Weight gain, difficulty sleeping at night, fatigue. To you and many other women, these are things often easily dismissed as normal experiences during hormonal cycles. But what many are not aware of is when these conditions must be managed with hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
In fact, the greater majority — about 80% — of women in the United States don’t realize that they have hormonal imbalances. Even fewer seek HRTs as it’s easy to mistake them as symptoms of their oncoming “time of the month.”
Thankfully, modern medicine is pushing for more awareness of this and methods to improve the quality of life for women experiencing hormone imbalances. If you feel that you are going through such a situation, this article is here to inform you about when to seek treatment.
Understanding Your Hormones
To recognize the need for treatment, it’s important to understand how your hormones function when in optimal balance. As they play a vital role in regulating various body functions, any imbalance can cause dysregulation of certain activities.
For women, two of the most instrumental hormones in your body are estrogen and progesterone. Each plays a distinct role in your body, making maintaining their balance crucial for your overall well-being. Let’s explore the significance of these hormones and how their imbalances can affect your health.
- Estrogen. The primary female sex hormone is responsible for the development and regulation of the female reproductive system and secondary sexual characteristics. It regulates your menstrual cycle and maintains your bone health, skin, hair, and cardiovascular health. When estrogen levels are too high, it can cause sudden weight gain, heavy menstrual periods, and even increased risk for certain types of cancers (breast and uterine). Low levels, on the other hand, can lead to hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, mood swings, and increase your risk for osteoporosis.
- Progesterone. This hormone works with estrogen to regulate your menstrual cycle and support pregnancy. In the latter case, progesterone helps maintain the uterine lining throughout pregnancy and prevents contractions in the early stages. It also helps regulate estrogen, keeping it within optimal levels.High progesterone levels, while rare, can cause symptoms like bloating, breast tenderness, and mood swings. Meanwhile, low levels of progesterone can lead to irregular period cycles, difficulty maintaining pregnancy, and symptoms of estrogen dominance.
With that, you can now begin to grasp what imbalances entail; let’s discuss what conditions might necessitate the use of HRTs.
Who Typically Needs Hormone Replacement Therapy?
HRTs are medications that aim to supplement or counter low and high levels of your hormones. With their help, symptoms of any imbalances are managed, and your quality of life is significantly improved, especially if you are:
- Going through premenopause or menopause. During this stage of your life, your female hormones naturally decline, causing the inconvenient symptoms of low estrogen levels.
- Experiencing premature menopause or early ovarian insufficiency. You might be experiencing this condition if menopause or your ovaries stop functioning normally before you turn 40 years old. The symptoms will be the same as menopause, but given that it starts early, your quality of life might start to decline at a relatively early age.
- A post-hysterectomy patient. Hysterectomy is a procedure involving the removal of your uterus and ovaries — the organ responsible for female hormone production. Hence, removing them causes a cessation in the production of estrogen and progesterone.
- Diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). This condition causes hormone imbalances and could lead to infertility.
It’s important that you discuss HRT interventions with your doctor if you are experiencing or have been diagnosed with any of these conditions. Relief is available and should be sought to improve your overall well-being.
Reasons and Signs You Should Use HRT
Now, let’s explore the specifics of when and why you should start using HRTs. Understanding these will help you seek the appropriate intervention.
For Managing Premenopausal and Menopausal Symptoms
Premenopause and menopause lead to a sudden drop in estrogen, causing the symptoms associated with it to arise. It is a normal process that all women go through, but nonetheless uncomfortable.
For many women, these discomforts can even be disruptive, causing a slew of further discomforts such as exhaustion, fatigue, and irritability. When you do experience these, taking HRTs is generally recommended to alleviate discomfort.
Menstrual Irregularities
The regularity of your menstrual cycle relies completely on the balance of your hormones. Hence, when there is an imbalance, it could manifest in heavy periods or a prolonged absence of menstrual bleeding that could be inconvenient for various reasons.
For one, irregularities can make family planning difficult. Whether you’re trying to conceive or avoid pregnancy, planning is easier done when your period comes regularly. Heavy bleeding is another cause of inconvenience, as it can lead to frequent changing of pads, tampons, or emptying menstrual cups.
In regulating your hormones with HRTs, you can normalize your cycles in terms of regularity, frequency, and quantity, effectively eliminating these inconveniences.
Chronic Fatigue
Hormonal imbalances affect your energy levels in various ways. Firstly, low levels of estrogen cause fatigue by disrupting your sleep. Second, low progesterone levels may lead to poor sleep quality and insomnia, contributing further to daytime fatigue. Lastly, imbalances in metabolism-regulating thyroid hormones can disrupt your energy production, causing you to feel more tired throughout the day.
The goal of HRT in this regard is to help you improve your energy levels and sleep quality. With them, you’ll feel more energized and less tired. You’ll also experience more mental clarity as hormonal balance reduces brain fog and improves focus and concentration.
Chronic fatigue must be addressed with HRTs, as persistent tiredness can disrupt your daily activities, social interactions, and even work. If left untreated, you could feel less productive, contributing to emotional distress as you feel less productive.
Unexplained Weight Gain or Loss
PCOS, hypothyroidism, and hyperthyroidism are conditions related to hormonal imbalances that commonly cause unexplained weight gain or loss. If you’re diagnosed with any of these, then you know the struggle of maintaining a healthy weight very well.
From regulating your metabolism to maintaining an energy level that allows you to be physically active, HRTs provide an effective solution for staying within a healthy weight range. It’s crucial to regulate these as weight gain can increase your risk for chronic conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and joint problems.
Conversely, unexplained weight loss can lead to nutritional deficiencies, muscle loss, and overall weakness. Addressing these symptoms through HRT can help improve physical health and emotional well-being.
Decreased Libido
Maintaining sexual health is a crucial component of overall well-being, and addressing the underlying hormonal issues can significantly improve sexual desire and satisfaction.
With HRTs, you can improve sexual desire and maintain vaginal lubrication that contributes to more satisfying sexual experiences. But their benefit in the sexual aspect doesn’t just address a physiological need.
Being able to enjoy sex helps foster loving relationships and simultaneously boost confidence and self-image through adequate sexual expression. Addressing decreased libido through HRT, in this sense, benefits you on a social and emotional aspect, as it allows intimacy and closeness with your partners and feel more secure.
Final Thoughts
Though not many people realize it, hormonal balance significantly impacts various dimensions of our health. Even the slightest imbalance in one or two hormones can derail our health from the physiological, psychological, and even social aspects.
When you feel any of these symptoms causing you inconveniences, it’s best to seek the help of a hormone doctor so that you can get the appropriate HRT for your needs. Should you need to get in touch with one, our doctors at Atlanta Obstetrics and Gynecology Specialists are always happy to help you.
