Five Symptoms of Menopause That Hormone Therapy Can Treat
Menopause marks the end of a woman’s reproductive years – with an average onset age of 51. However, menopause can occur as young as the late 30’s – or as late as a woman’s early 6os. Leading up to menopause, a woman’s ovaries begin producing significantly less amounts of the “sex hormones” that regulate reproduction, including estrogen.
However, these hormones also regulate virtually every aspect of a woman’s body, from metabolism and weight gain, to bone density and sex drive. So, the decrease in hormones caused by menopause can cause a wide variety of changes and unpleasant side effects in a woman’s body.
The symptoms and side effects of hormone decline due to menopause can include: hot flashes, sleep problems, low sex drive, vaginal dryness, pain during sex, urinary incontinence, weight gain, mood swings, fatigue, bone density loss (osteoporosis), and more.
However, the good news is that replacing declining hormones during menopause with bioidentical hormone pellets can offer long-lasting relief from these problematic and often painful symptoms of menopause.
In this article the hormone replacement experts at SottoPelle in Phoenix, AZ discuss five of the most common symptoms of menopause – and how hormone replacement therapy can help alleviate them.
#1. Menopause Treatment for Low Energy & Fatigue
Testosterone, although most commonly thought of as a male hormone, plays a significant role in boosting energy, in both men and women. Testosterone is the hormone – in both men and women – that assists the body in building proteins for muscle maintenance and energy. Low levels of testosterone in men or women can lead to endless and sometime debilitating fatigue.
Similarly, fatigue can be a result of a deficiency of thyroid and associated hormones. The thyroid controls several aspects of your metabolism, making it essential to maintaining energy levels. So, in addition to balancing a woman’s estrogen during menopause, it is important to look at her complete panel of hormones using comprehensive blood tests.
#2. Menopause Treatment for Vaginal Dryness & Painful Sex
The most common cause of vaginal dryness and pain during intercourse is estrogen decline that occurs due to menopause. After menopause, more than 50% of women suffer from vaginal dryness and pain during sex due to insufficient estrogen levels.
Estrogen is the female “sex hormone” that is responsible for maintaining thick, healthy tissue in the vaginal walls, and producing moisture to lubricate the vagina. But, as estrogen production declines with menopause, the vaginal walls thin, lose elasticity and secrete less lubrication.
Estrogen replacement can help a woman’s body rebuild thick, strong, elastic, lubricated vaginal tissue so that sexual intimacy once again becomes enjoyable!
#3. Menopause Treatment for Hot Flashes
Experts including Harvard and the Mayo Clinic all agree that the most effective treatment for the severe hot flashes and night sweats caused by menopause is estrogen replacement.
Hot flashes – sometimes called hot flushes – affect up to 75% of women as they go through menopause. Hot flashes are a “vasomotor symptom” – meaning they are caused by sudden dilation of the blood vessels. The increased blood flow causes a sensation of extreme heat and profuse sweating.
In a clinical study of 3,329 participants, replacing oral estrogen or estrogen plus progestin resulted in a 75% reduction in hot flashes.
#4. Menopause Treatment for Weight Gain
The hormonal decline and imbalance of menopause causes weight gain – especially around the middle or belly – in multiple ways.
To begin with, metabolism slows down if estrogen levels are low, which in turn increases fat storage on the body. Further, low estrogen levels result in less ability to break down fat cells, which also results in fat accumulation, weight gain and a bigger waist circumference (“belly fat”). And, in cases where there is an excess of androgens (male hormones) it can further increase the risk of obesity.
To add to the problem, lowered levels of the hormone leptin – which signal the brain to feel “full” after eating – also drop during menopause. This means that a woman actually does feel hungrier during menopause, which can lead to consuming more calories.
But, rebalancing hormones can help reverse weight gain, build muscle, and redistribute fat storage in perimenopausal and menopausal woman.
#5. Menopause Treatment for Osteoporosis
One of estrogen’s many important functions is to stimulate the cellular activity that produces bone. So, as estrogen levels decline during menopause, the bones lose calcium.
Several recent studies have determined that estrogen replacement is the best way to prevent broken bones due to osteoporosis – and should be the first choice of therapy, rather than bisphosphonate medicines (which include Fosamax and Boniva). In addition to preventing fractures, estrogen was shown to protect the discs in the spine in a way that non-hormonal preparations did not.
So, while there are now many “synthetic” drugs for osteoporosis, enlightened medical professionals prefer to treat the underlying cause of osteoporosis – estrogen deficiency – with hormone therapy.
100% Natural Menopause Treatment – Phoenix, AZ
In addition to treating fatigue, painful sex, vaginal dryness, weight gain, hot flashes and osteoporosis Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy also helps prevent cardiovascular (heart) disease, type 2 diabetes, and many other serious medical conditions.
If you are a woman who is navigating the challenges of perimenopause or menopause, ask your doctor if hormone replacement therapy is the right treatment for you. Then insist on bioidentical hormone replacement pellets for the safest, most consistent, 100% natural, and easiest-to-use form of hormone replacement.
Or, if you live in the greater Phoenix, AZ area schedule a thorough, personalized hormone analysis and consultation at SottoPelle®’s Scottsdale, AZ office. And if you are outside of the Phoenix area, you can also use our physician finder to locate a SottoPelle® Method hormone replacement provider in your area, or almost anywhere in the US.
