your body your entire life. Only bio-identical hormone
replenishment can restore true, natural balance to your system by
replenishing the hormones that you’re deficient in, and by not replenishing
ones that are still being produced at effective levels.
Osteoporosis
Some think that bone growth only occurs while you’re “growing.” The truth
is, your bones are engaged in a constant state of reconstruction. Old bone
cells are continuously destroyed, and new bone cells are continuously grown.
Cells called osteoclasts clear out old bone cells. They destroy and clear
out your old bone cells, leaving tiny pockets in their wake. Osteoclasts are
builder cells that find these pockets and begin building new bone cells to
fill them in. As women age, estrogen and progesterone levels drop causing a
situation where their osteoclasts keep clearing, but their osteoclasts stop
building. The pockets in their bones go unfilled, and as the number of
pockets grows, bones become porous, or sponge-like. Certain bones, like
those in the hips, are more porous to begin with; this makes them
particularly vulnerable to fracture early in life. Twenty million people
suffer from osteoporosis in the US, and up to $45 billion will be spent over
the next four years on medical costs related to hip fractures. Osteoporosis
shows no warning signs, until premature and sometimes debilitating fractures
occur.
The Importance of Progesterone: Building Bones and More
The process of losing bone mass begins during premenopause, years before
menopause officially begins. During this phase, levels of the hormone
progesterone fall dramatically. As a point of comparison, estrogen levels
fall about 30% by age fifty. In contrast, progesterone levels fall up to 75
% between the ages of 35 and 50. Progesterone is an important hormone that
performs a number of vital functions, and combating osteoporosis is one of
its most significant jobs. Progesterone is capable of helping you form more
osteoblasts, the cells that build bones, and it performs this task very
effectively. One study revealed that supplemental, bio-identical
progesterone increased bone density in post-menopausal women by 7% after one
year, 12% after two years and 15% after three years. Estrogen replenishment
alone won’t help you build new bone cells; it only slows the process of bone
cell destruction. For bone building, you need progesterone.
For women to win the battle over osteoporosis, hormone replenishment therapy
must also include progesterone for women that exhibit signs of depletion.
Progesterone plays a key role in an adult woman’s physiology, so natural,
bio-identical progesterone is a key component of BHRT. In addition to
rebuilding bone mass, bioidentical progesterone helps to prevent
cardiovascular disease and heart attacks, regulates mood, assists in the
prevention of breast and endometrial cancers, regulates both good and bad
cholesterol levels, reduces and prevents symptoms of PMS like cramping and
swollen breasts, normalize blood clotting, increases libido, prevents acne
and headaches, and protects against pre-mature hair loss in post-menopausal
women.
Natural Replacement vs. Synthetic “Solutions”
Drug companies understand the importance of supplemental progesterone. Just
like bio-identical estrogen replenishment has synthetic cousins called
conjugated estrogens, progesterone also has synthetic substitutes that are
sold by drug companies, a class of drugs called progestins. While some of
the benefits are the same, the side effects are hard to get past. You don’t
have to subject yourself to these side effects. Bio-identical, natural
progesterone is available as part of your bio-identical hormone
replenishment therapy. Not surprisingly, women taking bio-identical
progesterone as part of their overall hormone therapy report few or none of
the side effects associated with progestins.Potential Side Effects
From Synthetic Progestins:
Breast Cancer
Blood Clots
Breakthrough bleeding
Impaired glucose tolerance
Breast tenderness
Skin Rash/ Acne
Hair loss/ Facial hair growth
Weight Gain
Depression |
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