How Natural Estrogen Replacement Therapy Treats Osteoporosis
For many women, the decline in estrogen production that occurs due to menopause causes very visible and frustrating side-effects. These can include hot flashes, mood swings, hard-to-lose belly fat, insomnia, and more. But a much more dangerous consequence of menopausal hormone decline remains invisible: the weakening of a woman’s bones or “osteoporosis”.
Estrogen, while primarily thought of as a “reproductive hormone,” is also essential to maintaining strong, healthy bones. As estrogen levels decline during menopause, the bones lose calcium. This puts a woman at serious risk of one or more broken bones. In fact, a full fifty percent of women over the age 50 will suffer a bone fracture because of osteoporosis!
And, since osteoporosis has no obvious external symptoms, many women do not even realize that they have it until they experience a fracture.
The good news is that osteoporosis can be prevented in women nearing or during menopause, through the use of 100% natural, convenient and safe bioidentical estrogen replacement therapy.
Preventing Osteoporosis with Natural Estrogen Replacement Therapy
To begin with, it is helpful to understand how proper hormone balance protects bones. One of estrogen’s many functions is to stimulate activity in certain cells – called “osteoblasts” – that produce bone. So, when a woman’s estrogen level drops due to menopause, these osteoblasts no longer produce new bone cells, and the bones become more “hollow” or porous and weaker.
The very first FDA treatment that was approved to prevent osteoporosis was actually estrogen replacement therapy! Subsequently, pharmaceutical companies have jumped on the osteoporosis bandwagon, offering a variety of synthetic drugs and medications to improve bone density. These include bisphosphonates (like Fosamax and Boniva) and anabolic drugs. But, as with any lab-created drug, osteoporosis medicines come with a wide array of side effects.
So, while there are now many new synthetic drugs for osteoporosis, most enlightened medical professionals prefer to treat the underlying cause of osteoporosis – estrogen deficiency – in order preserve bone density and prevent bone fractures in post-menopausal women. But just replacing estrogen with a one-size-fits-all synthetic hormone pill or cream isn’t the best answer.
The Two Types of Estrogen Replacement for Osteoporosis
There are two types of hormone replacement therapy: synthetic hormones created in a laboratory, and “bioidentical” replacement hormones that are derived from natural, plant-based sources.
Nothing that is created in a lab will ever be identical to what is found naturally in the body. But “bioidentical” hormones that are obtained from natural, living, plant-based sources are virtually identical in molecular structure to human hormones. So, the human body more readily “recognizes” bioidentical hormones, and they “fit” better with the body’s other cells. As a result bioidentical hormones – such as SottoPelle® Method estrogen replacement using subdermal pellets – are more effective than lab created hormones.
Bioidentical Estrogen Replacement is Safer for Osteoporosis
Because bioidentical hormone replacement therapy replicates the hormones that the body naturally produces, bioidentical estrogen replacement therapy is very safe for most perimenopausal, menopausal or post-menopausal women. The esteemed American Society for Reproductive Medicine, The North American Menopause Society, and The Endocrine Society have all unequivocally stated that most healthy, menopausal women can safely use estrogen replacement therapy for osteoporosis prevention.
(Note: A very small number of women with certain health issues – including women with breast or uterine cancer, liver disease, or a history of blood clots – may not be ideal candidates for estrogen therapy. Estrogen replacement therapy Your doctor or a SottoPelle Method Certified Physician can help you decide if estrogen therapy is right for you.)
Ideally, the best time to begin estrogen replacement therapy for osteoporosis prevention is during early menopause. But, clinical studies have also demonstrated that estrogen replacement therapy can still preserve and protect bone mass, even when started more than a decade after the onset menopause!
Clinical Studies on Estrogen Replacement & Osteoporosis
A systematic clinical review entitled Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy and Quality of Life in Postmenopausal Women was published this year (Maturitas; April 2023) found that bioidentical hormone replacement therapy significantly improved bone density in postmenopausal women. The study authors concluded that BHRT was an effective treatment for osteoporosis prevention.1
A study in the American Journal of Medicine also found that women receiving BHRT had a slower rate of bone loss compared to those not using hormone therapy – recognizing estrogen replacement therapy for its positive impact on bone mineral density and fracture prevention.
The esteemed American Society for Reproductive Medicine, The North American Menopause Society, and The Endocrine Society have also all unequivocally indicated that most menopausal women can safely use estrogen replacement therapy for osteoporosis prevention.
Pellets: The Best Estrogen Replacement Method
Estrogen replacement was originally delivered by a wide variety of methods: daily pills, messy gels and creams, unsightly patches, and painful shots. But SottoPelle® has “changed the game” of female hormone replacement with long-lasting, time-released sub-dermal estrogen pellets, that last from 3 to 5 months with a single insertion.
To begin with, estrogen pellets are much more convenient to use – with nothing to remember to take every day, no patches to replace, no sticky creams to apply, and no painful shots.
Even more importantly, hormone replacement pellets are by far more effective that other estrogen delivery methods. Clinical studies have shown that use of estrogen pellets resulted in four times the increase in bone density of oral estrogen pills, and 2.5 times more bone mass than hormone patches!
Additionally, unlike hormone pills, shots, or creams that put your body on a roller coaster of hormone dosage ups and downs, time-released estrogen pellets deliver hormones the same way the ovaries do – consistently and gradually over time, only as they are needed.
Estrogen Replacement Therapy | Phoenix, AZ area
Bioidentical estrogen replacement therapy prevents osteoporosis by restoring the body’s natural hormone balance – rather than introducing lab-created chemicals that come with harsh and dangerous side effects.
It’s never too late to take steps to ensure that you are NOT in the 50% of women who will suffer a bone fracture due to osteoporosis. Ask your doctor if estrogen replacement therapy is the right treatment to help you maintain strong, healthy bones after menopause … and for the rest of your life! Then insist on bioidentical estrogen replacement pellets for the safest, most consistent, 100% natural, and easiest-to-use form of hormone replacement.
Or, you can also use our physician finder to locate a SottoPelle® Method estrogen replacement provider in your area, or almost anywhere in the US!
