Tips for Managing Postpartum Hormones
The changes of pregnancy and the postpartum period are some of the most intense hormonal changes that a woman’s body will ever go through, and even though they’re normal, they can be difficult to manage. Right after birth, some hormone levels fall dramatically while others rise, and this is what leads to the postpartum issues that so many women experience– depression, extreme fatigue, hair loss, and more.
Knowing what to expect and some ways to cope with these changes can really help to make it easier for you to get through this stressful time! Here are some of the things you should know.
How do your hormones change postpartum?
Estrogen and Progesterone
Over the course of a pregnancy, estrogen and progesterone are at very high levels. Right after delivery, whether you deliver vaginally or via C-section, these two hormones drop very fast. This is a natural change– your body doesn’t need the high levels anymore and there are other hormones that need to get to work.
However, the sharp drop is often part of the reason (combined with the stress of labor and a new baby) that many women feel low or just “off” physically and emotionally right after the birth, and it’s a large contributor to postpartum depression in the following weeks and months. This change is also what leads to postpartum hair loss, and can contribute to some additional sleep disturbances on top of your new baby.
Around three months after your baby is born, your estrogen and progesterone levels will begin to return to normal.
Prolactin and Oxytocin
At the same time that your estrogen and progesterone levels are falling, your prolactin and oxytocin levels are rising. Oxytocin plays a role in labor– it’s the hormone that stimulates uterine contractions. It also plays a major role in early mother-child bonding. Prolactin, on the other hand, is the hormone involved in milk production.
If you choose not to breastfeed, these hormone levels will drop off fairly quickly, but if you do nurse your baby, they will stay elevated until the baby is about six months old. Around this time they start to eat solid foods, so their demand for breast milk will slowly start to taper off, which is why this hormonal change happens.
What can I do to manage postpartum hormonal changes?
Focus on Your Diet
One of the most effective ways to get through rising and falling hormones during the postpartum period is to focus on eating a nutritious diet. Adding in plenty of healthy fats and proteins as well as fruits and vegetables will not only help your energy and mood, but can set your body up as well as possible to produce the hormones you need.
Accept Any Help You Can
As much as hearing it is probably exasperating, reducing your stress levels and getting plenty of sleep and gentle exercise will do wonders for how you feel as you recover from birth. Obviously, with a new baby, that’s much, much easier said than done! As a result, one of the best things you can do for your physical and mental health is to get help.
From your partner to friends and family members to professional services if you can afford them, there are plenty of ways for you to get the assistance you need so that you can care for yourself and your baby as efficiently as possible. Let loved ones cook you meals or come clean the house and do laundry! Split nighttime feedings and diaper changes as evenly as possible with your partner, and enlist them to hold the baby while you take a shower and have some time to yourself. Any way you can find to focus on your own wellbeing in addition to your baby’s will help you to feel better as you ride out these hormonal changes.
Speak to Your Doctor
When all else fails, difficulty with hormone levels during your postpartum period is definitely something you should speak to your doctor about. They can help you with any concerns about your health, so make sure to prioritize yourself and make an appointment if you feel like you need it!
Whether you’re treating a hormone imbalance, dealing with the issues of menopause, or addressing problems with your thyroid, hormone replacement therapy can completely change how you feel and your outlook on life. Hormones affect many vital processes that happen in the body, and choosing to use HRT to put your levels back on track can have powerful effects on almost every aspect of your physical wellbeing.
Once you’ve settled on HRT, though, you have more decisions to make, and one of the biggest decisions is what form of hormone you’re going to use. There are many different ways that replacement hormones can be delivered into your system, and no one way is better than the others. You’ll have to decide which form is going to be the best fit for you, and to do that, you’ll need to know about your options! Here are the most common forms of hormones used in HRT and the benefits and drawbacks of each one.
Pills
Of the forms of hormone therapy, pills taken orally are the most common. Most are taken once a day, although some pills have different or more complex dosing schedules, and they are one of the most researched forms of hormone therapy since they’ve been around for the longest.
