Menopause and Bioidentical Hormones - What You Should Know

Menopause symptoms are frequently due to hormonal imbalance. In this article, I will discuss menopause and bioidentical hormones in details so you can know what to do to find some relief.

Hormones are carriers of messages from glands to cells that maintain chemical levels in the bloodstream in order to sustain a stable internal environment. Hormones are necessary for growth, development and energy.

The prevailing myth in the medical community is that menopause is an estrogen deficiency disease. But estrogen levels drop only 40 to 60 percent at menopause while progesterone levels can drop to nearly zero. The reality is that estrogen and progesterone work together.

When progesterone drops to near zero, we have estrogen dominance which causes a lot of unpleasant symptoms and increases the risk for endometrial cancer and probably promotes breast cancer.

Symptoms of progesterone deficiency include: painful breasts, weight gain, bloating, low bone density, trouble sleeping, anxiety and stress.

The list of symptoms that can be caused or made worse by estrogen dominance is a long one. Among the symptoms are the following: breast tenderness, anxiety, allergies, decreased sex drive, weight gain particularly around the belly, foggy thinking, insomnia, irritability, etc.

For a long time, the preferred remedy for hormonal imbalance was Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT. However HRT has serious side effects, which include fluid retention, headache, dizziness. The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study which analyzed the health of 16,000 women aged 50 to 79 years, found after five years, that those women using HRT had a 29 percent higher risk of breast cancer, a 26% higher risk of heart disease, and a 41% higher risk of stroke.

More recently however, there has been more information coming out about menopause and bioidentical hormones. Bio-identical hormones are hormones prepared from plant compounds and are identical in formation to human hormones.

Studies have revealed that Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (BHRT) is more effective than the familiar HRT in relieving the symptoms of menopause with no side effects.

For instance, taking bioidentical progesterone will protect you against breast cancer, will elevate your mood and improve brain functions. Your energy levels and stamina will also be improved.

Because bio-identical hormones are natural, they cannot be patented by the pharmaceutical industry. In order to get a prescription, you will have to work with a physician who is knowledgeable about bioidentical hormones and who can work with a pharmacy where they will be able to formulate the precise level of natural hormones that are required by your system.