From helping our ancestors avoid predators in the wilderness to managing hunger, sleep, metabolism, and more, the human endocrine system is incredibly sophisticated and adaptable. But with such great potential to regulate a wide range of vital processes throughout the body comes an equally high potential for potential issues—especially as we age.
At Premiere Center for Health and Wellness, we take a highly individualized approach to hormone therapy that does far more than check boxes and fill prescriptions. We treat each patient as a unique and holistic person, taking into account not only their physical presentation, but their needs, perceptions, and lived experience as well.
As your hormone therapy provider, Premiere Center for Health and Wellness is here to make your experience as rewarding and meaningful as possible. We offer customizable hormone therapy treatment plans to meet you right where you are, gently shifting your hormone balance into an optimal state for improved comfort and dignity.
But backing up a step, who exactly is hormone therapy for? How can you know if you may need hormone therapy? How does it work? In this guide, we’ll cover these key concepts and more so you can be confident in your decision to pursue hormone therapy.
What Issues Does Hormone Therapy Address?
Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, is commonly used to address menopause and certain forms of cancer. Both of these scenarios involve a range of symptoms, though the exact nature and severity of said symptoms varies on a case-by-case basis.
Consulting with Dr. Evans of Premiere Center for Health and Wellness and setting up your own hormone therapy treatment plan will give you a clearer picture of how exactly hormone therapy may benefit you. The following breakdowns offer a more general template for how hormone therapy has helped with both of these issues.
Hormone Therapy for Menopause
Menopause is a physiologically complex and individualized process that no two women experience in exactly the same way. The following symptoms, then, are experienced to different degrees (if at all) in each case:
- Sleep disturbances: Declining hormone levels can impair the nervous system’s ability to regulate healthy sleep patterns.
- Hot flashes: As estrogen levels decline, the hypothalamus becomes more sensitive to temperature. Believe it or not, a hot flash is your body’s attempt to cool you down.
- Urinary incontinence: Sometimes, the pelvic muscles weaken as a result of menopausal changes, impeding their ability to hold back the flow of urine.
- Hair changes: Hair follicles also respond to declining hormone levels, often by shrinking and/or ceasing production of hair.
- Menstruation changes: As the primary function of menopause is to stop menstruation, every woman experiences this symptom eventually. Before menstruation ceases completely, periods are likely to be irregular.
- Vaginal dryness: Menopause-related vaginal dryness can cause pain during sex, and is a common response to hormonal decline.
- Cognitive changes: Often referred to as “brain fog,” menopausal women often note mild to moderate impairment of memory recall, processing, and other cognitive faculties.
- Libido changes: Most women who experience disturbances in libido during menopause report a decrease in desire for sex. This issue can be worsened by other menopausal symptoms.
- Anxiety and depression: Hormonal changes can affect serotonin and other chemical messengers that promote a healthy mental state, often leading to anxiety, depression, and increased anger.
As the vast majority of these issues are directly related to declining hormone levels, hormone therapy bears great importance as a tool to provide comprehensive symptom relief, but the approach must be carefully tailored to each patient. This is our passion and our specialty at Premiere Center for Health and wellness.
Hormone Therapy for Cancer
Where HRT for menopausal women seeks to replace lost hormones, hormone therapy for cancer is typically focused on inhibiting the production of certain hormones. This is because certain cancers actually use the body’s natural hormone production to grow. These cancers—namely, prostate and breast cancers—can affect both men and women.
Hormone therapies for cancer can be used in conjunction with surgery (before or after) to reduce the risk of the cancer returning. In some cases, removal of the testicles (orchiectomy) or ovaries (oophorectomy) is determined the best way to reduce this risk, as these are both responsible for hormone production.
Because hormone therapy for cancer is essentially the opposite of hormone replacement therapy for menopause when it comes to the main mechanism, both men and women may experience hot flashes, libido changes, mood changes, and fatigue.
How Can I Know If Hormone Therapy Is for Me?
Just because menopause is a natural and inevitable rite of aging, doesn’t mean you should avoid seeking help. As for whether or not your specific symptoms build a case for hormone replacement therapy, the best and only way to confidently determine this is in a consultation with our team.
At Premiere Center for Health and Wellness, we will comprehensively evaluate your unique health status, your symptoms, your expectations and experience, and more to carefully determine your eligibility for hormone replacement therapy.
Choose Premiere Center for Health and Wellness for Compassionate and Well-Informed Hormone Therapy
Our team is fully committed to ushering you through this often challenging phase of life with grace and dignity. We have personally witnessed the power of hormone therapy in bringing relief and a more positive outlook to women, and have made it our mission to deliver these results for every patient we see.
Contact Premiere Center for Health and Wellness for a hormone replacement therapy consultation today, and we’ll partner with you to restore your comfort, confidence, and hope for the future.