Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has become a widely-debated topic and technique, usually used for treating symptoms of menopause. With ongoing medical research, it’s become clear that HRT can help many women and men with safe, effective hormone imbalance treatment options across all stages of life.
While HRT can reduce or eliminate hormonal imbalance issues, many people don’t take advantage of HRT due to a decades-old study that warned of serious health risks. Although the medical research and opinions on hormones have changed for the better, many men and women are understandably still cautious and hesitant. Let’s take a closer look at what HRT is and the benefits it can provide toward bolstering your or a loved one’s quality of life.
What Is HRT?
Hormone replacement therapy is often used to relieve the common symptoms of menopause, but more generally can treat hormone imbalances for both men and women. HRT treatments provide hormones that replace those your body either doesn’t produce or only does so in more limited quantities.
HRT is often a good treatment option for hot flashes, bone loss, vaginal dryness, and low estrogen levels. Importantly, the kind of hormone therapy a given person needs, the right dosage, and the risks will vary. Be sure to talk to your doctor before choosing hormone therapy to consider if the benefits outweigh any potential risks for you.
For women, HRT is used to provide the estrogen your body no longer makes after menopause. There are two primary types of estrogen therapy:
- Systemic HRT: Systemic estrogen — which arrives in the form of a pill, skin patch, ring, gel, cream, or spray form — usually offers a higher dose of estrogen that gets absorbed throughout the body.
- Low-dose products: Products with low-dose vaginal estrogen benefits usually come in tablet, ring, or cream form. They minimize how much of the hormone gets absorbed by the body. As a result, these low-dose vaginal preparations are usually used only to treat the vaginal and urinary symptoms of menopause.
HRT Benefits & Options
The last few decades have provided hundreds of clinical studies with outcomes that support using HRT to effectively help conditions like hot flashes, vaginal dryness, night sweats, and bone loss. These benefits can lead to improved sleep, and sexual relations, and quality of life.
Authors of Estrogen Matters, Oncologist Avrum Bluming and social psychologist Carol Tavris have helped clarify some of the misunderstandings surrounding hormone therapy and the important advantages it can provide men and women. “Our goal in writing the book and subsequently answering the dozens of emails we receive from around the world is to [educate about] the role of estrogen in ameliorating symptoms and prolonging women’s lives,” Bluming says.
At Renewed Vitality, we strive to give HRT patients the most natural results possible with the least amount of side effects. That’s why every hormone replacement treatment technique we offer uses bioidentical hormones.
Different from lab-produced synthetic hormones, bioidentical hormones are created from plant-based sources that are biologically identical to what our human bodies produce. This makes them easier for your body to use, providing fewer and less severe side effects than the synthetic versions. If you do decide that HRT may be a good treatment for you, be sure to call your doctor first to make sure you’re a good candidate.
We offer a wide range of methods for replacing your body’s previous hormone production with bioidentical hormone options. A hormone replacement therapy center like Renewed Vitality can help you feel better with bioidentical hormone treatments to get your body producing the levels it needs. Don’t hesitate to discover your options by contacting us to get started! To stay up to date with the latest HRT research and treatments, keep reading out blog here at Renewed Vitality!
