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Bio-identical Hormone Therapy vs. Traditional Non-Bio-identical Hormone Therapy

When a woman goes through menopause, she experiences a variety of uncomfortable symptoms due to the lack of natural hormones in her body. One of the hormones that must be balanced within a woman’s body as they age is estrogen. With hormone replacement therapy, the natural estrogen levels in a woman’s body can be restored, helping to relieve the symptoms of menopause such as hot flashes, night sweating, vaginal dryness, dry skin and eyes, essentially restoring the body to a more premenopausal state.

Differences Between Bio-identical and Non-Bio-identical Hormones

Bio-Identical Hormone TherapyBio-identical hormones have an identical molecular makeup as the hormones our bodies already produce or were producing before menopause. They work more effectively because the body can interpret and understand what is entering it versus a pharmaceutical that has a different molecular makeup than the body providing:

  • More effective symptom relief
  • Fewer side effects
  • A lower dose (resulting in less exposure to hormones–a concern for some patients and referring doctors)

For example, the Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) increases estrogen levels and stimulates ovulation in premenopausal women. In peri-menopause/menopause, with the loss of estrogen, the FSH levels can rise drastically in an attempt to try to make the body produce estrogen, which it either can’t do effectively or can’t do at all.  When you add bio-identical estrogen into the body, the FSH understands that type of estrogen and begins to drop, relieving vasomotor symptoms fast and effectively.

When a non-bio-identical estrogen, such as oral estradiol, enters the body, the FSH doesn’t fully understand what is coming into the body and does not know to drop its levels like with bio-identical estrogen.

Side Effects of High Estrogen Doses

Because non-bio-identical estrogens don’t work as effectively to relieve symptoms, providers will often continue increasing estrogen doses to try to alleviate symptoms which can increase side effects and hormone exposure.

Women can experience a variety of symptoms when exposed to higher doses of estrogen, including:

  • Nausea
  • Headaches
  • Breast tenderness
  • Fluid retention
  • Mood instability
  • Vaginal bleeding

 

With bio-identical estrogen, a little goes a long way

A patient on a bio-identical estrogen can be on a dose of 0.5-2 mg estradiol injection q 1-2 weeks or 6 mg estrogen pellet q 3 months, whereas most women are on 1-2 mg oral estradiol q day, producing higher levels of estrogen in their body, resulting in more side effects, without effectively dropping the FSH to alleviate the symptoms. Patients who are on bio-identical estrogen report symptom relief and fewer side effects which is also reflected in their lab work.

Lab work of patients who are on non-bio-identical estrogen show elevated estrogen levels along with an elevated FSH. When the labs are drawn 3-6 months later, depending on the form of therapy, their estrogen levels will often be lower, reducing the side effects along with a significantly decreased FSH which relieves symptoms.

Benefits of Naturally Restoring Hormones

Our treatments enable our patients to age healthily and experience their highest functioning body.  Maintaining optimal hormone levels alleviate the symptoms of menopause (listed above) and makes you more resilient to age-related diseases (heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, etc.).

Summary

The Hormone Treatment Centers employs a philosophy of aggressive empathy in patient care. We understand the negative impact of aging and our work is to reverse as much of those unnecessary and negative age related issues.  Our primary focus is to restore the hormonal deficiencies in our bodies utilizing bio-identical hormones. Simply stated, we put back in our bodies those things our bodies used to produce. Natural hormones are identical to the hormones already found in your body and follow the blue print of human life. Your body receives these hormones as if they were made by your own organs. Our treatment is customized for each patient and ensures optimization of patients well being and vitality.

 

Take our Female Hormone Assessment or call Hormone Treatment Centers today to learn more!

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