Age can take its toll on your hormones, which can, as a result, have a negative impact on daily life and change in our bodies. A balanced endocrine system is key to regulating these hormones for both men and women. BHRT is a productive therapy that helps to rebalance your natural hormones.
Men and women need a balanced endocrine system as hormones regulate our bodily functions. Throughout different stages, in our lives, our bodies change. As we age our hormones (oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone) decline, which impacts our behaviour and our functioning. BHRT is a process of re-balancing the naturally occurring hormones which have depleted due to age. Bio-identical Hormones are plant-derived hormones that are identical in chemical structure to those found in the human body. The hormones are prescribed and produced based on each individual requirement. They are prepared in a compounding pharmacy.
As a woman moves through each phase of menopause, hormone levels can fluctuate significantly. However, these vital hormones, such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone remain important for bones, vaginal and urethral health, skin, brain function and cardiovascular health. It is therefore important to effectively balance and replenish these hormones in order to maintain a woman’s health, energy, mood and brain function.
Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy can help with:
Lost your get up and go? It could be the result of male menopause.
Many people assume menopause is just a woman’s condition. However, it is not the case as men also suffer from menopause and the effects of changing hormones. Many men experience some of the same symptoms that women experience in perimenopause (meaning around menopause) and menopause, including low sex drive, hot flashes, depression, irritability, mood swings, increased body fat and decreased energy.
Male menopause, also known as andropause, is the result of a gradual decrease in testosterone. Testosterone is an androgen. Male menopause is not the same type of menopause that women go through. For this reason, doctors usually refer to “male menopause” as low testosterone, testosterone deficiency or androgen decline in the aging male.
Male menopause, or andropause, differs from female menopause, which occurs when the production of female hormones drops suddenly. Andropause is a gradual decline in hormone levels. The ovaries run out of the substance it needs to make testosterone. This does not happen with the testicles.
Testosterone levels in men gradually decline throughout the course of adulthood. This happens about 1 percent a year after the age of 30 on average. The loss of testosterone is rarely noticeable in men younger than 60. And by the time men reach their 80s, about half have low testosterone.
As testosterone and andropause levels decrease men will feel a difference in the points below:
Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy can provide relief from a wide range of symptoms associated with:
The adrenal glands sit on top of each kidney. They produce a variety of hormones including the fast-acting stress hormones, adrenalin and noradrenalin, and the slower-acting cortisol and DHEA. These hormones give us the energy we need to feel motivated and deal with any stress. When we are put into a stressful position, the body releases hormones to deal with the ‘’physical danger’’ (‘fight or flight’ response). Once the danger is over, the body should naturally go back to a relaxed state and the adrenal gland returns hormone levels back to normal. However, our modern way of living can create continuous levels of stress, for extended periods of time. This in turn causes the adrenal glands to continually pump out those stress hormones. It is not just emotional stress that causes this but also diet deficiencies; pain, chronic inflammation, microbiome imbalance/digestive infections such as h pylori, parasites, SIBO, candida; lack of sleep; overtraining; autoimmune. Eventually, the adrenals will become fatigued if they are continually stimulated. This is the exhaustion stage of stress where eventually the adrenals will produce abnormally low levels of the stress hormones (DHEA; Cortisol); we are then tired, anxious, and exhausted.
One of the biggest hormone problems for women is low progesterone levels which is fairly common. Of course, this hormone lowers naturally with menopause or perimenopause. However, it can lower a little too much making you feel tired; anxious; low libido; stressed; unable to cope. Even young females may be experiencing an unnatural fall in progesterone.
Progesterone is synthesized fairly early in the hormonal cascade, and its activity is highly influenced by the level of stress – either physical or emotional that a woman is experiencing. To explain this further, let’s talk about pregnenolone steal or progesterone steal. Pregnenolone is the primary “precursor” hormone. The primary decision the body makes with pregnenolone is whether it wants to make sex hormones like progesterone or stress hormones like cortisol. If a woman is stressed, her body “steals” the pregnenolone and uses it for stress hormone production instead eg making more cortisol (especially if your levels of cortisol are dropping because the adrenals are becoming exhausted). However other hormones can be affected too in this turmoil, hence your Dr or therapist may find low hormonal levels across the board. But progesterone will be the one that is hardest hit. The body is basically ‘stealing’ this hormone to allow you to produce more cortisol in order to ‘cope’.
Some common symptoms of low cortisol (which may start the progesterone steal) include:
Common symptoms of DHEA deficiency include:
Saliva testing to determine cortisol levels is the first step to assessing your adrenal health. Healing happens on a cellular level, and flooding the body with nutrients to nourish, support, and rebuild the mitochondria while addressing hormone balance is a comprehensive solution. Reception can give you an adrenal stress test kit and organise our Nutritional Therapy – Functional Medicine practitioner to give you a call regarding the next steps. She will organise to meet with you once she has the results, and develop a programme to help rebalance your adrenal health working in conjunction with the programme you are following with the BHRT. The adrenals stress test is a saliva test, which can be carried out in the comfort of your home and returned directly to the laboratory by you.
11A W Halkin St, Belgravia
London SW1X 8JL
Email: info@tempusbelgravia.co.uk
Phone: +44 20 8037 3265