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Why Your Bones Want You To Have Healthy Hormones

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You know that having balanced hormones helps alleviate symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, loss of libido and mood swings. But healthy hormone levels do more than improve the way you feel– they can save your bones (and maybe even your life).

May is National Osteoporosis Month, and according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation:

● An estimated 10 million Americans have osteoporosis, 80% of them women
● Almost half of women over age 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis
● A woman’s risk of hip fracture is equal to her combined risk of uterine, ovarian and breast cancer.1

Not only that, studies show that the risk of death goes up sharply in the event of a hip or back fracture.2

What does this have to do with hormones?

The hormone estrogen protects women’s bones, and when menopause hits and estrogen levels plummet, women are at greater risk for bone loss, osteoporosis and fractures. Hormone replacement therapy keeps estrogen levels where they should be, protecting your bones and, as a result, your health and vitality.

What if I am already taking medications to prevent bone loss?

While for older women with a diagnosis of osteoporosis, bone building drugs can and do reduce the incidence of fractures, many younger post-menopausal women with osteopenia (bone loss that is not as severe as osteoporosis) are being prescribed these drugs on a “preventive” basis. These drugs can have serious side effects, and research shows that they don’t provide much protection from fractures for women in these situations.3

Maintaining healthy hormone levels can help women protect their bones without the side effects associated with bone building medications.

What about men?

Just like with women, healthy hormone levels are an important part of protecting bone health in men.

A 2017 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found that one year of testosterone therapy significantly increased bone density and bone strength in men aged 65 and older. This is part of what researchers have dubbed “the T Trials,” an effort by the National Institutes of Health to study the effects of testosterone treatment in 790 men ages 65 and older. The ongoing trials will next seek to confirm if testosterone therapy and its bone-building ability also protects men from suffering fractures.4

In the meantime, it’s exciting that the research is catching up to what we already know– that healthy hormone levels are key to aging well, staying strong, remaining vital, and holding onto your health, all the way down to your bones!

Resources:

1. https://www.nof.org/preventing-fractures/general-facts/what-women-need-to-know/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4124750/
3. http://hormonebalance.org/userfiles/file/aarp_bone_health.pdf
4. https://www.healio.com/primary-care/mens-health/news/online/%7B65bd909f-b9ad-420a-89f8-2128df053f51%7D/testosterone-treatment-improves-bone-density-strength-in-older-men

Five more Myths about Testosterone and Women

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Five more Myths about Testosterone and Women

We’ve already posted our Top 5 Myths about testosterone use in women, but, believe it or not, there is even more misinformation out there! Let’s dispel a few more untruths about testosterone replacement therapy for women.

Myth #1: Testosterone has adverse effects on the heart. We aren’t sure where this one came from. Perhaps because men have more testosterone than women and men are at greater risk of heart disease than women, someone drew a correlation where none exists. In reality, the exact opposite is true. There is substantial evidence that testosterone is cardiac protective. It has a positive effect on lean body mass, blood sugar metabolism, cardiac muscle, and lipid profiles in both men and women. It is even used to treat and prevent cardiovascular disease. For women with congestive heart failure, testosterone has been shown to improve muscle strength, insulin resistance, and functional capacity. You heard it here: healthy levels of testosterone are good for your heart!

Myth #2: Testosterone causes liver damage. Perhaps this myth arose after concerns of liver and kidney damage in men who took anabolic steroids and oral synthetic androgens. Testosterone patches and implants, unlike pellet hormone replacement therapy, pellets bypass the liver and have no adverse effects on the organ itself, liver enzymes, or clotting factors. We might also add that non-oral testosterone does not increase the risk of pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis the way oral estrogens, androgens and synthetic progestins do.

Myth #3: Testosterone causes aggression. This completely unfounded myth couldn’t be more wrong. Although anabolic steroid use has been shown to increase aggression, this is not the case for testosterone therapy. Even large doses of subcutaneous (under the skin) testosterone therapy do not increase aggression. In fact, studies show that in 90% of women treated for symptoms of androgen deficiency, instances of anxiety, irritability and aggression all decreased with therapy. We’ve known this for a long time: androgen therapy has been used to treat PMS for more than 60 years.

Myth #4: Testosterone may increase the risk of breast cancer. This myth can be a little complicated to sort out because some past studies have noted an association between elevated androgen levels and breast cancer. However, methodological limitations and inconsistencies in these studies call them into question, as well as the fact that they do not account for elevated estradiol levels (excess testosterone can be converted by the body into estradiol, an estrogen associated with breast cancer). Clinical trials have confirmed that a healthy balance of testosterone and estradiol is breast protective. Testosterone therapy does not increase the risk of breast cancer and may actually lower it in women on estrogen therapy.

