Hormones are powerful chemical messengers that regulate many critical bodily functions and processes. When hormone levels decline or become imbalanced, wide-ranging symptoms and health issues can result. Replacing deficient hormones through hormone therapy (HRT) can effectively alleviate unpleasant symptoms, restore wellness, and help patients feel their best.
Many patients visit our clinic with complaints that suggest an underlying hormone imbalance, including:
Careful lab testing allows our specialized hrt doctors to accurately diagnose hormone deficiencies or excesses contributing to patients' symptoms.
Once we have pinpointed the specific hormonal imbalances affecting a patient, our clinicians develop fully personalized hormone replacement therapy treatment plans to restore hormone levels to optimal ranges. Prescribed bioidentical hormones closely mimic naturally occurring hormones in molecular structure and activity in the body.
For patients struggling with hormonally-mediated symptoms, customized HRT offers profound benefits:
- Hot flashes/night sweats fade for most patients
- Vaginal dryness/pain during sex improves
- Mood, sleep, concentration enhance
- Sex drive/libido rebounds
- Erectile function improves for men
- Orgasmic ability enhances for women
Our clinic provides specialized expertise in effective, cutting-edge hormone replacement approaches. Benefiting from our hrt endocrinologist Dr. Smith's over 15 years' experience prescribing bioidentical HRT, Balance Hormone Clinic achieves excellent patient outcomes. We offer:
Balance Hormone Clinic also stands out with our warm, welcoming atmosphere and exceptional patient education.
Hormone therapy involves taking estrogen, testosterone, or progesterone to supplement one's naturally produced hormones. It can help treat menopausal symptoms in middle-aged women or gender dysphoria in transgender people. The goal is to restore hormone levels to improve physical and mental health. Typically, hormone therapy is supervised by an endocrinologist to ensure proper hormone levels.
Some key benefits of hormone therapy include relief of troublesome menopause symptoms like hot flashes, improved bone health to prevent osteoporosis, reduced risk of certain diseases, improved mental health, and physical changes to align with one's gender identity. For perimenopausal and menopausal women, hormone therapy helps reduce symptoms like hot flashes, night sweats, and vaginal dryness.
There are some risks with hormone therapy. In women, taking estrogen alone can increase one's risk of uterine cancer. Taking estrogen with progesterone lowers this risk. Hormone therapy can also increase the chance of heart disease, blood clots, gallstones, and breast cancer when taken for over 5 years. The risks depend on one's specific hormones, dose, and duration of treatment. That's why patients require close monitoring.
Hormones can be taken by pill, injection, gel/cream, patch, spray, or pellet implant. The method depends on the type of hormones used and patient preference regarding convenience, costs, and desired blood hormone levels. Oral pills or transdermal patches/gels provide more variable doses. Injections, implants, and intrauterine systems provide more stable, constant doses over longer periods. One's doctor will discuss the options to determine the optimal delivery method.
Hormone therapy should be prescribed by an endocrinologist or healthcare provider specially trained in such treatment. They will evaluate one's health history, hormone blood tests, risk factors, and treatment goals to determine suitable hormone types/doses and screen for any contraindications. Close monitoring under an endocrinologist ensures hormones are properly regulated for optimal health and safety throughout the treatment period. Specialists remain up-to-date on the latest research to provide evidence-based care.
Hormone therapy can have some surprising effects. For example, trans women undergoing estrogen hormone therapy often experience changes in shoe size as ligaments and tendons become more flexible. Additionally, both trans men and women commonly report changes in body odor as fat distribution and metabolism shifts. Hormones impact many tissues in intricate ways we are still discovering.
