When women hit menopause, hormones like Estrogen, Progesterone, Testosterone, Pregnenalone and DHEA drop.
This is when many women start to experience menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, moodiness, irritability, feeling overwhelmed, crying easily and for no apparent reason, depression, low libido and others.
Our skin also starts to lose collagen, elastin and hyaluronic acid leading to wrinkles and skin laxity particularly around the mouth and jaw line but also the backs of the arms, above the knees, sides of the torso, etc.
Taking bioidentical hormones enables us to stave off aging by keeping our levels elevated as they were before we hit menopause. Bioidentical hormones are made from Mexican yam and are not anything like conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
HRT Estrogen – Premarin - made from pregnant horse’s urine, has proven to cause endometrial cancer, heart attacks and strokes from blood clots.
HRT Progesterone - can cause many side effects including stomach upset, changes in appetite, weight gain, fluid retention and swelling (edema), fatigue, acne, drowsiness or insomnia, allergic skin rashes, hives, fever, headache, depression, breast discomfort or enlargement and PMS-like symptoms.
Bioidentical estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, pregnenalone and thyroid have a proven safety record of several decades. They became popular when Suzanne Sommers started interviewing forward-thinking doctors prescribing them and wrote books including: Sexy Forever, I’m Too Young for This, Ageless, Bombshell and others.
Naturopathic doctors test hormone levels with a saliva test and then prescribe bioidentical hormones to treat the deficiencies. A thorough Thyroid panel via blood determines thyroid (metabolic) function.
Estriol cream is used on the face to help prevent and treat wrinkles as well as treating estrogen deficiency symptoms of:
Hot flashes / night sweats
Depression, withdrawn, hopeless at times
Low sex drive
Vaginal pain, dryness, itching
Insomnia, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep
Getting more forgetful, mental skills diminishing
Mood low
Urinary incontinence, increased frequency
More wrinkles, less skin tone
Progesterone cream is applied on the inner thighs, abdomen and biceps to protect against estrogenic cancers (breast, ovarian, uterine, vaginal) and treat progesterone deficiency symptoms of:
Developing arthritis (tannins in tea make arthritis worse)
Spotting / break through bleeding
Inflammation and swelling
New allergies or asthma
Twitches or spasms (magnesium glycinate helps relax muscles and prevent spasms)
Mental fogginess
Mood swings, irritability
Fatigued, tired in the morning
Anxiety
Testosterone is applied as a cream or taken orally in a capsule to treat testosterone deficiency symptoms of:
Low libido
Pubic hair thinning
Less motivation, less assertive, less confident
Gaining more fat weight, feeling less lean, muscle loss
More low back or hip pain, joint pain
More headaches
In BC, despite having prescribing rights for bioidentical estrogen, progesterone and thyroid (metabolism), Naturopathic doctors are not able to prescribe testosterone or DHEA. We are, however, able to prescribe Pregnenalonein capsule form which makes DHEA and testosterone.
Taking bioidentical hormones can be a life changer emotionally and physically.
We can age gracefully with this type of support.