There are many different forms of bioidentical hormone therapy, but we want to introduce you to one of the most convenient methods available: pellet therapy. At Premiere Center for Health and Wellness in Cincinnati, OH, we offer hormone pellets to help restore balance and vitality to your body. In just a few treatments a year, you can maintain stable and balanced hormones year-round.
How Do Hormone Pellets Work?
Pellet therapy is one of the most popular methods of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. This method involves the use of a tiny pellet smaller than a grain of rice that is packed with a customized dose of hormones to help balance your body. These pellets are small but powerful and very effective.
Hormone pellets are inserted into the body through a tiny incision and are absorbed by the bloodstream. As soon as they are inserted, they will begin working immediately to deliver you the exact amount of hormones you need to reach stabilization and balance.
What’s Inside of Them?
Pellets contain bioidentical hormones. These hormones are an identical molecular match to the hormones your body creates naturally, so they integrate well with the bodily systems. Hormone pellets contain estrogen and testosterone and are dosed according to the patient’s needs. These pellets can help balance hormone levels in men and women to reduce the symptoms associated with hormone deficiencies and help them live a healthy and balanced life.
Are They Safe?
Bioidentical hormones are extremely safe, much safer than their synthetic counterparts. These hormones are identical versions of the hormones your body makes. They come from natural plant-based sources, so you can rest assured that you will only experience all the benefits that these hormones have to offer once you begin treatment.
How Long Does It Take to Notice Results?
Once you begin treatment, you can expect to feel the effects of balanced hormones and resolve your symptoms within two to three weeks. Full effects can take up to six months since it takes some time for your body to adapt to normal hormone levels after living in a state of unbalance for so long.
What Are the Benefits?
Hormone pellets are so popular because they offer so many different benefits. They’re convenient, and they provide men and women with the ability to balance their hormones in a simple yet effective way.
A Mindless Process
There are many different forms of hormone replacement therapy, but the benefit of pellet therapy is that you don’t have to think about the process. Other forms of HRT require that you perform injections, take pills, or apply creams or patches daily or weekly. This takes time on your part, and consistency is extremely important to ensure that you’re getting a steady flow of hormones month to month.
Life happens, and everyone gets busy, and it’s easy to forget taking a pill or applying that cream. With hormone pellets, you won’t have to do a thing except show up at your appointment every few months for treatment.
Consistent Hormone Delivery
We will insert the pellet, and it will begin working immediately; you won’t have to administer hormones yourself at any point. Additionally, this form of hormone replacement therapy is superior to other forms because it delivers a consistent stream of hormones from month to month. Dosing with creams and patches can be messy and can deliver inconsistent hormone levels.
With pellets, you have an exact dosage customized to your needs, and you will get those hormones delivered directly into your bloodstream. These pellets work by delivering hormones as needed. When your body senses you’re under stress or need more hormones, you will get exactly what you need right when you need it.
Appointments Are Quick
This form of HRT is minimally invasive, but even still, treatment appointments are much quicker than you may expect. The entire process takes approximately 15 minutes to complete, and then you can resume your daily activities. You won’t have to think about your hormone levels or monitor them at any point during the process.
How Does the Treatment Process Work?
Your Initial Consultation
In order to begin pellet therapy, you must attend an initial consultation at our office. This consultation is important because it helps us confirm that you are a good candidate for this treatment. We will discuss your symptoms during this appointment and give you the space to ask questions about hormone therapy.
We will also perform the necessary diagnostics to obtain your hormone levels so that we can see which hormones require treatment. We’ll review the results with you, confirm that hormone therapy is the right choice for you, and then provide you with a recommended dosage that will help restore the necessary hormones.
Your Treatment
The treatment process is quick and efficient. This is one of the reasons patients love this method of bioidentical hormone replacement therapy so much. Once we confirm you are a good candidate for hormone pellets, we will schedule your treatment.
When you arrive at your appointment, we will begin the process by sanitizing the treatment site, typically the hip’s fatty tissue. Once the area is sanitized, we will apply a topical numbing cream to the area before making a tiny incision in the skin to insert the pellet.
How Long Does It Take?
