A woman’s body goes through many different hormonal changes in her lifetime, from puberty to perimenopause and then finally menopause. Each phase of these hormone shifts can bring changes to your body and the way you feel, and you may also experience some common symptoms. You might be wondering if what you are experiencing is normal or if there is something you can do to feel better. The good news is that IBI Plastic Surgery & Med Spa offers HRT that can help calm these symptoms and help you feel like yourself again.
Today, we are going to provide you with some answers to frequently asked questions that should help you understand the signs that indicate that you could benefit from hormone replacement therapy, what happens if you decide not to pursue any treatment, how to recognize low estrogen levels, and when to speak to your doctor about adjusting your dosage.
How Does Hormone Replacement Therapy Work?
Hormone replacement therapy works by supplementing the hormones your body needs to function, but produces less of as you get older. During menopause, your ovaries start to make lower amounts of estrogen, which can lead to various uncomfortable symptoms. HRT replaces these lost hormones to help relieve symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, moodiness, etc. The treatment usually involves replacing estrogen or could be a combination of estrogen plus progesterone. Women who still have their uterus usually need both hormones to protect against uterine cancer, but women who have had a hysterectomy may only need estrogen.
When you are deciding on whether you want to start this therapy, you weigh the benefits vs. risks of HRT and consider your age, medical history, family history, and the severity of your symptoms because these can all make a difference in determining whether this treatment makes sense for you. Recent research has shown that when HRT is started within 10 years of menopause, it can reduce the risks of diabetes and provide benefits to your cardiovascular system.
How Do You Know If You Need Hormone Replacement Therapy?
In order to recognize the signs that you might benefit from HRT, start by understanding what symptoms are triggered as your hormone levels decline. The most common symptoms that most people know about are hot flashes, which affect around three-quarters of women going through menopause. These sudden waves of heat can disrupt your daily activities, interrupt your sleep, and leave you feeling exhausted. Night sweats often accompany hot flashes, causing you to wake up drenched and needing to change your pajamas one or more times during the night.
Emotional Symptoms
Your emotional state can also show signs of hormonal changes because estrogen helps to regulate your mood by influencing the production of serotonin and other chemicals in your brain that regulate your emotions and your sleep cycle. When your estrogen levels drop, you may notice you are more irritable, experience anxiety, or experience unexplained sadness. Many women describe feeling depressed or blah, struggling with emotions they never experienced before, or having brain fog and difficulty concentrating, which are all signs that your estrogen levels may be low.
Physical Symptoms
There are also some physical clues that can indicate your hormones are out of balance. Vaginal dryness can make intimacy painful and uncomfortable, and many women experience changes in their skin texture or notice increased joint pain. Estrogen has anti-inflammatory effects and helps maintain joint flexibility, so new aches or morning stiffness might be caused by a hormonal imbalance. Your energy levels may be very low, making you feel drained even after you slept well. You may experience irregular periods during perimenopause, increased urinary tract infections, or changes in your sexual desire, which can all be signs that your hormones are becoming imbalanced.
Not everyone experiences these symptoms with the same intensity, and some women breeze right through menopause with minimal discomfort, but others find their quality of life dramatically affected. If your symptoms interfere with your work, relationships, sleep, or how you feel every day, you should seek help. Make an appointment with Dr. Angelina at IBI Plastic Surgery & Med Spa to determine if your hormone levels are off and find out if HRT would help ease your symptoms.
Is Hormone Replacement Therapy Really Necessary?
No, HRT is not medically required in the way that insulin is necessary for someone with diabetes to control their blood sugar. Menopause is a natural biological process that every woman goes through and is not a disease, but that does not mean you need to suffer through it. HRT is currently the most effective solution for helping with symptoms of menopause and also for preventing osteoporosis.
HRT may be the best way to alleviate your discomfort depending on the severity of your symptoms. If they are mild, you may be able to manage them through making changes to your lifestyle, like maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, managing stress, and avoiding triggers like caffeine or alcohol. If your symptoms are negatively affecting your quality of life, HRT might be the best solution for you. Women who experience severe hot flashes or persistent sleep disruption or are dealing with crazy mood swings often find that hormone therapy dramatically improves their ability to function each day.
Risks to Consider
Your personal and family medical history needs to be considered before starting HRT because women with certain risk factors, such as a history of blood clots, breast cancer, or stroke, may not be good candidates for HRT.
It is important to work with a professional like Dr. Angelina Postoev, who has the expertise to determine if HRT is right for you. She will evaluate your individual risk profile and also consider the timing of your therapy because starting HRT within 10 years of your last period can reduce future risk of heart disease, bone loss, diabetes, and weight gain. Beginning therapy when you are much older can increase the risks of adverse effects.
What Happens if I Do not Take Hormone Replacement Therapy?
Choosing not to pursue HRT is completely valid, and many women navigate menopause successfully without it, and their bodies eventually adjust to lower hormone levels. The only indicator for some women that they have gone through menopause is the absence of a menstrual period. These women experience minimal symptoms and are able to continue living their lives without significant disruption.
Declining estrogen levels can cause other longer-term health issues beyond the immediate, more well-known symptoms. Estrogen works with calcium, vitamin D, and other minerals to keep your bones strong, and as estrogen declines, women become more likely to experience osteoporosis and bone fractures as they get older. Also, their risk of heart disease increases after menopause. Research has shown that the estrogen made by the body protects against heart disease, and after menopause, the risk for heart disease rises sharply.