The benefits of pills is that they are easy to use and an effective way to deliver hormones to your system. Some of the downsides of pills, however, is that they can carry side effects. With estrogen therapy, for instance, side effects could include headaches and nausea, and pills can sometimes carry risks of aggravating other health conditions, like liver damage or increased risk of strokes or blood clots. Your doctor can discuss with you if these potential side effects are likely to cause an issue in your case.
Patches
Patches attach to your skin with an adhesive and secrete hormones into your system through the skin. Usually you wear patches somewhere out of the way, like on your stomach below your waistband, and you change them out regularly according to the instructions, typically once a week. If you frequently forget to take pills or other medications, patches can be a good option for you since they’re more of a “set it and forget it” kind of treatment.
Skin patches can be a good choice for people who can’t take pills– for instance, if you have a liver condition and can’t take oral estrogen, which is hard on the liver, an estrogen patch completely bypasses the liver and would be a great option. Side effects like headaches or nausea from patches can also sometimes be less intense than those from pills, although this does vary from person to person. Hormone patches usually need to be kept away from high heat or direct sunlight, though, because it can make them release their doses too quickly. This makes them difficult to wear for people who spend a lot of time outdoors in hot climates or who frequently use tanning beds or saunas. If these things apply to you, a different option might be better.
Topical Treatments
Topical hormone treatments cover any type of treatment that is applied to the skin, such as gels, creams, and sprays. They work similarly to patches by allowing the hormone to be absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin. They may be applied to different places on the body depending on the specific medication, like the arm or the leg.
Like patches, hormone creams, gels, and sprays are good for anyone who can’t take hormone pills orally because they bypass the digestive system and go straight to the bloodstream. Unlike patches, however, they do need to be applied regularly, often daily, which can make them difficult for people who have trouble remembering to take medication. Additionally, there is a risk of them being rubbed or washed off before they have a chance to absorb. Because of this, topical treatments always need to be applied after bathing or showering, and you should let them fully dry before dressing.
Vaginal Treatments
Vaginal suppositories, rings, and creams are most often used to deliver estrogen, and they are commonly used by women whose hormone imbalances lead to them having vaginal dryness, itching, burning, or pain during sex. This is one of the most effective ways to treat the vaginal symptoms of menopause. The schedules for these treatments can vary depending on what kind you’re using, from needing to be changed daily or a few times a week to only needing to be changed or reapplied every few months.
These treatments, like patches, are convenient because you don’t need to take them every day, and if the only real problems you’re having with a hormone imbalance are related to dryness and discomfort, they can be great to target that symptom directly. They also typically have a low dosage, reducing the risk of side effects like headaches or nausea. On the downside, they often don’t do much to help other symptoms such as hot flashes, so if you have symptoms besides vaginal discomfort, another type of therapy would be a better choice for you. It’s also not recommended to use vaginal treatments long term unless you’ve had a hysterectomy, because extended use can increase your risk of endometrial cancer.
While other types of hormone replacement treatments are available, these are the most common ones that you’ll run across. As you can see, each one has pros and cons, and your doctor can help you decide which will work best for you. If you’re interested in learning more about HRT, contact Renewed Vitality to schedule an appointment today!
Everybody starts the new year with the best of intentions. There’s something so exciting about a completely blank slate, knowing that this next year of your life can be anything, but sadly, keeping New Year’s resolutions is rarely as simple as perseverance and willpower. There are a lot of factors that can make it difficult to stick to your goals for the year, whether you’re hoping to get in shape, get more organized, quit a bad habit, or even just have a happier year than you’ve had in a while. However, if you can address the external factors that are holding you back from achieving your goals, you might find that suddenly everything, not just your New Year’s resolutions, becomes easier. Here are some common reasons that New Year’s resolutions fail, and what you can do to ensure that you don’t fall victim to them.
