Hormonal imbalance is primarily due to the body’s inability to maintain optimal levels of hormones. This can be due to lack of proper nutrition, fatigue, stress, and many other factors. Hormone imbalance is a significant factor in women’s health.
There are many symptoms of hormonal imbalance. Some include weight gain, sleep disturbances, mood swings, depression and anxiety. Others are hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, decreased sex drive, urinary tract infections (UTIs), constipation and diarrhea, and more.
If you’re wondering how to balance your hormones, you can treat it through hormone replacement therapy. Let’s look at hormone replacement therapy or HRT as one possible solution to hormonal imbalance.
What’s Hormone Replacement Therapy?
Hormone replacement therapy is a medically habilitative process. It is designed to restore customers’ normal hormone levels using synthetic or bioidentical hormones. Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) has two main aims- to reduce menopausal symptoms and to prevent bone loss.
Some women may only want a short course of HRT, particularly if they have severe menopausal symptoms. Others may want to consider HRT as a long-term option (for example, until their natural menopause) in order to reduce the risk of osteoporosis
HRT is a common treatment for women dealing with hormonal imbalance. There are many benefits of HRP benefits, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution.
To understand if Hormone Replacement Therapy may be the right option for you, you first have to understand what it does, how it works, and the different types of Hormone Replacement Therapy that are available.
Understanding How Hormones Work?
Hormones work as chemical messengers in your body. When they reach certain organs or tissues, they send signals that tell the cells what to do. Hormones are produced by endocrine glands, which are spread throughout your body and include your pituitary gland, hypothalamus, and thyroid gland, among others. When these glands produce too much or too little hormones, an imbalance can occur in your body. This can result in symptoms like weight gain or loss, mood swings, and more.
Hormonal imbalance can be caused by various factors like menopause (for women) or stress and anxiety (for both men and women). Hormone Replacement Therapy is used to treat hormonal imbalances caused by menopause because it can help relieve symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness in postmenopausal women.
Different Types of Hormone Replacement Therapy
Combined HRP
Combined HRT is a type of hormone replacement therapy that combines estrogen and testosterone. Testosterone is a hormone that makes men grow hair, muscle, and beard and make sperm. Estrogen is the main female sex hormone secreted by the ovaries.
Non-combined
The main reason for taking non-combined HRT is to relieve vaginal symptoms such as dryness and soreness, which can cause pain during intercourse. The only benefit of taking combined HRT over the non-combined type is that it offers greater protection against womb cancer.
Hormone Replacement Therapy Benefits
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) refers to a treatment that replaces estrogen and progesterone, the female sex hormones. These hormones decline as women get older and decline significantly at menopause.
Replacing these hormones can help reduce the symptoms of menopause. The most common symptom is hot flushes, which are experienced by more than 60% of women around the time of menopause. Other symptoms include night sweats, mood swings, vaginal dryness, and loss of libido. HRT is also good for the bones and may reduce the risk of fractures due to osteoporosis.
Key Takeaway
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) treatment relieves symptoms related to menopause. It replaces female hormones that are at a lower level as you approach menopause. Hormones are chemical messengers that are produced by glands in the body. They enter the bloodstream and cause effects in other tissues. For example, thyroid hormone, made by the thyroid gland, travels through the blood and affects nearly every tissue in the body. HRT can be very effective for some women. It reduces symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats, improves mood and energy levels, and may protect against bone loss (osteoporosis) after menopause.
