Hormones control many of the body’s functions. Yet, as we age, the production and release of these hormones ebb and flow. Even a slight imbalance can harm your health and quality of life.
Women experience fluctuations during puberty, pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause. These imbalances cause unpleasant side effects, but the good news is that hormone replacement therapy can help relieve those symptoms and improve your quality of life.
If you want to reduce symptoms of depression and hot flashes and increase energy, estrogen replacement therapy in Stamford may be the treatment you need.
Estrogen is a hormone that is part of the endocrine system. This is a system of glands, like the thyroid, adrenal, hypothalamus, and pineal gland. Some organs, like the pancreas, also function as glands. These glands are located all over the body and secrete hormones that send signals to organs, skin, muscles, and other tissues. This helps keep bodily functions running smoothly.
Estrogen is one of the sex hormones and is essential for maintaining sexual and reproductive health. However, the side effects of an estrogen imbalance create more than a disturbance in reproductive health.
Estrogen is produced and secreted by the ovaries, the adrenal glands, and the testicles. While women have higher estrogen levels, men also require estrogen for optimal health. Additionally, the placenta secretes estrogen during pregnancy to help nourish the baby.
Estrogen fluctuations are normal throughout a woman’s menstrual cycle. As a woman ages, estrogen levels drop during perimenopause, which is right before menopause. Officially, menopause starts when you have not had a period for 12 months, which usually is around age 50.
Until menopause, estrogen levels are dropping but have not reached the lowest point. There are three crucial forms of estrogen your body produces throughout your lifetime. During menopause, not only does the level drop, but the primary form your body produces also changes, leading to the need for Stamford estrogen replacement therapy.
As estrogen levels drop, it leads to symptoms in sexual and reproductive health and others commonly associated with menopause. Women in Stamford may experience multiple benefits from estrogen replacement therapy.
For example, maintaining estrogen levels helps prevent a decline in metabolic rate and improves insulin sensitivity. These functions affect a woman’s ability to gain and lose weight. Estrogen also helps maintain muscle, prevent muscle damage, and enhances energy production, which also affects metabolism and weight maintenance.
Additionally, estrogen plays a role in concentration, memory, reasoning, and fine motor skills. Maintaining adequate levels of estrogen helps slow collagen loss in the skin and enhances magnesium uptake, both of which contribute to visible signs of aging.
The primary focus of estrogen replacement therapy is to replace the estrogen your body no longer produces during perimenopause and menopause. This hormone therapy can help alleviate symptoms such as hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, and trouble sleeping.
Women also report improvements in irritability and mood swings, dry skin and dry eyes, and night sweats. In the past, studies have found a link between hormone replacement therapy with estrogen and progesterone and breast cancer, but not with estrogen alone.
Additionally, using structurally identical hormones will typically lead to fewer side effects and can effectively ease symptoms of hormonal imbalances. It is important to know that every person is different, so women in Stamford should have estrogen replacement therapy that is personalized based on symptoms, goals, and lab results.
Estrogen replacement therapy is typically ongoing. This means you continue to supplement with the therapy to keep your levels optimized and reduce the effects of hormonal imbalance.
Symptoms of an estrogen imbalance can be unpleasant and interfere with your daily activities. Women who choose estrogen replacement therapy in Stamford have the opportunity to reduce these troublesome indications of hormonal imbalances.
Call our office today to schedule your consultation. You will meet with our licensed healthcare provider, Dr. Edward Jacobson, who will answer your questions and help you discover how estrogen replacement therapy can help reduce your symptoms.