Are you feeling uncharacteristically tired or anxious? Or do you just feel unwell, but you can’t put your finger on what’s wrong? Sometimes, hormone imbalances cause such changes, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can help your body re-establish its physiological balance.
Think of hormones as chemical messengers that travel through your blood to your organs and tissues to help regulate how your body functions and behaves. Reproductive hormones, which regulate the processes that can lead to creating life, naturally wane as you age. A drop in reproductive hormone levels can cause:
- Decreased muscle mass
- Loss of bone density
- Tissue degradation
- Chronic fatigue
- Weight gain
- Hair loss
BHRT uses bio-identical medications that contain hormones to replace the ones your body stops producing. The result is a restoration of optimum hormone levels and a slowing of the aging process.
Some hormone replacement therapies use growth hormones to encourage tissue repair, cell regeneration, increased bone mass, mental alertness, enzyme production, as well as stronger hair, skin, and nails.
Other hormone therapies replace the estrogen and progesterone women lose as they approach and enter menopause. This greatly reduces the more troublesome symptoms of menopause, including hot flashes and sleep disturbances.
If any of the following describe you, BHRT might benefit your health.
- Your periods stopped before age 40
- You suffer from severe hot flashes, the hallmark of menopause
- You’ve lost bone mass and aren’t responding to other treatments
Myth: HRT is for women only
Both men and women can suffer from declining or see-sawing hormone levels as they age.
Luckily, HRT can help both sexes. HRT for men can regulate declining testosterone levels that lead to fatigue, diminished sex drive, thinning hair, and loss of lean muscle mass.