Hormones Done Right: 8 Rights of Hormone Replacement Therapy

Hormones are important chemical messengers that work to maintain balance within the body.

Hormones reduce inflammation, reduce auto-immune disease, reduce cancer risk, reduce disease risk and promote healthy aging.

Need proof of this?

Beyond the 100’s of studies that provide objective proof, Go no further than your own life:

How did your body function between the ages of 12-35, compared to 35 and older?

Did you lose muscle mass and gain massive amounts of body fat as a 17 year old like you do now at 40?

Did you have arthritis as an 18 year old and need a knee or high replaced like women do now at 60?

Did you have osteoporosis as a 25 year old and suffer from height loss, bone compression, a hump on your upper back, or fractures from supporting only your body weight like women do now at 65?

Did you develop plaques on your brain leading to alzheimer’s as a 28 year old like women do now at 65 and older? Did you and your friends suffer with diabetes, heart disease, athersclerosis and cancer at alarming rates as 30 year olds like women do now at 65 and older?

Was heart disease, and cancer, among the leading causes of death for you as a younger women, as it is now as a women over 50?

Hormones protect your body from imbalance and oxidative stress which contributes to==>inflammation, cellular damage, poor aging, and disease.

Youth=health, because Youth=hormones. This is common just sense, right?

Aging is the great equalizer–a precise collector of decades of disease and dysfunction–largely due to hormone loss, inflammation accummulation, and the additional loss of protection that hormones provide.

Remember, you get the first 50 years of your life for free with youth and the body’s ability to compensate, and you earn the last 50–by preventing decompenstation, and optimizing weaknesses.

As you age, you need to become an informed consumer of the “Right” information, so that you can live well and age well.

I’m sharing my experience with you today with the hope that it will help you find your way as you navigate the maze of hormones and hormone replacement management.

Hormones are like dominos:

For this reason, You NEVER have just one hormone imbalance.
Your hormones work together in a symphony, and each hormone has to play their equal part.

Once one hormone “falls”, it knocks out the next and the next…through a process of aromatization, conversion, compensation, and decompensation–
until there are only sleepless nights, irratic moods, a chubby belly, a collection of disease coupled with suboptimal living, and exhaustion left.

For example:

You cant have thyroid imbalance without cortisol, adrenal or progesterone imbalances.

You cant have “estrogen dominance” without progesterone deficiency (progesterone loss is the real problem in perimenopausal hormone imbalances).

Women will say to me: “I just need my thyroid tested” or “I’m just tired–but my doctor said my adrenals are fine” –not understanding the complexities of hormones, and the impossibility of just one imbalance. It’s never “just” thyroid, or “just” fatigue, or “only” adrenals.

Think of it this way: it takes an imbalance to get an imbalance.

If you are only looking at, and only treating one hormone imbalance, you are missing at least one more.

Looking at all hormones and treating them like a symphony with missing instruments, is essential for balance.

Studies have proven that hormones are safe and effective as long as, what I call, the “Hormone Rights” are followed.

Here are my 8 “Hormone Rights:”
Hormones are safe and effective as long as:
1. You work with the right (certified) hormone provider.
You wouldnt allow a surgeon who “dabbles” in surgery to operate on you, so why would you allow a provider who “dabbles” in hormones to provide hormone therapy?

This is why you found me.
I am certified, and experienced.
I have been working with men and women, balancing hormones and promoting healthy aging for nearly 2 decades.
I dont dabble–I “live” –and love–this stuff 🙂 And my patients have optimal results. Check out the testimonials under PRAISE on my website home page. These are only a few of the hundreds of testimonials I have from patients who have experienced the benefits of balanced hormones.

2. You take the right hormone for You. Progestin IS NOT Progesterone. Do not take Progestin. EVER.

Progestin is inflammatory, causes clots and cancer, and is Catagory X–it cannot be taken when women are trying to get pregnant or are pregnant. (If it’s not good for your developing baby, why is it safe for You?)

Progestins are FDA approved, and after the poor results of the women’s health initiative hormone study were released revealing the massive damage progestins cause in the female body (stroke and cancer), it was not pulled from the market. It is still available for your use and can still be prescribed by your provider. You can even get samples.

Examples of progestins: medroxyprogesterone, Depo-Provera (“Depo shot” or DMPA), Provera, PremPro.

