Both men and women can suffer from sex hormone imbalances. This condition can be treated with bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. If you believe that you may have hormonal deficiency or imbalance, AdvancedClinics can assist you in diagnosing your symptoms and provide you with the optimal bioidentical hormone replacement therapy option.
What Are Hormones?
Hormones are chemicals that control all functioning in the body. Although some hormones serve specific roles in our bodies, other hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen, act as a primary coordinator for a wide variety of bodily functions. Consequently, small fluctuations in these hormone levels can onset a chain of undesirable reactions.
What Are Testosterone and Estrogen?
These two hormones are often referred to as sex hormones for men and women, respectively. Although both types of sex hormones can be found in both men and women, testosterone plays the main role in men versus estrogen, which plays the main role in women.
Importance of Testosterone in Men
Testosterone is crucial to the growth of male sex organs in the fetus. It is also vital to the development of puberty’s secondary sex characteristics, such as voice deepening, hair growth, and dramatic bone and muscle growth.
In addition, it is responsible for these following roles:
- Triggers red blood cells production
- Promotes bone and muscle cell growth and repair
- Regulates fat, protein, and sugar metabolism
- Maintains male libido and sperm production
- Controls brain functioning
- Promotes nerve cells growth and repair
- Balances mood and motivation
- Controls oil production in skin and hair follicle cells
Importance of Estrogen in Women
Similar to testosterone, estrogen is essential to the development of primary and secondary sex characteristics in women. It also regulates the menstrual cycle as well as fetus development during pregnancy.
It is also responsible for these functions:
- Controls bone cell growth and repair
- Affects the blood coagulation process
- Controls sebum secretion in skin and hair follicle cells
- Regulates collagen production
- Balances skin hydration
- Regulates the skin barrier
- Promotes salivary gland and vaginal gland secretions
- Controls fat, protein, and sugar metabolism
- Promotes neuron growth and memory formation
- Triggers production of serotonin and endorphins
- Upkeeps immune system
What Causes Testosterone Imbalance?
Although testosterone fluctuation can happen to any man, the leading cause of testosterone imbalance is aging. Once men reach middle age, their testosterone production decreases. However, when the level plummets below a normal level, the condition is known as andropause or “low-T.”
American Urological Association statistics indicate that about 40% of men above the age of 45 suffer from low-T. This number increases with age. For men between ages 70 to 80, as many as 3 out of 10 may suffer from low testosterone.
Other factors may significantly increase the risk of low testosterone in men:
- Obesity
- High cholesterol
- High body mass index (BMI)
- Cigarette smoking
- Alcohol abuse
- Malnutrition
- Diabetes
- Hypothyroidism
- Abnormal functioning of the pituitary gland
- Prolonged exposure to estrogen from external sources
- Liver or kidney failure
What Causes Estrogen Imbalance?
Some fluctuations are normal in women’s lives. Puberty, the onset of the menstrual cycle, and pregnancy cause estrogen to increase. The final days of the menstrual cycle and menopause cause the level to drop. For some women, these fluctuations are more drastic than others for various reasons such as:
- Ovary failure
- Hypogonadism
- Malfunctioning of the pituitary gland
- Congenital abnormalities
- Polycystic ovarian syndrome
- Extreme exercise
- Malnutrition
- Extreme low body fat content
Common Symptoms of Low Testosterone Level
- Muscle loss
- Low semen volume
- Lowered libido
- Erectile dysfunction
- Low energy level
- Muscular strength loss
- General sense of tiredness
- Decrease in spontaneous erection frequency
- Testicle size decrease
- Reduction in facial and body hair
- Hot flashes
- Breast growth
- Sperm count decrease
- Infertility
- Increase in weight
- Increase in body fat
- Mood swings
- Brain fog
- Dry skin and brittle hair
- Accelerated skin aging
- Difficulty in memory formation
- Inability to focus
- Anemia
- Muscle pain
- Depression
- Sleep apnea
Common Symptoms of Low Estrogen Level
- Weight gain (especially in the lower body)
- Hot flashes
- Night sweats
- Problem staying asleep
- Heavy and/or irregular periods
- Continuous urinary tract infections
- Memory problems
- Frequent illness
- Brain fog
- Muscle loss
- Frequent need to urinate
- Indigestion
- Constipation or diarrhea
- General sense of fatigue
- Mood swings
- Muscle soreness and fatigue
- Onset of dental and gum problems
- Dizziness
- Joint pain
- Irritability
- Newly brittle hair
- Dry skin
- Dry mouth
- Vaginal dryness
- Hair loss
- Brittle nails
- Loss of libido
- Skin sagging and accelerated aging
How Can Hormone Replacement Therapy Help?
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is a general term for any type of treatment that uses synthetic hormones to re-establish a patient’s hormone level. When used for women, it is often referred to as postmenopausal hormone therapy or menopausal hormone therapy.
For testosterone HRT, the hormone is synthetically produced by pharmaceutical companies. The estrogen in HRT is extracted from pregnant mare’s urine in a laboratory setting. These hormones are structurally similar but not identical to the human sex hormones.