The entire treatment process will only take about 15 minutes to complete. We will provide a bandage and apply it to the treatment site, and then you can resume most of your daily activities. You will only need a few appointments each year to maintain optimal hormone levels, and each appointment will only take 15 minutes.
The Aftercare
There is no significant downtime associated with this treatment, but you will have to follow some aftercare instructions to help ensure you get the best results possible. This treatment is minimally invasive and only requires that you follow some specific directions for a few days to ensure that your pellet stays intact.
Doing so will help avoid any interruption to your treatment so that the pellet can begin to work and balance your hormones immediately. Once your appointment is complete, we will provide you with a complete list of instructions on how to care for the treatment site so that you don’t miss a thing.
Keep the Treatment Site Dry
Once you undergo treatment, you want to avoid getting the treatment site wet. That means you should avoid tubs and pools for at least a few days. Keeping the site dry for at least 24 hours will help ensure that nothing gets disrupted and that the insertion site can heal quickly.
Avoid Strenuous Workouts
Another important directive to follow after your pellet insertion is to avoid extreme exercise. Extreme exercise includes running, sprinting, or lower body workouts. Anything that would strain the treatment site should be avoided for at least three to four days. Upper body workouts and walking are the best forms of exercise because they won’t put any unnecessary pressure on your treatment site.
For best results, work out before your treatment appointment so that you can be prepared to take a short break to help the treatment site heal and the process work accordingly. While you will need to take it easy for a few days, you’ll feel energetic, strong, and ready to conquer your goals once you get back to your normal routine.
Follow-Up Treatments
Once you begin hormone therapy, we will schedule regular follow-up visits to ensure that your hormones are exactly where they should be. When you come in for these appointments, we will draw labs and review them to ensure you are getting optimal hormones from the pellets. We can adjust your dosage as needed at any point to ensure that your hormones are balanced and that you feel your best.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Know If I Have a Hormone Imbalance?
Uncomfortable and painful symptoms often accompany hormone imbalances in both men and women. While some symptoms are specific to men and women, others are shared among both genders. Symptoms are a message from your body telling you that something isn’t right. If you’re living with the symptoms of hormone deficiency, you most likely are deficient in some key and critical hormones.
What Are the Symptoms of a Hormone Imbalance?
There are many different symptoms that indicate a hormone imbalance. Some are minor; others are more severe symptoms. Regardless, symptoms are not normal, and you don’t have to live a life defined by your symptoms. That is the benefit of hormone replacement therapy. It allows you to live free from the effects of imbalance and symptoms. The following are some of the most common symptoms of hormone deficiencies among both men and women:
- Fatigue
- Brain fog
- Headaches
- Weight gain
- Low libido
- Pain during intercourse
- Sexual disfunction
- Night sweats
- Hot flashes
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Mood changes
When Do Hormone Imbalances Occur?
For most men and women, hormone imbalances occur during menopause and andropause. Menopause signifies the end of a woman’s reproductive cycle and is typically accompanied by some uncomfortable symptoms, including night sweats, hot flashes, mood changes, and headaches, among others. Andropause is the period of time when the male hormones begin to drop and typically occurs when men are in their late 40s and 50s.
The hormones reach their lowest point during the 60s. Hormonal decline leads to many uncomfortable symptoms, but you don’t have to live with those symptoms. Hormone replacement therapy provides you with a choice. You can seek treatment and achieve balance thanks to mindless and effective treatment methods like hormone pellets.
What If I’m in My 20s or 30s?
On average, men and women experience hormone imbalances later in life, but hormone deficiencies don’t always correspond with age. Genetics, pregnancy, illness, and other factors can cause hormone imbalances in men and women in their 20s and 30s. If this is the case, you are not excluded from treatment.
We can test your hormones and help create a personalized treatment plan that will help restore your hormone levels to exactly where they need to be so that you can thrive and experience all of the benefits of balance and an improved sense of well-being.
Experience the Beauty of Balance
A balanced life is the best life you can possibly live. If you’re living a life defined by symptoms and hormone deficiencies, know that you don’t have to, and an effective solution is well within your reach. Contact us today at Premier Center for Health and Wellness in Cincinnati, OH to learn more about how we can help provide hormone replacement therapy help with hormone health for women and men.