Women and Bioidentical Hormones
Hormones are important substances within your body that influence your health, affect bodily functions, and can even regulate your mood. As you grow older, your body may have difficulty producing enough hormones to satisfy all of your body’s needs – in particular, women tend to have very large hormonal production issues during and after menopause.
Night sweats, hot flashes, and memory loss are just a few of the symptoms that are associated with hormonal imbalances, but when left untreated, it can increase the chances of developing a life-threatening condition. Fortunately, hormone imbalances can be addressed, either preemptively or reactively, through the use of hormones.
What are Bioidentical Hormones?
As the name implies, hormones are hormones that are made to be identical to the hormones your body is already naturally producing. They are created in a lab and shaped to be structurally identical to natural hormones. Because they are the same as natural hormones, your body does not see any difference between natural and hormones, and treats them equally, allowing hormones to make up for deficiencies and imbalances.
Therapy done using hormones is even known as natural hormone therapy because the hormones are created to be a perfect match for the hormones already present.
How do Bioidentical Hormones work?
Bioidentical hormones match the natural hormones your body produces, so they work in exactly the same way as any other hormone in your body. There is no structural difference between them and natural hormones, so your body simply uses them the same to regulate bodily functions and responsibilities.
Bioidentical hormones are created per-patient, to allow precise changes and measurements to ensure that each works specifically for that patient. Bioidentical hormones are created using compounds from plants, which are shaped to perfectly match the structure of the patient’s hormones, resulting in a natural, and safe-to-use, hormone that the body can easily use.
Are Bioidentical Hormones safe?
A common misconception with hormones is comparing them to synthetic hormones – synthetic hormones try to do what hormones do, but they are not structurally identical to naturally-occurring hormones, meaning that they are not readily available to be used by your body. Some studies have shown that synthetic hormones may be more dangerous than no treatments in some cases.
However, hormones are completely different from synthetic hormones. Because synthetic hormones differ from natural hormones, your body recognizes them as unnatural and treats them differently. This different treatment can result in the hormones not doing what they’re supposed to do which may cause painful side effects. Bioidentical hormones are identified as completely natural by your body, so they get no special treatment. Instead, they are used as easily as hormones that you have produced your entire life.
Bioidentical hormones are much safer to use than synthetic hormones because of this. When using hormones, the major concern is the amount of the hormone that you are providing to your body – when addressing a deficiency, you do not want to apply too much of a single hormone, as that may tip the balance in the other direction, and cause an excess. Bioidentical hormones require precise measurements when being used, and are best applied under the supervision of a medical professional.