What Is Bioidentical Hormonal Replacement Therapy (BHRT)?
This is a type of hormone replacement therapy that utilizes only bioidentical hormones for treatment. All the hormones are extracted from plants such as soy and yam. They are structurally identical to the human sex hormone molecules.
Why Are Bioidentical Hormones Better?
Because they are structurally identical to the human hormones, they are exact matches to the hormone cell receptors. This means that they can be very efficiently taken up by the human body. The identical structure minimizes the chance for a rejection reaction.
Another advantage of using bioidentical hormones is that each treatment order is customized for one single patient to suit their unique needs. For HRT, hormones are produced in bulk to satisfy general needs. Consequently, physicians have to go through many test-and-see trials to fine-tune the treatment plan. When all fails, the physician will refer the patient to a specialist.
For BHRT, clients immediately consult with specialists for a thorough diagnosis and exact dosage needs. There is no trial-and-error approach. As a result, clients can expect to see improvement faster.
Different Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy Options
Depending on the dosage needs, there are several treatment options:
- Topical cream or gel lotion
- Intramuscular injections
- Patches
- Pellet implants
This question is one of the most important factors to consider as it dictates how much time you are required to spend on administering the hormone.
Improvements to Expect in Testosterone BIoidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
Testosterone replacement therapy has been shown to help men significantly alleviate physical symptoms. In addition, it improves the overall mental and emotional wellbeing of individuals that suffer from low-T.
Physical Benefits
Although some improvements, such as bone density and blood cell count, can only be detected in lab tests, many clients note a quick change in their energy level. They have indicated better metabolism, a reduction in body fat, and an increase in muscle mass growth.
For clients that suffer from breast formation, they see the formation dissipate while they regain their erection ability. Some other improvements are better skin and hair quality and lessening in muscle pain.
Mental Benefits
For testosterone BHRT, the most significant changes can be seen in mental symptoms. Many patients claim a substantial improvement in their brain functioning. They no longer experience brain fogs and regain their concentration abilities. They also see a big difference in memory formation as well.
Emotional Benefits
Because testosterone is closely tied with mood and motivation, low T tends to cause depression and general low self-esteem. Individuals who received BHRT claim that they feel more motivated and confident. And having better quality sleep also helps alleviate mood swings and depression.
Improvements to Expect in Estrogen Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy
Estrogen replacement therapy has been clinically proven to help women with estrogen imbalance drastically. Both clinical studies and patient testimonies have demonstrated successful alleviation in physical, emotional, and mental symptoms.
Physical Benefits
BHRT has become a commonly-used therapy because it works wonders on many PMS-related symptoms. A vast majority of patients state that they experience these improvements:
- Reduction in hot flashes and night sweats
- Much better quality sleep
- Reduction in skin irritation
- Less need to urinate frequently
- Significant decrease in muscle and joint pain
- Overall better sense of physical health
- Fewer migraines
- Boosted digestion and metabolism
- Less vaginal dryness
Mental Benefits
One of the biggest concerns many menopausal women experience is brain function deterioration. Because of the body’s failure to uptake glucose as the brain’s primary energy source, the neurons can no longer fire at full capacity.
Along with a lack of new neuron growth, the brain has great difficulty forming new memory. It leads to a condition called “brain fog.” After being treated with estrogen replacement hormone, patients see a quick improvement in both memory and information processing.
Many clients state that they can finally make sense of what is happening to their bodies. Consequently, they no longer feel anxious about their current situation.
Emotional Benefits
Just by regaining their mental capacity and having better quality sleep, almost all patients feel less stressed out. Also, the elevated estrogen level directly boosts the production of serotonin and endorphin hormones (also known as happy hormones). Overall, patients claim that therapy has allowed them to reclaim their bodies and minds.
Appearance Benefits
Because elevated estrogen levels generate collagen production and improve hydration retention, clients can expect to see better skin texture, thickness, and firmness. And with more water being retained within the skin cells, wrinkles and fine lines become less prominent.
Another difference many patients witness is stronger, thicker hair. There is less dandruff as well with increased sebum formation in the hair cell follicles. Nails also become healthier and less brittle.
Other Conditions That May Benefit From Testosterone BHRT
- Diabetes
- Heart diseases
- High cholesterol
- Sleep apnea
- Obesity
Other Conditions That May Benefit From Estrogen BHRT
- Severe menstrual cycle cramps
- Perimenopause symptoms
- Hysterectomy
- Thyroid problems
- Ovarian cysts formation
- Diabetes
- Heart disease
- Metabolic syndrome
- Osteoporosis
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- PTSD
- Mood disorders
- Depression
When Do Improvements Happen?
Hormone imbalance does not happen in one single day but over weeks or months. It will also take a certain amount of time before the replacement hormone re-establishes hormone levels. In addition, your specialist may give you smaller doses throughout the therapy to avoid any roller-coaster side effects.
We want to help you reclaim your active lifestyle. If you are interested in learning how bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can help you, contact AdvancedClinics in Oklahoma City. Our medical specialists will be delighted to answer your questions and concerns about your unique needs. We look forward to hearing from you.