If you are experiencing headaches, anxiety, or a decreased interest in sex, you might be suffering from a hormonal imbalance. Changes in your hormones can also cause you to develop dry skin, sleep issues, and weight gain in your abdomen. Fortunately, you don’t have to live with these unpleasant symptoms. At Optimal Health and Wellness in Pasadena, CA, we can treat your imbalances with bioidentical hormone therapy.
How Fast Does Bioidentical Hormone Therapy Work?
Bioidentical hormones are designed to improve your health by quickly controlling your hormonal imbalances. These hormones can be derived from a number of different sources. At Optimal Health and Wellness, we will treat your health issues with hormones that are made from plants.
A Unique Process
Since your therapy will be designed to address your unique health problems, you may respond more or less quickly to these hormones than other people do. Further, the specific hormones that you are receiving, the dosage that we give you, and other factors can impact when this treatment begins to work.
That said, hormone therapy can be an excellent way to quickly address sleep issues, weight gain, and other challenges, and it’s common to experience improvements after a couple of weeks. Further, you are likely to see the full benefits of this therapy within several months.
What Types of Hormones Can I Replace?
We can use synthetic hormones to address many different types of hormonal imbalances. We frequently administer testosterone, progesterone, estradiol, estriol, and other hormones.
Testosterone
Testosterone is a very important hormone that affects sex drive, distribution of fat, and moods. As you get older, your body will naturally produce lower amounts of this essential hormone. When this hormone is too low, you might experience weight gain, depression, decreased energy, and many other issues.
Progesterone
Progesterone is a hormone that helps to control your menstrual cycle and prepare your uterus for pregnancies. If your body is not making enough progesterone, you might experience headaches, mood issues, irregular menstrual cycles, and other problems.
Estradiol
Estradiol is a type of estrogen that plays an important role in many female health issues. This hormone influences how your body stores fat. Further, this hormone helps to strengthen your joints and bones.
Estriol
Estriol is a type of estrogen. When you are pregnant, you will produce higher levels of this hormone. Receiving bioidentical estriol may improve vaginal dryness, hot flashes, and other issues that are commonly experienced during menopause.
How Will My Bioidentical Hormones Be Administered?
Since we offer a wide variety of administration options, you’ll be able to find a treatment plan that will work for you.
Injecting Your Hormones
If you are a forgetful person who would struggle to apply a gel onto your body every day, you might benefit from receiving hormonal injections. During this delivery method, we will quickly inject hormones into your thighs or buttocks. It’s normal to visit our office for these injections once or twice a month. During these meetings, we will talk about how you are responding to your treatment and use blood tests to monitor your hormone levels.
It’s common for men who are treating low testosterone levels to use this delivery method. Many men feel that injections are a low-stress, easy way to treat this issue.
Using Patches
We can also use patches to deliver your bioidentical hormones into your body. During this delivery method, you will apply customized patches onto your skin. If needles make you nervous, this option may be a good delivery method for you.
Administering Gels
In addition to using patches and injections, we can use customized gels to transmit hormones into your body. For example, if you are experiencing low estradiol, we may advise you to address this issue with a specialized gel. During the course of your treatment, you will apply a cool gel onto a small area on your thigh once every day.
Applying this gel is an easy, comfortable process, and this delivery method allows your bioidentical hormones to quickly address your negative symptoms. For instance, it’s common to notice positive changes in your health within two weeks. Further, if you are beginning to go through menopause, this gel can be an ideal way to provide you with a customized dose of replacement hormones.
Using Creams
It’s normal to experience changes in your body and libido when you go through menopause. If you are a woman who is dealing with discomfort during sex, loss of interest in intimacy, or vaginal dryness, you might benefit from using hormonal ointments or creams to fix this issue.
Implanting Hormone Pellets
It’s normal to have difficulty remembering to apply gels or creams onto your body. Further, if you have a demanding job or social life, you might not be able to visit our office to receive regular hormone injections. Fortunately, you don’t have to deal with these issues when you use implanted pellets to address your hormonal imbalance.
During this type of therapy, we will carefully implant pellets into your body. These pellets will provide you with steady doses of hormones for up to half a year.
What Issues Can Bioidentical Hormone Therapy Improve?
We can use hormone therapy to address a wide variety of emotional and physical issues.