Progesterone is safe for women when they are trying to get pregnant, pregnant, nursing, and throughout their lifetime (menarche to beyond menopause). It promotes health, balance, and wonderful sense of calm. Many women who suffer with auto-immune diseases, like Rheumatoid arthritis, report that they feel the best when pregnant (less pain, less inflammation, better function and mobility). This is due to the high progesterone levels in pregnancy. It is afterall, it is pro-life and “pro-gestational.”

Examples of progesteone: Progesterone.

I use bio-identical hormones for treatment because not only is it safer–I NEVER prescribe PROGESTIN–it is also more individualized, with the best outcomes; This approach is personalized, so the dose can be varied based on the needs of each person. In standardized pharmaceutical medicine, there are very few doses to choose from–1 or 2 doses–there isnt the possibility of 15-20 doses. Using a compounding pharmacy, and bioidentical hormone therapy, permits me to fine-tune, individualize, and optimize hormone treatment based on what works for that one person.

3. You take the right dose for You. Your body is different than everyone else’s. You need a dose that is bioindiviualized for You and your uniqueness.
Comparing your doses to the doses of friends, sisters, and Mom won’t be useful, and wont serve you–why?
Because, simply, they are not You.

4. You use the right route of administration for You.
Your unique genetics, medical history, and timing of the start of hormone therapy, dictate how your hormone should be taken.
Orally? or Under the tongue?
Your certified provider should discuss which is best for You.

FYI: I dont recommend injections or pellets. You can learn more about this HERE.

In a nutshell: Daily administration offers you empowering control, optimal levels, and optimal results.You dont get this with “bulk” (pellet or injection) hormone administration.

5. Right Timing: Timing matters.
Studies have proven that the sooner that a woman starts hormone replacement therapy after menopause, the best protection and benefit she is offered.  Don’t wait for vasomotor symptoms to start–start with menopause. And if you arent having symptoms, you will still benefit from hormone replacement therapy because hormone therapy does more than treat hot flashes. More about that HERE.

6. Right Use: Length of use matters: Be a Life-Time user.

You will be taking hormones for as long as you want the benefit of the hormone–which should be through the course of your lifetime. Once stopped, your body will return to its previous genetic programming. Once stopped, you lose all the benefits and protection hormones offer you–and all the benefits you GAINED while on therapy.

Studies have proven that women benefit from taking hormone replacement for their lifetime. There is no benefit in starting for a few years (for relief of vasomotor symptoms, for example), and then stopping
(when symptoms dissipate, for example). This way of thinking is old and unfounded.

A recent study reported that estrogen, started as soon as a women enters menopause, and continued through her lifetime, radically reduces the risk of alzheimers disease.

So why would you want to stop hormone therapy?
5. You achieve the right levels to provide your optimal results. Blood work is the BEST way to determine accurate hormone levels. (Cortisol is the only hormone that should be checked by saliva. You can read more about this HERE. )
Each lab has a specific reagent used to test hormones.
Optimal levels vary by lab and reagent.

Your certified provider will have discussed this, and you will know this, and you will know what levels are optimal for you.
This is the primary reason why you need to choose one lab, and always use that lab–so your provider can compare “apples to apples” with your lab, reagents and test results for your optimal success.

A recent study reported that men, when taking testosterone to achieve optimal levels, REDUCED their risk of heart disease and heart attack. The key here is OPTIMAL LEVELS. If levels are not optimal, then that protection is not offered or achieved. How do we measure optimal? By checking Free testosterone (not TOTAL) levels in the blood. More about that HERE.

6. Right Results: What everyone needs from hormone therapy, when it comes to symptoms relief, is different. You want the benefits. You want the symptoms gone, You want your function to return. You want your quality of life back–no more PMS, hot flashes, night sweats, weight gain, loss of sex drive, loss of memory, brain fog, fatigue and sleeplessness?  Your provider will want the right results for You, too. You want to learn to listen to your body and work with your provider to achieve optimal results.

What your body is telling you is important, and you can listen to these cues and optimize your hormone therapy accordingly. Having this type of communication with your body is wonderful, and an important component  of healthy aging.

Living your optimal life is your goal, and hormones when taken the right way, with the right doses, to achieve the right levels, for the right protection and benefit, under the supervision of the right provider, can do just that for You.

Long Live hormone therapy 🙂

And long live your optimal life,

Kristie

 Previous Post

Avoid Pellet Hormone Therapy