Is Hormone Replacement Therapy Right for you?
During perimenopause and early menopause the drop in estrogen leads to the common symptoms of hot flashes, night sweats sleep difficulties, mood changes, joint pains, vaginal dryness, decreased libido, and memory lapses. Bioidentical hormone therapy is an effective treatment for perimenopausal and menopausal women suffering from these symptoms.
Perimenopause can last from 2 to 8 years, with an average of 4 years. This period of time as well as early menopause (0 to 10 years) I term the ‘hormonal roller coaster. This is when women can feel ‘unsettled’ as though in a permanent state of PMS, as well as temperature changes, resulting in hot flashes, and sweating.
There are estrogen receptors throughout the entire body. Hormone replacement therapy alleviates these symptoms by working on different parts of the brain such as the hypothalamus, increasing serotonin levels and acting on various organs including the heart, blood vessels and bone.
An update of their 2012 Hormone Therapy Position Statement the North American Menopause Society suggests that the benefits of hormone therapy particularly for vasomotor symptoms outweigh the risks in women under age 60 or within a decade of the onset of menopause. They stated that the use of estrogen therapy in the right candidate should be administered at the lowest effective dose with treatment goals being the therapeutic goal keeping in mind that every woman is different. Woman, when given estrogen. who have not had a hysterectomy need to also take a type of progesterone.
Janis L. Enzenbacher, MD has been treating perimenopausal and menopausal women for over 30 years, she is an expert in the types of hormones that are available as well as their delivery system. During the appointment with Dr. Enzenbacher she takes a thorough history taking of a woman's medical history including family. This allows her to individuate each patient's treatment. She incorporates your diet history, sleep hygiene, emotional support systems, genomics and current baseline labs to get a comprehensive view for each patient.
To learn more about Bioidentical Hormones visit: http://www.secondnaturecare.com/menopause
Monaco, K. (2017, December 29). HRT Benefits Outweigh Risks for Certain Menopausal Women. Retrieved March 26, 2018, from https://www.medpagetoday.com/obgyn/hrt/70186