Among the conditions that can cause hormonal imbalance are insulin resistance, thyroid disorders, fibromyalgia, and more. Menopause and perimenopause are often accompanied by hormonal imbalances, too, and men can be as much at risk as women as they age. Chemical imbalances can have a profound effect on a person’s well-being, health, and quality of life, but bioidentical hormones can help regulate hormone levels. We offer bioidentical hormone therapy (BHRT) at Knox Wellness Experience in Knoxville, TN to help balance your hormone levels.
Generally, bioidentical hormone therapy can improve symptoms within two to three weeks, but it can take as long as eight weeks to see the full effects of the therapy. An individual’s response to bioidentical hormone replacement therapy will vary depending on several factors, including the dosage, lifestyle habits, and body type, as this treatment works best when combined with healthy lifestyle habits and a healthy diet.
Managing diet, sleep patterns, exercise, and stress levels can help you regain a normal hormone balance and relieve unpleasant symptoms. While these by themselves often aren’t enough to resolve your issues, when used in conjunction with BHRT they can speed up your return to feeling like your strong, normal self.
This therapy involves introducing bioidentical hormones (man-made hormones that are chemically identical to those produced naturally by the body), which are derived from plant estrogens. Since the body cannot distinguish between plant-based hormones and the ones it naturally produces, the new plant-derived hormones help balance your hormone levels.
Bioidentical hormones are generally considered to be safer than more traditional hormone replacements. This is due to their natural quality and identical makeup to the hormones in the human body.
Pills, patches, creams, gels, injections, or rings can be used to deliver bioidentical hormones to the body, but bioidentical hormones are best introduced to the body through pellets that will be slowly metabolized. A pellet the size of a rice grain will be injected into the body through a sterile needle. It only takes a moment, and over a few months, the pellet will dissolve in the bloodstream to release hormones as it is absorbed by the body.
There aren’t many post-treatment instructions other than washing the affected area with warm soap and water for a couple of days after the treatment.
Several factors can affect how bioidentical hormones work, from an individual’s lifestyle to the way they receive them. If you receive bioidentical hormones in the form of a pellet, for example, you will usually see results after about four months. A healthy hormone balance can generally be maintained with three pellet cycles a year.
Women’s hormone levels change frequently over the course of their lives, and hormone therapy is most often sought by women when estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels fluctuate around menopause. In addition to menopause symptoms, however, this therapy is useful for anxiety, depression, adrenal disorders, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, thyroid disorders, and insulin resistance in both men and women.
Here are some signs you might benefit from BHRT:
It is not pleasant to have hot flashes during menopause, but they are common. Feelings of sudden and intense heat are uncomfortable and inconvenient as they’re often accompanied by redness, flushed skin, and sweating. Because bioidentical hormones provide more estrogen, progesterone, and other hormones that are reduced during perimenopause and menopause, bioidentical hormones can help reduce the frequency and intensity of hot flashes.
Estrogen regulates body temperature by influencing the hypothalamus, which releases hormones and controls body temperature.
Fatigue can lead to headaches, dizziness, sluggish reflexes, impaired decision-making abilities, moodiness, and sore muscles, among other symptoms. By restoring the balance between progesterone and estrogen, bioidentical hormone therapy helps reduce fatigue.
In addition to stress, prescription medications, insufficient or excessive exercise, depression, alcohol use, drug use, and the difficulties in a relationship, a person’s libido may decline for several different reasons. If a woman has lower levels of estrogen and higher levels of progesterone, her libido can decrease; for men, the same can happen when testosterone drops.
Sometimes a decrease in libido occurs due to hormonal fluctuations and resulting hormonal imbalances. Through this hormone therapy, then, it is possible to increase libido and enjoy a more satisfying sex life once again.
Breastfeeding, some cancer treatments, depression, cigarette smoking, excessive stress, immune system disorders, certain medications, childbirth, rigorous exercise, and surgical removal of the ovaries can all cause vaginal dryness.
Plant-based bioidentical hormones are capable of providing the body with the estrogen and progesterone it needs to deal with this uncomfortable condition. Within eight weeks or less, the treatment usually produces less discomfort, more lubrication, better libido, and better sex.
The loss of bone density and quality is known as osteoporosis. The bone cells of osteoporosis sufferers dissolve the bone matrix at a faster rate than they deposit osteoid. The result is more porous, fragile, and brittle bones, resulting in a higher fracture rate.
Menopause can also cause osteoporosis as there is a direct correlation between a lack of estrogen and this condition. By increasing estrogen levels and preventing bone loss, bioidentical hormones can help postmenopausal women reduce the severity of osteoporosis and maintain stronger bones.
Insulin resistance occurs when glucose is unable to enter the cells easily, causing blood sugar levels to rise. Over time, excess glucose in the blood can cause irreversible damage to the heart, kidneys, and blood vessels in other parts of the body, which can result in more serious problems like heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, amputations, and blindness.
By decreasing insulin resistance, testosterone, estrogen, and progesterone can allow glucose to enter the body’s cells more easily. Since the body recognizes plant-based hormones as being natural hormones, bioidentical hormones can increase and balance the levels of these three hormones.
Sleeping problems can be caused by hormonal imbalances. As we age, progesterone levels decrease, which increases stress and makes falling and staying asleep increasingly difficult.
By introducing more progesterone, this treatment can help you fall asleep and stay asleep longer. The treatment may be effective for some people in less than a week, and people can start having an easier time falling and staying asleep. However, most people will notice they are falingl asleep faster and sleeping better in eight weeks.
It is common for people to gain weight because of diabetic complications, low thyroid function, other endocrine problems, lack of sleep, stress, kidney problems, anxiety, dehydration, menopause, or medications. It is also possible to gain weight if you have an imbalance in your hormones, such as too much cortisol or not enough progesterone, testosterone, or estrogen.
Body fat contains estrogen. In order to increase estrogen production, the body converts more calories into fat when estrogen levels are decreasing. Decreased progesterone levels can lead to increased water retention and bloating, while lowered testosterone levels can impair metabolism and result in muscle loss. In order to reduce abnormal weight gain, estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone must be balanced in the body.
Both men and women may experience anxiety or depression for a variety of reasons at any time during their lives. The imbalance of three neurotransmitters in the body (serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine) can lead to anxiety or depression: the question is often discovering what is causing the imbalance in the first place. Since several hormones play an important role in the production of these neurotransmitters, an imbalance in one or more of these hormones could result in a neurotransmitter imbalance.
By helping the body produce serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine by balancing estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and other hormones, bioidentical hormones help to reduce anxiety and depression.
Women who are perimenopausal or menopausal are most likely to develop fibromyalgia, although its exact cause is still unknown. Musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep problems, memory problems, and mood problems are typical symptoms. Low hormone levels are often associated with fibromyalgia, which disrupts the body’s balance.
Many of fibromyalgia’s symptoms are similar to those associated with hormone deficiency. For this reason, it is believed that bioidentical hormones can compensate for some of the hormonal deficiencies and partially restore the equilibrium of the body by resolving some hormone deficiencies.
Contact Knox Wellness Experience in Knoxville, TN, for more information about bioidentical hormone therapy. We are more than happy to discuss your situation with you, provide personalized recommendations, and answer any questions you may have about bioidentical hormone therapy or any of our other treatments.
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