If you choose not to use HRT, there are some other alternative ways you can manage your symptoms. Making changes to your lifestyle can sometimes make a significant difference, including:
- Getting enough exercise using a combination of strength training and cardio. This helps to maintain your bone density and improves your mood.
- Eating a healthy diet that contains essential vitamins and minerals, including calcium and vitamin D.
- Managing your stress levels using meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises can reduce the intensity of hot flashes.
- Some women find relief through non-hormonal medications. Certain antidepressants and anti-seizure medications have been shown to reduce hot flashes.
- Vaginal moisturizers and lubricants can help alleviate dryness without hormone therapy.
Choosing to use or not to use HRT is a personal decision that should be made carefully and with a good understanding of both the short-term symptoms you might continue experiencing and the long-term health considerations. Regardless of whether you choose to use HRT, it is important that you work closely with your doctor so they can monitor your hormone levels, bone density, cardiovascular health, and other health indicators as you get older.
How Do I Tell If My Estrogen Is Low?
Noticing the signs of low estrogen requires that you pay attention to both the obvious and subtle changes that are happening in your body. The common symptoms are hard to miss, like hot flashes that create the sudden feeling of intense heat all over your body and can make your face and neck turn pink or red. Night sweats that wake you up drenched and leave you exhausted or the time leading up to menopause (perimenopause) when your periods become irregular. These all signal that your ovaries are not producing consistent levels of estrogen, and you may wish to look into HRT.
Some of the other signs of low estrogen are less obvious and include:
- Breast tenderness
- Brain fog and other cognitive problems
- Trouble focusing or concentrating
- Decreased sexual desire
- Vaginal dryness
- Dry skin
- Hair loss or thinning
- Headaches
Your doctor can perform a physical exam and blood tests to determine low estrogen levels and talk with you about the results and your treatment options. These tests can measure specific forms of estrogen in your bloodstream, and they might also check other hormone levels, such as follicle-stimulating hormone, which rises when estrogen levels go down.
During perimenopause, your hormone levels will fluctuate dramatically, so you might have low estrogen one month, and your levels may be normal the next month, which makes it a bit tricky to diagnose low levels of estrogen.
What Happens to a Woman’s Body When Her Estrogen Is Low?
Low estrogen affects almost every system in a woman’s body, and the immediate symptoms of low estrogen are often the most noticeable. These include irregular periods, hot flashes and night sweats, mood changes, vaginal dryness, low libido, breast soreness, brain fog, and fatigue and can be mildly annoying or completely debilitating.
At Risk of Heart Disease
Estrogen helps regulate cholesterol levels and keeps the blood vessels flexible, so when your levels decline, the risk of cardiovascular disease increases. This is why heart disease becomes the leading cause of death for women after menopause.
At Risk of Bone Fractures
Low estrogen can make you more susceptible to bone fractures due to osteopenia or osteoporosis, because estrogen helps keep your bones dense and strong.
Urinary Tract Problems
Your urinary and reproductive systems also begin to undergo significant changes, including thinning of vaginal tissues and the urinary tract becoming thinner and less elastic. This can create discomfort, painful intercourse, and an increased susceptibility to developing urinary tract infections. Many women also experience bladder control issues.
Cosmetic Concerns
Many women experience drier skin, and an increase in visible wrinkles and hair thinning is also very common.
Weight Gain
Metabolic changes are also triggered as your estrogen levels decline, and many women gain weight around their middle during menopause. Some of why this happens is because estrogen influences how your body stores fat, and your metabolism also slows down, making it easier to gain weight even if you are eating and exercising the same. Then, to add to the problem, low estrogen can cause your sleep quality to decline, and lack of sleep is a known contributor to weight gain.
Cognitive Function and Emotional Regulation
Estrogen helps your brain function properly, particularly in the regions that control memory and attention. When your levels drop, you might notice brain fog or find it difficult to concentrate.
The combination of physical discomfort, sleep disruption, and hormonal shifts can contribute to depression or anxiety and trigger fluctuations in your mood that are unusual for you.
How Do I Know If I Need A Higher Dose Of HRT?
When you first start HRT, it can be a bit challenging to find the dose that will balance out your system perfectly. It takes careful monitoring, patience, and sometimes a series of tests.
If you have been using HRT for three months and have not noticed a significant improvement in your symptoms, this is a clear sign that you need a higher dose. You may still be having these symptoms, but their intensity should have decreased, such as hot flashes going from 10 times a day to five times a day, and their severity no longer disrupts your life.
Sometimes you can develop new symptoms, which can also be a sign that your dose needs to be adjusted. You will be closely monitored to watch for symptoms returning or worsening after they appeared to have leveled off. This can happen because your hormone levels can continue to change frequently during perimenopause. Studies have shown that younger women experiencing symptoms of perimenopause or menopause often tend to need higher levels of estradiol (a specific type of estrogen) than older women do.
It is critical that you do not ever try to adjust your HRT dosage on your own and work with a doctor like Dr. Angelina, who has decades of experience with HRT and understands how your body works.
Who Can I Contact to Find Out if I Need HRT?
If you are experiencing symptoms of menopause and they are interfering with your life, BHRT may be the answer you are looking for.
Contact Dr. Angelina Postoev at IBI Plastic Surgery Med Spa and set up a personal consultation. She and her knowledgeable team of professionals will take the time to listen, answer your questions, and explain your options in a clear and easy-to-understand way. You will be provided with the highest level of care, support, and guidance from your first visit through every step of your therapy, as well as a team that truly wants to help you feel your best.
