Good Candidates for Bioidentical Hormone Therapy

Did you know that there are at least 34 identified side effects associated with perimenopause and menopause? Or that women can experience none, a few, or many of these symptoms and in many different combinations?

We certainly do, which is why Dr. Chetanna Okasi and the team at Women’s Wellness MD offer comprehensive menopause care, including bioidentical hormone therapy. If you’re new to the world of hormone therapy, menopause, and bioidentical hormones, you’re in the right place. 

Let’s dive in to see whether you might be a good candidate for this increasingly popular menopause solution.

The wide net of menopause

We won’t name all of the 34 possible side effects of menopause, but we want to touch on some of the more common ones, which include:

• Hot flashes and night sweats, which affect 75% of women in menopause
• Vaginal dryness, which affects more than half of postmenopausal women
• Bone loss — menopause speeds up bone loss, which can lead to osteoporosis
• Mood changes
• Sleep issues
• Loss of libido
• Gastrointestinal issues
• Incontinence

While there are many more, you can see that the few side effects we list can have no small impact on your health and quality of life.

The problem with menopause from an evolutionary perspective

Now we want to discuss the menopause issue from another angle, starting with the fact that, evolutionarily speaking, menopause used to come toward the end of the human lifespan. 

Today, humans live much longer and often into their 80s and 90s, which means women can live with the aftermath of menopause for decades.

So, experiencing bone loss toward the end of your life isn’t as potentially dangerous as living with low bone density for 20 years or more.

Or, you might be stuck with poor vaginal health and low libido that sidelines your sex life for the foreseeable future.

No matter how menopause affects you, these changes can remain for the long haul and create a new normal — one that doesn't support the health and wellness you’ve come to count on over the years.

Why hormone therapy can make sense

We see hormone therapy as a way to extend your healthy living. Through hormone therapy, we can replenish hormone levels to offset many of the side effects, such as:

• Reducing hot flashes
• Improving sleep, thanks to minimizing night sweats
• Restoring vaginal lubrication
• Preventing bone loss

There’s even evidence of hormone therapy protecting against heart attacks in women if it’s started before the age of 60.

To be clear, you still undergo some changes around menopause because you are also aging. That said, those changes that are sped up or precipitated by menopause are ideal targets for hormone therapy, which can support women on every level, including physically and mentally.

What are bioidentical hormones?

We offer several different hormone therapies, but we want to focus on bioidentical hormones in this blog post. These hormones are chemically similar to your natural hormones and come from plants.

We can deliver key reproductive hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone, using bioidentical hormones; they behave the same as the natural ones in your body.

Like other hormone therapies, there are different ways we can deliver bioidentical hormones — patches, pellets, pills, creams, etc. We’re sure to have one that meets your lifestyle and goals.

If you’re tired of having your life upended by menopause, it may be time to explore bioidentical hormone therapy. We invite you to contact us today by calling our Columbia or Greenbelt, Maryland, office or using our online booking feature to schedule an appointment.