Every year, about 1.3 million women in the United States enter menopause, usually at around 51 years of age. Many more are in the state leading up to menopause, known as perimenopause. Once you’re in menopause (you’ve had no period for at least 12 months), you stay there.
That’s a lot of night sweats, brain fog, low libido, and insomnia. Yet, even with so many millions of women affected, myths and misinformation persist about what menopause is, what symptoms are associated with it, and what you can do about it.
Whether you’re in perimenopause or menopause, the reduction in your hormones changes the way your body functions. Not only can you develop troubling symptoms — including the well-known hot flashes — you can lose bone mass, muscle mass, and brain power, too.
At Mian OB/GYN & Associates, expert OB/GYN Dr. Rafiq Mian and our team are dedicated to keeping women healthy, happy, and symptom-free, no matter what their stage of life. If you’re troubled by the symptoms or complications of menopause or perimenopause, we recommend bioidentical hormone therapy (BHRT). Here’s why.
Sex hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone do everything from boost your mood to preserve bone and muscle mass. Once you enter perimenopause or menopause, levels of those important hormones plummet.
Deprived of hormones, your body’s tissues thin and weaken, your blood vessels become less flexible, and you don’t produce new bone cells as easily. Menopause brings relief from monthly bleeding, but also brings a whole new slew of symptoms, such as:
Even if you don’t experience discomfort or your discomfort is mild, without BHRT you may lose enough bone mass to develop osteoporosis, which puts you at increased risk for life-threatening fractures. You’re also at increased risk for dementia, cardiovascular disease, and stroke.
If you just hit menopause, you may be just vaguely aware of the days when HRT was considered dangerous. The first study that associated HRT with increased risk of heart disease and breast cancer was highly flawed. The women in the study were older and already in poor health.
The first HRT was also synthesized from mare’s urine, so the hormones were structurally different from human female hormones. Today’s HRT is BHRT. The “B,” which stands for “bioidentical” makes all the difference.
Bioidentical hormones are synthesized from plant sources, such as yams. The hormones’ chemical structures are identical to human hormones’ structure. Therefore, your body recognizes them as being “bioidentical” — in other words, just like your own.
We use a pellet form of BHRT, which we insert in a fleshy part of your arm or hip. Pellet insertion only takes about five minutes, including cleaning and numbing the insertion point.
You don’t have unpleasant side effects from BHRT. You may even start to feel better a few days after you receive your first BHRT pellet insertion.
Most women notice significant relief of their menopause symptoms within 2-4 weeks. It may take up to six months for your hormones to completely rebalance.
Many experience results such as:
You can also say goodbye to hot flashes and their sleep-disrupting nocturnal equivalent, night sweats.
Just because you’re in menopause doesn’t mean you have to suffer or put yourself at risk for osteoporosis, dementia, and other conditions that are affected by reduced hormones. Contact us today for BHRT by phoning our office in Silver Spring, Maryland, or using our online form.
