What is Hormone Imbalance?

As we age, many things about our bodies change. One of the things that changes, is our hormones. Hormones help to determine how tall you grow and how you handle stress and, of course, they also regulate the functioning of your sex organs.

The normal aging process causes hormone production to decline in everyone, resulting in hormonal imbalances that have both physical and psychological effects. The main hormones that regulate a woman’s body are estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Any time one or more of these hormones becomes out of balance, a woman starts to experience change.

Hormone Imbalance Symptoms

Listen to your body. Is it trying to tell you something? Your body is an amazing thing. When something isn’t right, it will let you know! Hormone imbalance is no exception.

Some of the symptoms a woman may experience when her hormones are out of balance include:

  • – Hot flashes

  • – Night sweats

  • – Fatigue

  • – Unexplained weight gain

  • – Mood swings

  • – Urinary tract infection

  • – Decreased sex drive

  • – Difficulty concentrating

  • – Insomnia

  • – Vaginal dryness

  • – Fibrocystic breasts

Long-term complications from being hormonally out of balance are also a concern and can include:

  • – Osteoporosis

  • – Increased risk of heart disease

  • – Depression

  • – Loss of bone mass

  • – Decreased muscle tone

  • – Accelerated aging process

Any woman who has had a hysterectomy or endometriosis is also a very good candidate for natural hormone replacement therapy.

Treatment Benefits

The goal of your treatment plan is to restore the balance of hormones in your body and help you feel good again by alleviating the symptoms mentioned earlier. Once your treatment plan is started, our staff will follow up with you every 5-6 weeks, for the first few months, to check on your progress. Repeat lab work will be done after the first 5 weeks. Hormone pellets typically last 3-4 months depending on your level of activity.

Fee for Pellets for Women: $480

This includes: Lab order, review, consult, insertion and boost if needed.

Alternative hormone therapy such as topical or injectable: $130/month

Hormone Stages

For women, this hormonal change is broken up into different stages:

  • – Premenopause refers to the time from a woman’s first regular menstrual to her last regular menstrual cycle. This is the period of “normal” reproductive function for a woman.

  • – Perimenopause is the next stage. This refers to the “transitional” stage, which varies from 2 to about 10 years, prior to complete cessation of menstruation. This is usually experienced by women 35 to 50 years of age. During this stage, a woman can experience major hormone fluctuations which can cause typical symptoms, such as hot flashes.

  • – Menopause is the third stage and marks the natural end of a woman’s reproductive cycle. It is at this point that the body’s ability to produce estrogen and progesterone naturally decreases substantially. The ovaries stop producing eggs and a woman is no longer able to become pregnant naturally.

  • – Postmenopause is the period of life after menopause. This phase is generally believed to begin after 12 full months have passed since the last menstrual period.

As a woman passes through each of these four stages, she will go through many physical and psychological changes as her own body’s ability to maintain proper hormonal balance diminishes.