Menopause typically starts when women are between 45 and 55 years old, but it could develop before this age range or after. A women produces the sex hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, and the onset of menopause can cause these hormone levels to drop to zero. As you can imagine, this sudden drop in hormone levels can leave you feeling unbalanced and unwell. As time passes, low hormone levels can make your body slow down and possibly even make it deteriorate faster than it should.

With menopause, your hormone levels drop drastically. You might experience the downward trend in estrogen and testosterone over the years, however, when menopause occurs, your levels of estrogen could drop to zero. If you are experiencing the effects of low hormone levels, just know that you don’t have to accept the way you feel as the norm. Consider hormone maintenance programs include Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) from experts like Optimal Bio.

Below we’ve detailed menopause symptoms and what causes them to occur, in addition to the effects that utilizing bioidentical hormone replacement therapy to help alleviate them. Understanding WHY you are experiencing the symptoms can help you find better solutions for managing them and ultimately improving your quality of life as you age.

What is BioIdentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT)?

BHRT uses all-natural hormones identical to your body's generated hormones to alleviate degenerative side effects of medical problems, aging, and environmental factors. The objective is to re-establish the levels of hormones your system was designed to maintain.

What are Bioidentical Hormones?

The interest in a more natural hormone therapy approach has put attention on bioidentical hormones. These are hormones that are the same in molecular structure as hormones the female body produces. They're not in this form naturally, but are rather synthesized or made from a plant chemical extracted from soy and yams.

What are Common Menopause Symptoms?

As you age, estrogen levels decline with ovarian function which causes hormonal imbalance and eventually menopause. Perimenopause is the 12 months or so before your menstrual cycle comes to a complete stop and you fully enter menopause. Menopause symptoms are the result of your body responding to lower levels of:

• Progesterone
• Estrogen
• Testosterone
• Luteinizing hormone (LH)

And a higher level of:

• Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH)

Conditions that affect your ovary health like a hysterectomy, cancer or certain lifestyle choices, such as smoking, tend to increase the severity and duration of symptoms.

Take a look at a few common menopausal symptoms and how solutions such as bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) can help alleviate discomfort and get your body back to its optimal hormone levels.

1. Menstrual Irregularity and Changes in Your Cycle

This symptom may be the first one you experience. You might not experience regular periods any more. They might last longer or be shorter. You may bleed less or more than usual.

How Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help

The fluctuation in your menstruation is due directly to, you guessed it, hormone imbalance. As you age, your ovarian function decreases and you eventually run out of eggs, thus stopping ovulation. At the onset of menopause, your body begins to adjust to this change. While bioidentical hormone replacement therapy cannot restock your ovaries with eggs which would resume your menstruation (theoretically), it can help regulate ovarian function which will ease the associated symptoms.

2. Hot Flashes

Around 75 percent of women have hot flashes during menopause and many of them will continue experiencing symptoms several years after the initial onset. Hot flashes happen as a result of decreasing estrogen and progesterone levels which affect the body’s temperature control. They might be due to your changing estrogen levels. A hot flash comes on as a sudden feeling of heat in your body and is often followed by cold shivering and heavy sweating.

How Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help

Hot flashes occur when your hormonal imbalance begins affecting the hypothalamus (your body’s temperature control center). Lower ovarian inhibin secretion restrains the hypothalamus which throws your body temperature regulation out of order.

Using bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can bring your hormones back up to optimal levels, which decreases the stress placed on your hypothalamus and helps to regulate your body’s temperature control thus reducing hot flashes and night sweats.

3. Vaginal Health and Bladder Control/Incontinence

A common symptom of low estrogen is vaginal dryness, or, you may experience other health issues like bladder or vaginal infections. The reduced levels of estrogen at the onset of menopause can thin the lining of the urethra (short tube responsible for passing urine from the body). Additionally, the surrounding muscles may weaken and relax. If you’ve had children, the risk for weakened muscles may be greater, which could result in urinary incontinence and involuntary leakage.

How Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help

Re-establishing your body’s optimal estrogen levels can slow down and even stop the degeneration of your urethral lining. To strengthen the pelvic floor and surrounding urethral muscles to reduce the chances of involuntary leakage, additional physical exercises may be a good idea in addition to bioidentical hormone replacement therapy.

4. Sleep Deprivation, Restlessness, and Insomnia

Some women, around midlife, begin having problems obtaining a decent night's sleep. Dropping estrogen and testosterone levels can disrupt sleep patterns and overall cognitive functioning which can leave you feeling chronically fatigued and sluggish. Additionally, wakefulness as a result of discomfort from menopausal symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats plays a big role.

How Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help

If you can stop or reduce menopausal symptoms by achieving optimal hormone levels, it is likely your issues with fatigue will come to an end. By restoring your hormones to optimal levels through bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, you should see improvements in REM sleep, reduce restlessness, and put an end to insomnia.

5. Sexual Discomfort and Decreased Libido

Sexual intercourse can change for women reaching menopause. Symptoms such as vaginal dryness and thinning vaginal tissue and atrophy, reduced libido, and general feelings of discomfort can have profound effects on overall comfort during sexual intercourse.

How Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help

Vaginal dryness and thinning vaginal tissue are the result of lower or zero levels of estrogen production. By supplementing your hormone levels with BHRT, you can bring your estrogen levels back to optimal levels, which helps decrease vaginal dryness and the discomfort you feel during intercourse. Regulating your hormone levels can combat the degeneration of vaginal tissue as well and reduce the chances of atrophy. Re-establishing both estrogen and testosterone levels will help you gain back your libido as well.

6. Mood and Physical Changes

Mood, weight gain, and other physical changes are regulated by the thyroid. Declining hormone levels can unbalance the thyroid which can cause mood swings. It can also slow the metabolism resulting in weight gain. Additionally, an unbalanced thyroid could lead to feelings of fatigue and sluggishness because the body may not be using energy efficiently. Other side effects to the hormonal imbalance could be thinning skin, cognitive dysfunction and memory problems, stiff and achy joints due to decreased lubrication, and more. Moreover, decreased testosterone levels in women can result in decimated muscle mass.

How Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help

Regulating your hormone levels with BHRT will help to rebalance your thyroid, reducing the symptoms that come with it. Increased levels of estrogen can improve memory and overall cognitive function, optimal testosterone levels can help regulate your weight and muscle mass, and increased lubrication will help reduce joint pain.

7. Osteoporosis and Bone Density Loss

Women naturally have smaller and thinner bones than men. Estrogen plays a key role in maintaining bone density. At the onset of menopause when these hormone levels begin to plummet, women are at risk for bone loss and osteoporosis.

How Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy Can Help

Bringing your estrogen levels back up to optimal levels will protect your bones! Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy re-establishes the estrogen levels your body needs to take care of your bone density and reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Women especially are at risk for this degenerative bone disease.

Remember, just because menopausal symptoms are normal in women, does not mean they are optimal. You CAN take action to rebalance your hormone levels.

Optimal Bio Is Here to Help

At Optimal Bio, we help restore your body to the best health possible through our bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, nutritional supplements, and thyroid treatments. You'll soon feel like yourself again, but better.

We take an integrative approach to women’s health, both physical and mental, by offering you the most optimal hormone dose, suggested supplements and wellness plans to balance out your entire body. We review your medical history and listen to your health concerns to develop a holistic plan we tailor specifically to your needs to help restore your hormones estrogen, testosterone and progesterone levels.

Contact us today here at Optimal Bio through our online form.