Are you one of the millions of American men and women struggling with imbalanced hormones? For both men and women, fluctuating hormones can disrupt your life well after the turbulent teenage years.
Even though most dramatic hormone shifts happen with puberty, pregnancy, and menopause, hormone imbalance can result from a wide range of factors, including aging, medications, and some health conditions.
At Integrative Medica in Salt Lake City, Utah, Jacob Schmutz, NMD, and Joshua Hersh, NMD, offer holistic treatment that evaluates your physical, mental, and emotional symptoms to recommend a highly personalized treatment plan.
One way to manage the frustrating symptoms of hormone imbalance is with bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT). Take a moment to learn more about BHRT and the signs that it might be right for you.
We may only think about hormones as they relate to your reproductive system. But hormones play an integral role in many of your body’s functions, including digestion, mood, and metabolism.
If your hormones fall out of balance, your body functions are disturbed and unpleasant side effects result.
Traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) helps you regain normal function by replacing the missing hormones. The hormones used in HRT come from the urine of pregnant animals and synthetic compounds.
At Integrative Medica, we use bioidentical hormone replacement therapy instead. BHRT uses plant-based estrogens that are chemically identical to the ones your body naturally produces, and it offers a gentler approach that can be individualized for your unique hormone needs.
Not everyone with hormone imbalance needs BHRT. It’s important to discuss your symptoms with your provider at Integrative Medica to discover if BHRT is right for you. Generally speaking, people who can benefit from BHRT have one or more of the following signs:
While menopause is a natural process, the symptoms prove intolerable for many women. Hot flashes, night sweats, mood swings, and more interrupt your life, making it difficult to function well throughout the day. If this describes you, BHRT may help.
When your hormone levels change, your sex life can suffer. Many people with imbalanced hormones have decreased libido, trouble with erections (for men), and lack of lubrication (for women), and discomfort or pain during sex because of thinning vaginal tissues (for women).
A woman who is getting closer to menopause and experiencing extreme PMS symptoms may have a condition called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD). Up to 8% of women have PMDD, which causes significant mental distress and pain. A customized BHRT treatment plan can ease your symptoms.
Hormones play an important role in bone density. That’s because your hormones send a signal that triggers cell renewal in your bones, helping them stay strong. With imbalanced hormones, you lose bone strength over time and can develop osteoporosis, which increases your risk of fractures.
One of the signs most commonly associated with hormone challenges is changes in mood and personality. If your mood or personality seems different from what’s normal for you, including developing or worsening anxiety or depression, BHRT might be able to help.
Before you begin treatment, your first step is an evaluation at Integrative Medica. Dr. Hersh or Dr. Schmutz checks your hormone levels and uses your unique areas of imbalance to custom design a BHRT plan for your unique needs.
Your provider takes into account more than just your hormone levels. Your plan is also customized to account for the severity of your symptoms and their impact on your life.
BHRT can be delivered in different ways. Your personalized plan at Integrative Medica may include one or more of the following types of BHRT:
Once you begin BHRT treatment, you should quickly notice an improvement in your symptoms. This is because the bioidentical hormones are close replacements to the ones your body produces, making the treatment effective more quickly.
Your Integrative Medica provider checks in every few months to see how you’re doing on BHRT. This monitoring helps ensure your BHRT treatment plan is effective and allows your provider to make any necessary adjustments.
If you’re ready to learn more about bioidentical hormone therapy, contact the Salt Lake City, Utah, office of Integrative Medica by calling 801-406-1939. You can also book online now!
