Women’s Health

Women’s Health

Female hormones like estrogen and progesterone are responsible for reproductive health. They cause different changes in the body from menstruation to menopause. While hormonal changes are mostly natural and normal, imbalances affect many aspects of a woman’s health. A hormone imbalance can cause changes to mood, energy level, weight, and more. Having a good balance of hormones can help get rid of extreme changes. So, treating hormonal imbalances is vital for any woman.

There are three distinct phases in a woman’s life. In each of these stages, you’ll experience different symptoms due to imbalances in hormone levels. Identifying these symptoms and getting treated is important for your health.

1. Reproductive phase

This is the phase where you have menstrual cycles. During this period, hormone imbalances cause distinct symptoms. So, it's easy to identify if there is an imbalance in hormones. Most women experience estrogen dominance stage or relative progesterone deficient stage.

But, the most common issue is Premenstrual syndrome or PMS. This is a common condition for the majority of women. Symptoms of PMS usually occur during the first half of the menstrual cycle, or before menses. If you notice emotional, behavioral, and physical changes right before menses, you are experiencing PMS.Abnormal/ heavy periods and missing menstrual cycles are also common.

Polycystic ovary syndrome is another condition that can affect hormone levels. Women who have polycystic ovary syndrome produce high levels of male hormones like testosterone and DHEAS. This higher than normal amounts of male hormones cause an imbalance in hormone levels. Some symptoms related to polycystic ovary syndrome are,

• Irregular menses
• Excessive hair growth on your face and chest
• Acne
• Weight gain
• Glucose intolerance
2. Perimenopausal phase/ menopause transition phase

This phase starts several years before the actual menopause. And, it lasts up until your ovaries stop producing eggs. In this phase, ovaries start to make less estrogen and progesterone. As a result, you may experience irregular periods, abnormal bleeding, and on and off hot flushes.

3. Menopause

The third and final phase is the menopause. Menopause happens when ovaries stop producing estrogen or progesterone. Because of this sudden change in hormone levels, you will undergo extreme changes in all aspects of your body. Common symptoms related to menopause are hot flushes, night sweats, mood swings, and sleep disturbances. Menopause also increases your risk of heart attacks, strokes, depression, osteoporosis, and dementia.

Common health problems associated with hormone imbalance

• Abnormal or heavy periods
• Absence of menstrual periods
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Perimenopausal hormone imbalance
• Postmenopausal symptoms
• Mood disturbances (anxiety/depression/difficulty in coping/irritability)
• Osteoporosis
• Weight gain
• Infertility
• Polycystic ovarian syndrome

Testing hormone changes

So, how do you identify if your body is undergoing a hormone imbalance? You can use a simple saliva hormone test to identify free, biologically active hormone levels of your body. This test can be done right in the comfort of your home. The saliva hormone test measures the levels of estrogen, progesterone, DHEAS, testosterone, and cortisol in the body.

Treating hormone changes

You may undergo debilitating physical and emotional symptoms during perimenopausal and postmenopausal phases. To reduce these symptoms, you need to restore your hormone levels to the right balance. There are many naturopathic treatments to help balance your hormone levels. Nutritional changes, supplements, and herbal treatments are some such naturopathic treatments.

Apart from the above treatments, I also offer bioidentical hormone therapy. In this treatment method, bioidentical hormones are used to improve the hormone balance of your body. Bioidentical hormones come in the same shape and mold as naturally produced hormones. So, your body won’t know the difference between supplemental bioidentical hormones and other hormones in the body. So, these bioidentical hormones are used in the same way as other hormones.

This treatment is especially useful during the menstruating and menopausal phases. You can easily get rid of the symptoms and restore the balance of your hormones using this treatment.