Your Goal Was Not Specific Enough
When setting a goal for the year, vagueness is never going to be your friend. Not having a clear and direct path to take will make it difficult for you to get started in the first place, meaning you’ll essentially have failed before you begin. Alternatively, even if you do make significant progress towards a goal, if you haven’t set yourself a benchmark of success, you’ll never feel that you’ve made enough progress, and you won’t be satisfied with your own hard work. Setting very clear and concrete goals is the way to go with New Year’s resolutions, so for example, don’t set a goal of just “lose weight,” instead set a goal to “lose 20 pounds by June.” Instead of “get organized,” set a goal of “set up a filing system for my important documents and donate half of what’s in my closet.” Having these definitive end goals to work towards will make a huge difference!
You Have No Support System or Accountability
Reaching a goal is not easy, and reaching a goal alone is next to impossible. If you’re trying to charge bravely ahead into your New Year’s resolutions with no one in your corner to back you up, it’s going to be way more difficult than it would be if you had a support system in place. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to have someone working towards the same goal as you, just that you need a person or group who can celebrate your successes with you and encourage you when you’re struggling. However, if you can work towards the same goal with another person, that’s great too! Having other people who are going to be able to hold you accountable is incredibly important for New Year’s resolutions.
You Didn’t Celebrate Small Successes
The value of recognizing smaller milestones on your way to achieving your larger goal is frequently overlooked and can lead to you being discouraged about the process. If you set out to lose twenty pounds this year, for example, you might think it’s a waste of time to do something nice for yourself to celebrate when you lose five or ten pounds, but recognizing your own small successes and helping keep yourself motivated is more important than you might think. If you don’t allow yourself to appreciate how far you’ve come before you’ve reached your final goal, it’s easy to forget that you’re putting in a lot of hard work to do something good for yourself and deserve a little celebration along the way. Set yourself some milestones that you think are good places on your journey for a quick victory lap, and then do something fun when you reach them, like dinner with friends, a trip to the spa, or buying yourself a small treat.
Your Hormones Were Unbalanced
There are many other physical or mental reasons that you might have trouble sticking with a New Year’s resolution, such as high levels of stress, poor sleep, low mood, and more. Surprisingly, a lot of these challenges can actually come back to the same root cause: your hormones might be out of balance. Nearly every function in the body relies on your hormones, and if they aren’t present in the levels that they need to be, this can result in the kind of symptoms that make keeping New Year’s resolutions feel impossible, such as mood swings and irritability, not getting enough sleep, brain fog or impulsivity, and even the inability to shed stubborn pounds.
Getting your hormones balanced is one of the best things you can do for your New Year’s resolutions, and also for your overall well-being this year. With hormone imbalances as a likely root for many mental and physical issues you may be facing, coming into Renewed Vitality for testing and treatment might just be the missing piece you needed to start feeling better. Contact us to schedule a consultation today, and see how rebalancing your hormones could change your life.
Infertility is a common condition and impacts about 20 percent of all couples. An official medical diagnosis of infertility is usually given when a couple has been unsuccessful after trying to conceive over a full year’s time. When the cause of infertility appears to result from the female partner, it is called female infertility. Female infertility factors contribute to about 50% of all infertility cases, and infertility in women makes up about one-third of all infertility cases.
Becoming pregnant and carrying a pregnancy to term are physically and emotionally taxing processes with a lot of complicated aspects. Quite a few things can go wrong during the pregnancy process and ultimately lead to infertility.
The list below includes only some of the common causes of infertility, and any woman experiencing difficulty getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy to term should contact her healthcare provider about potential treatments.
What will a doctor evaluate to diagnose female infertility?
Your trusted healthcare provider will need details about your menstrual periods, any previous pregnancies, miscarriages, pelvic pain, abnormal vaginal bleeding, or vaginal discharge. You may also be asked for information about previous pelvic infections or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Some of the medical questions professionals may ask include:
- Have you previously been pregnant or had any miscarriages?
- Does your menstrual cycle feel normal and seem on-time or is it painful and irregular?
- Are you experiencing heavy bleeding or abnormal discharge?
- Have you previously undergone any abdominal surgeries?
What causes female infertility to occur?
