When menopause strikes, women often feel helpless and confused, especially considering that media and the scientific community present conflicting opinions about treatment options. Hormone replacement therapy can effectively treat the symptoms of menopause, but unfortunately, this treatment has received a bad rap. Bio-identical hormones provide a great option for menopausal women; these hormones not only treat the symptoms of menopause, but also mirror a woman's female hormone structure more closely than synthetic varieties. Here are the basics of bio-identical hormone replacement therapy.
What Is Hormone Replacement Therapy?
When a woman enters menopause, her body no longer produces female hormones, especially estrogen. During this stage, a woman will experience changes in sleeping habits, menstruation, mood, and sexual desire. She will also experience hot flashes and becomes more susceptible to heart disease and bone density loss.
In the 1960s, a revolutionary medical approach to menopause started gaining in popularity: hormone replacement therapy. "Hormone replacement therapy" is the use of estrogen- and progestin-based medication to treat the symptoms associated with menopause. Hormone replacement therapy helps a woman maintain female hormone levels despite her body's inability to produce them naturally.
What is Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy?
In the beginning, hormone replacement therapy treatments incorporated the use of synthetic hormones. Synthetic hormones have the same effects of naturally-producing female hormones, but they are created in a laboratory and may be derived out of plant, animal, or chemical compounds. Synthetic hormones can be administered in the form of a pill, a cream, or a patch.
In 2002, some studies suggested that the use of synthetic hormones used in hormone replacement therapy treatments increased women's risks of developing cancers, heart diseases, strokes, and blood clots. The study severely damaged how women viewed hormone replacement therapy; as a result, women who quit their therapies reported that their menopausal symptoms returned in excruciating levels.
Scientists began researching hormone replacement therapy methods that would alleviate menopausal symptoms but without the use of synthetic hormones, which never did recover from the negative perception surrounding them. One of the most effective and popular methods now available is hormone replacement therapy with the use of "bio-identical" female hormones.
"Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy" is similar to treatments that use synthetic hormones, but the female hormones used are chemically the same as those produced by the woman's body before menopause. They are not developed from chemicals in a laboratory; instead, they are usually derived from plant chemicals. Like synthetic hormones, bio-identical hormones can be administered by pill, cream, or skin patch, and they are just as effective as synthetic hormones in treating menopausal symptoms.
For more information, contact a specialist like Genemedics Health Institute.
Share18 December 2014
After watching my mother navigate treatment for breast cancer in my early teens, I knew pretty much what to expect from my dad's diagnosis with prostate cancer. What I didn't know was how different chemotherapy and radiation can affect different people. My mother became very ill while my dad seemed to weather the treatments with few ill effects. I spent a long time researching the differences in treatments, types of chemotherapy, and how each one can react differently with the body. I created this blog to help others understand the same things, because I knew I couldn't be the only one unfamiliar with it. I hope it helps you if someone you love is facing treatment for any type of cancer.
