You’re exhausted by the end of the workday. You’re never in the mood for intimacy. You seem to gain weight without trying, but you can’t lose weight no matter how hard you try.
Sound familiar?
Hormonal imbalances affect nearly 47% of women in the United States, and men often struggle with them as they age. Yet there are treatments available to help you regain your energy, your shape, and your sex life.
Hormone replacement therapy is the leading option for men and women who want to restore balance to their hormones so they can feel like themselves again. For years, synthetic hormones were the only option for treatment. However, with the development of bio-identical hormones, patients now have a natural alternative that could be an even better option.
What Is HRT?
Hormone Replacement Therapy, or HRT, is used to replace the hormones that decrease during aging and menopause. It’s a treatment used by millions of men and women across the nation.
For menopausal women, HRT helps to curb bone loss and can significantly improve symptoms such as sleeplessness, night sweats, hot flashes, and mood swings.
The hormonal changes women experience during menopause can also cause anxiety and depression. Some experience early menopause—either naturally or due to a hysterectomy—adding more years of living without naturally occurring hormones, which further increases the risk of significant bone loss and heart disease. For these women, HRT is especially beneficial.
For men, HRT can have a significant impact on your energy levels, libido, and muscle composition. Men with low testosterone often notice a more immediate impact. However, men can also suffer from low estrogen and high estrogen, both of which can be restored with hormone replacement therapy.
Do I Need It?
Women
If you’re under 40 and your periods have stopped—you’re experiencing early menopause. While not having periods can seem like a good thing, it also increases your risk of osteoporosis. Supplementing your hormone production in some way ensures your bone health well into your later years.
Everyone talks about wanting to live longer, we really want is to live healthier, longer. Enjoying your retirement years means travel and exploration, and in order to do that, you need to care for your body now. If you’re postmenopausal and dealing with fragile bones, depression, or sleeplessness, it’s likely that hormone replacement can help. If you have had a hysterectomy and had your ovaries removed, you’re also a good candidate for HRT.
Men
When you suffer from low-T, the first place you may notice symptoms is in the bedroom. Men with low testosterone often suffer from a low libido and erectile dysfunction. However, the symptoms can also become apparent in other aspects of your life. Hair loss is another common symptom, along with fatigue, weight gain, loss of muscle mass, and changes in mood or behavior.
Certain health conditions can make you more at risk for hormonal imbalances. If you have diabetes, a thyroid disorder, Cushing’s syndrome, or cancer, you are more likely to have imbalanced hormones.
What Do I Need To Know About Synthetic Hormones?
There are two primary sources of hormones in traditional HRT. Although known as “synthetic hormones,” the estrogen in HRT was actually developed from horse urine in the 1940s and is similar to, but not identical to, human estrogen. 
While “similar” sounds good, the truth is that when this substance tries to mesh with your body, different enzymes and chemicals are dispatched to convert the horse-urine hormones into something the human body can use. Because of this, the combo has come with a host of side effects including:
- Blood clots
- Heart attack
- Stroke
- Breast cancer
- Dementia
Women who have had breast or ovarian cancers are advised not to use traditional, synthetic-hormone-based HRT.
What Are Bioidentical Hormones
Bioidentical hormones are exactly what they sound like: hormones that are biologically identical to the naturally occurring hormones in your body. Scientists take plants, generally soy and yams, and purify the chemical compounds in a lab until the chemical makeup matches human hormones exactly.
Because they match up, they are immediately absorbed, lessening the stress on your body. Your body can’t distinguish between these hormones and those your own body produces.
What does that mean? It means that instead of growing older and dealing with broken hips, heart problems, anxiety, depression, and a loss of skin elasticity, you can grow old gracefully and healthfully. You can enjoy this time of your life in the way you were meant to.
What Next?
If you find yourself standing inside your fridge in December because the house is just too hot, waking up soaking wet even though you don’t own a waterbed, or feeling moodier than a teenager, you might want to consider talking to Dr. Proffer at Matrix Age Management about bioidentical hormone treatment.
While those issues are mostly benign, the stress can have a serious impact on your mental health. Not only that, but these symptoms are also indicators of a significant decrease in hormone levels. As we know, the decrease in hormones causes bone loss, sleeplessness, and even heart disease.
Take control of your health now by restoring your body’s natural hormonal balance. Call for a consultation today and let Matrix help you determine your best next steps.
