As a woman, you have particularly dramatic benefits to realize from hormone therapy, for very sound medical reasons.

First, the bad news. Very often, the symptoms of conditions such as the menopause, early menopause, perimenopause, PMS and adrenal fatigue are caused by hormonal imbalance. And the good news? It means they can be treated by bioidentical hormone therapy.

What is Menopause?

Officially, it’s the time when a woman ceases to menstruate. It usually occurs around the age of 51, although it can actually be many years before or after this. What’s happening in your body is that it’s producing fewer fertility hormones – estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. This is the root cause of the symptoms and changes that accompany the menopause. When the menopause has a trial run and occurs at a much earlier age, it’s known as the perimenopause. This condition also has a lot to do with hormone imbalance, as well as factors such as poor nutrition and lack of exercise. The changes become apparent a long time before menstruation ceases altogether. These symptoms include:

Hot flashes are common symptoms of both menopause and perimenopause. You are likely to feel an intense heat, accompanied by rapid heartbeat and sweating. The sensations can last anything from 2 to 30 minutes. They vary in intensity, and also frequency, occurring from a few times a week to more or less all the time. You’re likely to feel hot flashes in your face first, followed by your chest and the back of your neck. In severe cases they may spread to the whole of your body, and you may even pass out.
Excess sweating at night is very common. Known clinically as ‘sleep hyperhidrosis’, it’s like a severe hot flash, and can result in drenched nightwear and sheets.
It’s been estimated that up to 43% of women in the USA may suffer from a loss of libido, also known as female sexual arousal disorder or FSAD. In fact, it’s one of the commonest female problems, albeit often a temporary one. Be clear that this is not about achieving orgasm or not. It’s about a loss of interest in and desire to have sex. In other words, an inability to be turned on. There can be many factors that cause a woman to lose her libido.
When you start ‘losing it’ for no valid reason, or one minute you’re on the clouds and the next you’re down in the depths, the cause could be hormonal.
Depression is a very common condition, with women more prone than men. In fact, as many as 1 in 8 US women suffer. Depression can have many causes, often non-physical events such as family breakdown. However, the causes can also be hormonal, especially if the depression is linked to stress.
It’s not just governments that have to deal with energy crises. Your body needs to keep the production lines of DHEA hormone and cortisol running on a daily basis. They metabolize sugar and keep insulin levels balanced, maintaining energy and strengthening the immune system and enhancing brain function. Stress can also cause loss of energy and poor stamina, especially if accompanied by poor sleep patterns, sugar cravings or menopause symptoms.
Difficulty loosing weight as if losing weight was ever easy! During perimenopause and menopause, however, you will notice that losing weight is especially difficult. Simply getting older does not exactly help, either, with most women gaining a pound or so every year during the perimenopause years. All the more reason to look beyond the usual measures, such as dieting or joining a gym.
Sexual organ dysfunction is very common, but almost equally widely misunderstood. Sadly, it’s also often misdiagnosed, with hysterectomy or surgical menopause being the most common surgery in the US. Known medically as endometriosis, uterine dysfunction occurs when tissue builds up outside the uterus. Over-production of estrogen is often to blame, causing organ dysfunction and even intestinal blockage.
Decline in memory the fallout from memory decline can range from minor inconvenience to disruption of your entire life. While factors such as stress and alcohol can be responsible, hormone imbalance also looms large on the list of suspects. Estrogen has been shown to directly affect memory and learning, with brain volume declining as levels fall.
Irritability you lose your temper far too frequently for your liking. You can’t face standing in line any more. Of course, there may be things going on in your life that you’re not happy about, and these can certainly make a big difference to your day-to-day mood. Yet the underlying cause to your irritability may well be hormone imbalance. Irritability and swings of mood are closely related, and both often caused by low or fluctuating levels of estrogen.
Anxiety we all get a little anxious from time to time, it’s only human. In truth, the causes of a consistent state of anxiety are rarely purely psychological. Hormones have a big part to play here, chemical messengers which send messages to your cells controlling growth, energy and development. When their levels dip, the messages get lost and anxiety can kick in. This starts a vicious circle, as more anxiety causes more stress, hot flashes and other conditions, which depletes levels even more and so on.

As you get older, and especially when you approach menopause or even perimenopause, symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats become more common. You may also find you have trouble getting a good night’s sleep, and become prone to putting on weight. This is because with menopause and perimenopause, you start making less estrogen, and even less progesterone. Your adrenal glands then try to compensate if they can. Your hormone profile is changed, as is the individual you used to be. This also sets the stage for the diseases to which you may be genetically predisposed to, as well as many other chronic and serious health problems.

Sound familiar? Thought so! The bad news is that the menopause is an inevitable part of life. The good news? BHRT can help you beat the symptoms and recapture your old self. You can feel decades younger. You can recapture your zest for life and love. You can enter a new chapter in life, where you enjoy the best of every world.

Don’t be afraid… Say goodbye to menopause misery

It’s a monster-sized threat to your self-esteem. You’ve been dreading it for years. Yet the menopause need not be like that. In fact, it need not be such a big deal at all. It does not mean the onset of old age. You’re not on the start of a slippery slope. In many ways, life can actually improve!

For a start, you won’t have to put up with all the hassle and misery of periods. Nor need you worry about getting pregnant. Many women even report that their sex life gets better after the menopause. While if you bring bioidentical hormone replacement therapy into your life to reverse the symptoms like hot flashes, loss of energy and all the rest then you really are coming out on the winning side.

Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy can help dramatically. The treatment uses the exact same hormones as your body used to make, so your hormone balance is restored. Hormones can be made in several formats, from creams and gels to skin pellets and nasal sprays. However, it’s the way bioidentical hormones are made that is so important. When used for women, they’re female hormones made in a laboratory and based on compounds located in plants. Processed by a highly trained compounding pharmacist to a formula customized to meet your unique needs. When processed, the hormone is identical to those made in the human body – estrogen, progesterone and androgen. This enables your body to metabolize them in a totally natural way, with negligible risk of side effects.

Crucially, however, when replacing the ovarian hormones – estradiol and progesterone –Dr. Rashid does not just use hormones that are bioidentical. She also replaces your hormones in a rhythm as close as possible to that produced by your own ovaries. The treatment not only relieves your symptoms, it provides protection from age-related diseases. You feel and look younger, and enjoy an altogether higher level of health.

‘There are many ways to take hormones into your body. But your body only makes them one way’ -Dr. Rashid

Call Chicago Bioidentical Doctor, Selma Rashid, M.D. to learn how bioidentical hormone therapy can help alleviate menopausal symptoms so you can start living your best life!