There are a wide range of potential causes for female infertility, but it can be challenging to specify the precise one. There are plenty of couples who even experience “undetermined” infertility or “multi-factor” infertility (meaning multiple causes, often from both male and female factors). Some potential causes include:
Uterus Issues: Problems with the uterus may include polyps, fibroids, septum, or adhesions within the uterine cavity. Polyps and fibroids in particular could form at any time while other issues (like a septum) can be with you since birth or come as a result of surgery, like for dilations and curettage.
Ovulation Complications: There are a large variety of reasons why a woman might not be ovulating normally. Ovulation difficulty usually results from things like hormonal imbalances, a history with eating disorders, substance abuse, abnormal thyroid conditions, severe stress, and even pituitary tumors.
Fallopian Tube Problems: Infertility that results from “tubal factors” typically include pelvic inflammatory disease that results from having chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Egg Number And Quality: At birth, women come into the world with all the eggs their body will ever produce, and these carry the potential to leave the body early and entirely, all before menopause. Some eggs will even have the wrong number of chromosomes and won’t be able to grow into a healthy fetus. Some of these chromosomal problems (including “balanced translocation”) may affect every egg, while others occur more chaotically but become increasingly common as a woman ages.
At Renewed Vitality, our dedicated teams are focused on helping people stay informed and passionate about their lives and health, including for infertility problems and associated conditions like low estrogen levels and hormone complications.
We are also the Berks County area’s premier facility for hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and other treatments. We serve both men and women, offering safe, effective care that relieves hormone imbalance symptoms and restores quality of life for patients at all stages of life. To learn more, don’t hesitate to contact Renewed Vitality today!
In this busy day and age, we’re not always the best about listening to our bodies, but a missed period will set off alarm bells in most women’s heads as a clear sign that something is up. The most obvious answer is that amenorrhea (the medical term for a missing period) is a sign of pregnancy, but for those who are not sexually active or for whom a pregnancy test has ruled that reason out, what could be the root cause of a missed period? Turns out, there are a lot of potential reasons.
For starters, how long should you be skipping periods before you start to worry? Typically once a pregnancy has been ruled out, the time span varies based on regularity. If you’re usually very regular, start talking to your doctor after a few months have passed. If you have a history of being irregular, six to nine months is usually the time to start looking for the cause of your amenorrhea.
Nutrition and Lifestyle
When the body doesn’t receive enough nutrients, endures exercise that is too intense, or a combination of those factors, the reproductive system shuts down to try to help the body cope with the physical stress. Amenorrhea is a common symptom of eating disorders for this reason, but it’s also seen in athletes or people with intense and unhealthy fitness regimens. You may see the myth floating around in weight loss and exercise circles that a missing period means you’re on the right track and working hard enough, but this is false– and dangerous. If you’ve noticed your period stopping as a result of your diet and physical activity, it’s time to reassess. Make sure you’re getting enough nutrients of all kinds and not over-exerting yourself when you exercise.
PCOS
PCOS, or polycystic ovarian syndrome, is a hormonal disorder, and even though it’s fairly common, it is often overlooked. Irregular or missing periods are a symptom of PCOS, as well as infertility problems, weight struggles, and excessive body hair and acne. A doctor can diagnose PCOS through checking your hormone levels with a blood test. If you suspect you have PCOS, it’s important to bring it up to your doctor and ask about being tested, because women with PCOS are at a higher risk for diabetes, and you may need regular screening to help you avoid this additional problem.
Thyroid Disease
If tests have ruled out hormonal problems like PCOS but you’re still having trouble figuring out why your period is missing, it’s possible that your thyroid might be the problem. Because there are so many potential causes for amenorrhea, the thyroid isn’t often the first thing doctors test for, but it is important to consider it as a factor when other explanations don’t add up.
Birth Control
Going off the pill and suddenly having a missing period can be a shock when you’ve gotten used to the regularity that the pill offers, but it’s not unheard of. Some women do experience about four to six months of amenorrhea after stopping the pill, so if you’ve just cancelled your prescription, make sure you rule out pregnancy as a cause, and then give your period a little time to come back before you really start worrying.
