The Premise Behind BioIdentical Hormones

One of the first signs of aging is that one's hormone levels begin to drop. This is potentially difficult for anyone over the age of 40 to handle. People may notice a slight weight gain, or maybe a woman's dress size begins to go up slowly. Typically one used to be able to eat as much as he or she wanted, and now if one does that without exercising regularly the weight just seems to pack on.

Another aging change is that cell behavior changes lead to hormone level differences in skin cells causing one's skin to become thinner. The skin is no longer as good at retaining moisture, and this makes the skin dryer. Sooner or later all men and women go through a decline in hormone levels. Symptoms are the body's way of letting one know that this is happening. Women may get hot flashes. Men may see weight gain.

In this day and age, however, one does not have to suffer in silence. Hormones can be replaced, such as with bioidentical hormone replacement. A hormone is the substance that is produced by a gland and then excreted into the bloodstream and subsequently travels throughout the body. That hormone transfers information and instructions between cells throughout the body. Hormones are produced and then secreted by several glands throughout the body which collectively become the endocrine system.

Each gland makes hormones that are unique to it and when released, they serve as molecular messengers to get out very specific information to other cells and organs throughout the body. As the hormones travel through the bloodstream and the rest of the body, they look for target cells which have specific receptors for those hormones. Those target cells are programmed to respond to those specific hormones in a certain way. In the endocrine system all aspects of cellular function, including the ability to repair bodily organs and bones, are influenced by numerous hormones.

Despite the fact that hormone loss is a normal part and parcel of aging, health and function may be improved by restoring those levels back to optimal levels. This is the essence of anti-aging medicine, the goal of which is to optimize a patient's health, restore function, and prevent disease. The goal is to restore hormones to their optimal levels to re-create the health that one had in his or her prime, and in doing so give patients the optimal level of health with all the benefits that creates. If one can restore hormones back to a perfect balance this may make a person look, feel and act younger. Plus one may potentially be protected against numerous diseases including cancer.

The term bioidentical is short for biologically identical. When one begins treatment with bioidentical hormones the goal is to have the patient intake hormones equivalent to what the patient used to make in sufficient quantities. Bioidentical hormones are made from wild yams, plant extracts, but nothing that is synthetic. They are made in a laboratory to replicate the exact chemical composition of natural human hormones.