Menopause symptoms can be managed with hormone replacement therapy (HRT), also called menopausal hormone therapy, which is a treatment that replaces hormones that are at a lower level. The treatment’s current role is to relieve menopausal symptoms. These symptoms include hot flushes, mood swings, night sweats, reduced sex drive, and vaginal dryness.
So what’s the safest natural female HRT? The two main types of natural HRT are bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and traditional natural hormone replacement therapy, and those two are the safest ones. The former is derived from plants and is chemically identical to the hormones that our body produces. The latter involves the consumption of supplements or plants that have compounds that could alleviate hormonal symptoms.
The average menopausal woman could have concerns about conventional HRT and would rather go for natural options. Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and traditional natural hormone replacement therapy would be the safest and best options to treat hormonal imbalance.
Bioidentical hormone therapy or bioidentical HRT can treat hormonal imbalances and depletion with a synthetic hormone that originated from plant estrogen. With that, you can say that bioidentical hormones are like hormones that have the same molecular structure as the ones that the human body can produce naturally. Moreover, the majority of BHRTs have plant hormones that mimic estriol, progesterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and melatonin.
The two types of BHRT are United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved BHRT, which are quite similar in terms of safety as the standard HRT medications, and custom-compounded BHRT medications, wherein a pharmacist would mix according to what the doctor prescribed.
The benefits of bioidentical HRT include the following:
Traditional natural hormone replacement therapies essentially mean consuming supplements or plants that contain compounds that could alleviate hormonal symptoms. These supplements and plants include:
When it comes to their benefits, some experts don’t believe that BRHTs are any safer or more effective when compared to the traditional natural HRTs.
When it comes to comparing the two natural HRTs, it’s important to note that bioidentical hormones differ from those in traditional HRT in the sense that they’re chemically identical to those that our bodies naturally produce. They’re also made from plant oestrogen.
According to bioidentical HRT supporters, it’s a lot safer because it’s identical to the hormones that the body produces, but experts believe that the risks of HRT and bioidentical HRT are similar. Compounded bioidentical hormones or compounded bioidentical hormone therapy may have more risks, but there has been no reliable evidence proving that BHRT is more effective when compared to HRT.
The conditions that natural HRT treats are hormonal imbalances, symptoms of perimenopause, and symptoms of menopause.
Hormones are produced in the endocrine glands and tell your organs and tissues what to do. They help in controlling your body’s major processes such as reproduction and metabolism, but when you have a hormonal imbalance, you have too little or too much of a certain hormone. In general, your normal hormonal cycle could change during stages of puberty, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menopause.
Hormonal imbalance symptoms that are specific to females include:
By definition, perimenopause is “around menopause.” It’s essentially the time wherein your body naturally transitions to menopause and marks the end of your reproductive years. When you’re at your perimenopause stage, you’ll begin to notice signs of progression to menopause such as irregular menstruation.
During perimenopause, the estrogen level in your body rises and falls unevenly and your cycles may shorten or lengthen. The perimenopause stage ends when you’ve gone through 12 whole months without a menstrual period. That’s when you know you’ve already reached menopause.
As you transition to menopause, there may be some changes and symptoms such as:
Menopause marks the end of your menstrual cycles and is a natural biological process. However, you have to be ready for both physical and emotional symptoms. It’s also important to note that conditions that affect the health of the ovary, such as ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer, can increase the severity of menopause symptoms.
Apart from menstruation changes, the symptoms for perimenopausal, menopausal, and postmenopausal women are generally the same.
Other common symptoms of menopause are:
Any treatment we go for will always have its pros and cons. It’s important to take note of the pros and cons of BHRT so we know what to expect.
| Pros | Cons |
| BHRT helps increase the lower levels of hormones. It improves symptoms such as: Sleep problemsHot flashesWeight gainMood swingsNight sweatsLoss of sexual arousal or desirePain during sex | Even though the FDA has already approved the preparations of progesterone and bioidentical estradiol, it’s yet to approve compounded bioidentical hormones (Natural progesterone is a hormone that naturally occurs in the body, and micronized progesterone is FDA-approved for use with estrogen as an element of HRT. According to NCBI, micronized progesterone and progestogen are recommended as part of combined HRT in women who have an intact uterus). |
| Hormone replacement reduces the risk of diabetes, tooth loss, and cataracts. | Hormone replacement therapy can increase breast cancer risk and the risk of the following: Blood clotsStrokeHeart diseaseGallbladder disease |
| Hormone replacement can improve the thickness, hydration, and elasticity of one’s skin. | The common side effects of BHRT include: FatigueMood changesAcneBloatingIncreased facial hairWeight gain |
Bioidentical hormones can be given through patches, pills, creams, gels, implanted pellets, and shots. Your doctor is the best person to decide which one is best for you, but you can try more than one way before you find what works best.
If you worry about your safety with the treatment, it’s comforting to know that those on hormone treatment are watched closely by their doctors. They also adjust the doses according to a patient’s needs. Your doctor may also adjust your dose according to your changing hormonal needs. According to the International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding, bioidentical HRT is a more natural and safer alternative to synthetic progestin.
The FDA-approved bioidentical hormones have been tested for safety, so you’re sure that you’re getting reliable treatment. They have also passed the FDA’s strict standards. However, the compounded hormones haven’t gone through FDA testing yet, and only a little research has been done. They also haven’t been proven safe or unsafe. A recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine also says that the use of compounded bioidentical HRTs should be limited to only a small number of patients — specifically patients who aren’t able to benefit from a hormone therapy product that has already been approved by the FDA.
Alternative treatment options can help menopausal women manage the physical and psychological symptoms related to hormonal imbalance and depletion, such as:
Before trying alternative remedies, talk to your doctor first because some supplements may interact with prescription medications or harm people with certain medical conditions.
Treatments such as conjugated equine estrogen (commonly sold under the brand name Premarin) and estrogen therapy are used to treat menopausal symptoms, but the best one you can go for is bioidentical HRT. And there’s no better place to perform bioidentical HRT than Revitalize You MD. Here at Revitalize You MD, our medical staff will first assess your needs before treating you with bioidentical HRT products. We value our patients’ safety, so we also treat them depending on their specific imbalance.
Our team consists of certified and licensed staff who have a wealth of medical knowledge and experience to serve you. Call us now at (678) 304 – 1850 or send us an email at info@revitalizeyoumd.com to schedule your appointment.
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