Women’s Hormone Replacement Therapy in California

Most women already are educated about menopause, the process by which the female body stops producing sex hormones. This decline in estrogen and progesterone leads to a loss of ovarian function and fertility. But though menopause is familiar, its related process perimenopause is less well-known: this involves age-related hormone changes that begin in the mid-thirties. The effects of perimenopause are harder to detect, but can be as difficult to deal with as menopause itself.

Hormone Decline In Women: Perimenopause and Menopause

The drop in women’s hormone levels is occurring earlier than it once did. Today, the scientific consensus is that hormone-related issues can begin in women as young as thirty. There are lots of lifestyle and environmental changes that lead to hormone levels dropping earlier than they once did. These include:

• Less exercise and poor diet. The recent prevalence of obesity among women has been matched by increased hormone problems. A healthy diet and lots of exercise, therefore, can help keep hormone production strong.
• Chronic stress. Stress itself can affect hormone levels, and it’s well-established that stress levels have risen in the modern world. Chronic stress can cause adrenal fatigue, cortisol imbalance, and thyroid hormone deficiencies.
• Widespread exposure to xenoestrogens. Many people are not aware of the debilitating effect that xenoestrogens can have on the human body. Often, chemicals in the environment have a similar effect to estrogen, throwing the body out of balance. Xenoestrogens are found in plastics, petroleums, and other products containing hydrocarbons. Pesticides and hormones used in food production also can accidentally boost estrogen levels.

It’s not surprise, therefore, that increasing numbers of women report symptoms of hormone deficiency at a much earlier point in their lives than their mothers and grandmothers did.

Fortunately, today’s women have options beyond simply accepting the unpleasant effects of hormone imbalance. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is a safe and effective method that brings hormone levels back into balance. This both stops the outward symptoms, like sleep trouble, weight gain, and hot flashes, and makes women less susceptible to diseases like heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and even cancer.

What Is Female Hormone Imbalance?

Perimenopause and menopause are widely misunderstood, even among physicians who specifically focus on women’s health. The typical perception is that during periods of hormonal change, creation of estrogen and progesterone drops until they reach low levels. This is followed by the end of menstruation and loss of ovarian function.

This is not untrue, but there’s a lot more going on. Estrogen and progesterone work in tandem as a woman ages to produce secondary female characteristics; they also regulate ovulation and menstruation. Levels of these hormones rise and fall with the menstrual cycle, and each plays a pivotal role in pregnancy. When they fall too much, the result is hormone imbalance.

Perimenopause involves the normal change in hormone levels falling into disarray. Though many people believe that hormone production slowly sinks, in fact their hormone levels change dramatically and with little pattern: estrogen and progesterone alternately rise and fall, causing the widely recognized symptoms of perimenopause:

All in all, up to fifty million American women suffer from hormone deficiencies.

Though menopause onsets rapidly, perimenopause can last for up to twenty years beforehand. Menopause involves a worsening of the symptoms involved in perimenopause, caused by a drop in estrogen and progesterone; the average age of menopause in the United States is roughly 51.

This period can last for as long as twenty years, before the onset of menopause. The average age of menopause in the United States is around 51, although it can occur earlier. During menopause, estrogen and progesterone levels decline rapidly, resulting in the intensification of symptoms experienced during perimenopause.

Hormone imbalance, however, can be caused by many factors beyond perimenopause and menopause, which are primarily related to age. Additional factors causing a drop in hormone production include:

BHRT for California Women – Female Hormone Specialist California

Women dealing with the effects of hormone imbalance can be helped with bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. A program of hormone replacement therapy is completely personalized and designed to alleviate symptoms of imbalance while reducing the liability for long-term disease.

The first step in BHRT is an evaluation of your hormone levels. These hormones include:

Then, based on the test results, your physician will create a personalized program of BHRT. These programs can make a huge difference in women’s lives, leading to:

Genemedics employs experienced physicians who have had success designing programs of hormone replacement for thousands of women. Genemedics doctors have all been trained in administering bioidentical hormones, and our programs are completely safe and reliable. If you think your menopausal symptoms could actually be the result of hormone imbalance, call our clinic for a female hormone specialist in California today to set up your initial appointment and evaluation.