Menopause
We all know that menopause marks the end of our menstruating years, but your period won’t just stop dead as you approach this age. In most cases, it’s a slower process in which your period becomes irregular and unpredictable, often just skipping a month. It’s important to note that you can still become pregnant at this time in your life! When your period is irregular it becomes harder to predict ovulation, so make sure you stay on top of your birth control methods if a baby isn’t in the cards for you at this time.
Breastfeeding
With the craziness that accompanies a new baby, you may be grateful to hear that periods often stop during breastfeeding, especially if you are exclusively breastfeeding. During the weaning process it may crop back up and be irregular at first before settling back into your natural cycle, but again remember that missing or irregular periods does not mean it’s impossible for you to get pregnant. Ovulation comes before the period, and it can still happen if you aren’t careful.
Stress
There’s a good reason that medical professionals of all types are always urging their patients to lower their stress levels. Stress really can damage your physical health, and one of the telltale signs of this is menstruation coming to a stop. When stress of any kind becomes intense enough, the body goes through changes that allow it to better handle danger, and one of these changes is shutting down the reproductive system. If tests and discussion with your doctor have ruled out other causes and conditions, it may come down to the stress of your life forcing your body into a constant state of fight or flight.
With these potential causes for a missing period in mind, you’re now ready to take charge of your own health and get to the bottom of what’s going on with your body. Renewed Vitality is passionate about helping people stay informed and involved in their health. We are the Berks County area’s top facility for hormone replacement therapy and other treatments. To learn more, don’t hesitate to contact us!
Throughout pregnancy and for some time after, the body’s hormonal balance and composition shifts. Once the pregnancy ends, many women find their bodies in a state of hormone shock. In addition to all of the fresh duties motherhood brings with it, the body must also adjust to the new normal of postpartum life.
What causes these hormonal imbalances?
While the simple answer is “childbirth,” there’s more specifics going on here. The most common imbalance is that of estrogen and progesterone. These two hormones are incredibly important to the development and continued health of both mother and child during pregnancy as well as after. The reason these fall out of balance is because throughout pregnancy, the placenta produces large amounts of progesterone, and the rest of the body adjusts estrogen production to match.
Once the placenta is delivered, the regular source of progesterone is gone, but the body is still producing far too much estrogen. This is known as estrogen dominance. Symptoms of estrogen dominance include insomnia, mood swings, and difficulty losing weight to name a few. Usually these levels balance out over time, but there are several ways to speed up the process.
How do you combat these imbalances?
Increase Fiber Intake
Increasing fiber intake can go a long way towards cutting down on abundant estrogen in the blood. Fiber binds to estrogen as well as cholesterol, and carries it out of the body. High in fiber foods like lentils and whole wheat pastas are great sources of the fiber your body needs.
Avoid Refined Sugars
Excess carbohydrates and sugars are stored as fat in the body. Bodies that have more stored fat produce more estrogen, which would exacerbate the situation. Instead of eating foods like white bread or most kinds of pasta that contain processed sugars, shoot for some low-carb options. Replace the bread on your sandwich with some crisp lettuce leaves!
Avoid Alcohol and Caffeine
These substances can cause your hormone levels to shift unpredictably, making it difficult to treat any existing hormone imbalance. By interfering with the hormone producing glands like the thyroid, ovaries, and pancreas, these imbalances can become much worse and lead to long term problems.
Increase Vitamin D intake
Vitamin D can potentially lower estrogen levels in the blood. You can raise your vitamin D intake by spending more time in the sun, or adding a supplement to your diet.
Get More Rest
Make sure to schedule in plenty of rest, as lack of sleep can lead to even more problems when it comes to hormonal imbalances. Sleep is a time for our bodies to recover, and without that rest period, the body is more susceptible to future hormone imbalance issues.
Speak with a professional
If your hormone levels are out of sync, it can seem like you are alone, but you’re not. Millions of women experience the same imbalances after pregnancy, and there is help out there. If you’re looking for assistance with your postpartum hormone imbalance, the experts at Renewed Vitality are ready to help! Schedule a consultation today.
