Hot flashes may be the most notorious symptom of menopause, and if you’ve got them, you’ve probably searched the internet for remedies and treatments.
In fact, that’s likely what brought you here to SourceMD: Integrated Wellness Solutions. Like many other women in the Encinitas, California, area, you’re looking for relief, and you stumbled upon the term “bioidentical hormone replacement therapy,” or BHRT.
Dr. Dave Larson is a double-board certified expert in innovative approaches to complex medical issues. He is passionate about health and wellness and constantly strives to provide our patients with the most conservative, noninvasive solutions.
One of his most effective treatments for hot flashes is BHRT. Here’s what you need to know.
Before we get into the details of BHRT, let’s take a look at what happens when your body goes through menopause.
If you’re a woman experiencing perimenopause, menopause, or post-menopause, your body is going through some major changes.
It starts in the early stages of perimenopause, when your ovaries begin to slow their production of estrogen and progesterone — the two hormones responsible for reproduction. This phase can go on for up to five years and cause you to have irregular and skipped periods.
Once you’ve had your last menstrual period, you’ve entered menopause, but you won’t know that for sure until you’ve stopped bleeding for a full year with no interruptions.
At the one-year mark, you enter post-menopause. This is the final stage that lasts the rest of your life, and you no longer produce any estrogen or progesterone.
Hot flashes are one of the many symptoms that come along with the menopause process. Without the levels of estrogen and progesterone you’re used to, your internal temperature controls are out of whack, and you experience a sudden flush of heat for seemingly no reason.
You may even perspire and turn red in the face. When this happens at night, it’s called night sweats, and it can leave you with soaked sheets and pajamas.
Because hormones regulate so many of your body’s functions, the gradual decrease in two prevalent hormones disrupts more than just your body temperature. It also triggers several other changes in these areas:
While some women experience only mild symptoms, many find that their lives are upended by these problems, and they need Dr. Larson’s help to get them through.
Hormone therapy is a tried-and-true treatment for menopausal symptoms. It replaces the hormones your body has stopped producing and brings you back into balance.
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy is a new and improved way to introduce hormones back into your body. Traditional therapies used hormones derived from the urine of a pregnant horse. BHRT, on the other hand, comes from plants, and these hormones provide an identical molecular match for the hormones you naturally produced.
This is not a cookie-cutter approach. Dr. Larson specifically formulates your treatment plan based on a detailed analysis of your hormones, which he determines through a saliva test.
Your customized treatment will not only ease your hot flashes and other menopause symptoms, but it may also improve other side effects of low estrogen, including urinary incontinence, dry skin, hair loss, gum disease, and vaginal atrophy.
BHRT may also help stave off osteoporosis, as estrogen plays an important role in bone health, and it may prevent certain chronic heart problems.
If you’re going through menopause, regardless of the stage, BHRT can keep you comfortable and healthy through the change. To learn more, contact us at 760-230-1317 to schedule an appointment at SourceMD: Integrated Wellness Solutions today.
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