Weight Gain
When you have adequate amounts of testosterone, this hormone will help to control your appetite and metabolism. As a result, you will have a relatively easy time staying thin and fit. However, as you get older, your hormone levels will change. When you do not have enough testosterone, your metabolism will become more sluggish and your body will start to develop fat pockets around your stomach.
Developing areas of unwanted fat on your body will increase your chances of heart disease, diabetes, and other illnesses. Further, this unwanted fat can make you feel less fit and attractive.
Temperature Issues
Your hormones help you stay comfortable in hot and cool environments. When your hormones become imbalanced, you are likely to experience night sweats or hot flashes.
For instance, you might feel very hot when you are using air-conditioning to control the temperature of your home. These issues can become worse when you are in a hot environment. Further, you might receive insufficient sleep because you feel hot and uncomfortable during the night.
Uncontrolled Emotions
If you are dealing with frequent mood swings, you might be suffering from low testosterone. Since this important hormone helps you control your moods, you might experience intense anger, sadness, depression, or anxiety when this hormone is out of balance. These issues are likely to harm your performance at work and damage your personal relationships.
For instance, you might start crying when you are not actually upset or become very angry when you experience a minor inconvenience. Improving your testosterone level can address these issues and help you feel more balanced.
Decreased Interest in Sex
You probably already know that hormonal problems can decrease your interest in sex. As you get older, you become increasingly likely to develop hormonal changes that can negatively impact your sex life in a number of ways.
For example, if you are a woman, your vagina could become very dry, and you might experience discomfort during sex. If you are a man with low testosterone, you might develop erectile dysfunction.
Sleeping Problems
Imbalanced hormones may be preventing you from getting adequate sleep at night. In particular, low testosterone levels can cause you to toss and turn throughout the night and experience irritation, fatigue, and other issues during the day. Further, hormonal changes can cause you to develop urinary issues that require you to go to the bathroom during the nighttime.
How Will I Begin My Hormone Therapy?
You will begin your bioidentical hormone therapy by having a meeting at our comfortable office in Pasadena. During this appointment, we will discuss any sleep issues, emotional challenges, or other negative symptoms that you are experiencing. We will also perform tests to check your hormone levels. These tests will help us determine how to balance your hormones.
Once we have checked your hormones, we will talk about injections, hormone pellets, and other delivery options with you. Together, we will choose a delivery option that will allow you to receive your bioidentical hormones in a comfortable fashion.
Will I Be Monitored Throughout the Treatment Process?
We will be available to check in with you throughout your bioidentical hormone therapy. To analyze your body’s reaction to this treatment, we will use periodic tests to check your hormone levels. These tests will allow us to adjust your doses to fit your body’s unique needs.
What Rules Should I Follow During My Treatment?
To obtain optimal results from your hormone therapy, we will ask you to follow a couple of rules during your treatment. It’s very important to administer your hormones in a consistent, reliable way. For instance, if we told you to apply a gel to your skin every day, you should remember to administer this treatment as instructed.
If you are suffering from other health conditions, we may also ask you to take action to improve these issues. For example, if you have high blood pressure or uncontrolled diabetes, these issues can alter your body’s response to our bioidentical hormones. Lowering your blood pressure and improving your diabetes will strengthen your body and allow your treatment to be more effective.
Can Hormone Therapy Benefit Both Men and Women?
You probably already know that women go through menopause and other changes that negatively impact their hormone levels. However, you might not be as familiar with the hormonal challenges that men experience as they age. In fact, men develop many negative symptoms as their hormones change over time.
Women’s Hormones
When a woman reaches the age of thirty, her body begins to make less progesterone. By the time that she is thirty-five, her body will start making lower amounts of estrogen. Five years later, her body will begin to create less testosterone. These changes can cause emotional issues, weight gain, and other problems.
Men’s Hormones
When men are young, they usually have adequate amounts of testosterone. However, after a man turns thirty, his body will begin to make less testosterone. A man’s production of testosterone will decline by about 1% each year. As a result, a man is likely to suffer from low testosterone levels in his forties and fifties. This issue can cause a man to have decreased interest in sex, sleeping problems, and other issues.
Adjust Your Hormone Levels
Balancing your hormones and living a happier, healthier life is easy. We can use pellets, patches, and other easy methods to administer your bioidentical hormones. These hormones can be used to address headaches, weight gain, anxiety, and other frustrating issues. To learn more about the benefits of bioidentical hormone therapy, contact us at Optimal Health and Wellness in Pasadena, CA to set up an initial consultation.