Myth #5: The safety of testosterone use in women has not been established. We’ve been accumulating data on testosterone use in women since 1938, when testosterone implants were first used in female patients. Long-term data confirms the safety, efficacy and tolerability of doses of up to 225 mg in women for up to 40 years of therapy. Additionally, data on higher doses of testosterone used in transgender “female to male” patients shows no increase in mortality or major health problems, including breast cancer or vascular disease. Testosterone is safe for women. Seven decades of data proves it.

For more myths about testosterone therapy and women, read our Top 5 Myths on Testosterone Use in Women.

Reference:

Glaser et al. Testosterone therapy in women: Myths and misconceptions. Maturitas (2013) 74:231-234

Top 5 Myths About Testosterone Use In Women

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Think testosterone is just for guys? Think again. Testosterone plays a crucial role in women’s health, too, and it’s not what you think. Women across the globe are discovering, with the help of SottoPelle® Therapy, a bioidentical hormone replacement, that testosterone therapy can ease their symptoms of menopause and improve their quality of life in more ways than one.

Let’s take a look at the top 5 myths about testosterone use and women.

  1. Myth #1: Testosterone is a “male” hormone. While we usually associate testosterone with men, the fact is that testosterone is an extremely important part of the hormonal system in both sexes. Testosterone is, in fact, the most abundant biologically active hormone in women! The androgen receptor for testosterone is actually found on the X chromosome. However, testosterone became a member of the “boys only” club, it isn’t based on science.
  2. Myth #2: In women, testosterone only helps with sex drive and libido. Yes, testosterone is the most abundant active sex steroid present in a woman throughout her lifespan, but that’s not where its influence ends. Functional androgen receptors (molecules that bind to testosterone and other androgens to perform specific functions for cells) are located in almost all tissues in the female body, including the breast, heart, blood vessels, gastrointestinal tract, lung, brain, spinal cord, nerves, bladder, uterus, ovaries, endocrine glands, vaginal tissue, skin, bone, muscle and more. This is why testosterone replacement therapy can help women not only with sexual issues, but also with bone loss, muscle loss, urinary complaints, breast pain, rheumatoid complaints, incontinence, and fatigue, just to name a few.
  3. Myth #3: Testosterone masculinizes women. Large doses of testosterone will create a masculinizing effect, as evidenced by hormone treatment for transgender persons. But low dose, individualized testosterone treatments, such as those used with SottoPelle® Therapy, a bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, are designed to bring testosterone levels up to normal, not to exceed them. Any unwanted side effects can be reversed by lowering the dose. Some research has even shown that low doses of testosterone not only don’t masculinize women, they also produce a “feminizing effect.”
  4. Myth #4: Testosterone use will change your voice. Unfortunately, anecdotal reports have suggested that testosterone therapy can cause hoarseness or permanent vocal changes in women; however, studies have produced no conclusive evidence of this. The most common causes of hoarseness and voice change are allergies, laryngitis, reflux, voice over-use, mucosal tears, medications, and vocal cord polyps. Taking testosterone is not going to change your voice.
  5. Myth #5: Testosterone causes hair loss in women. This myth doesn’t make a lot of sense biologically speaking as men have higher levels of testosterone in their bodies than women, and yet they experience more hair loss. The fact is that many factors contribute to hair loss (including genetics), and approximately one third of women experience hair loss and hair thinning with normal aging. As aging coincides with a natural decline in testosterone, this may be where the myth developed. In truth, testosterone pellet therapy has been associated with scalp hair re-growth in many women, suggesting that instead of making women lose hair, raising testosterone back to healthy levels may help them to grow more of it.

Those aren’t all the myths associated with testosterone use in women, but they are some of the most common. Check back for more myths about testosterone therapy and women in our next blog post.

Reference:

Glaser et al. Testosterone therapy in women: Myths and misconceptions. Maturitas (2013) 74:231-234

Breast Cancer Awareness

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This October, SottoPelle Therapy is proud to participate in National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is one of the most common kinds of cancer in women after skin cancer. About 1 in 8 women born today in the United States will get breast cancer at some point.

The good news is that most women can survive breast cancer if it’s found and treated early.

  • If you are a woman age 40 to 49, talk with your doctor about when to start getting mammograms and how often to get them.
  • If you are a woman age 50 to 74, be sure to get a mammogram every 2 years. You may also choose to get them more often.

Talk to a doctor about your risk for breast cancer, especially if a close family member of yours had breast or ovarian cancer. Your doctor can help you decide when and how often to get mammograms.

 

 

 

 

You can find more amazing resources here:  https://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/about-breast-cancer/ebook-resources